06 February 2011

Ten on Tuesday: 10 Favorite Health and Beauty Products

**EDIT: I started writing this post on 2/6 (Sunday) hoping to schedule it to post on Tuesday morning (2/8). I am now revisiting it on 2/9 and am embarrassed because I could only think of eight products. Oh well!

As a person who rarely wears make-up (seriously - the last time I wore it was at my wedding which was...sevenish months ago) this Ten on Tuesday made me think. So here are my picks.

1. Lip Balm/Chapstick. I was very loyal to Smackers chapstick in grade school. Now I usually use Burt's Bees or Chapstick. I also recently bought some Dr. Bronner's lip balm, which is pretty good.

2. Dr. Bronner's Magic Soap All-One! - Amazing. I prefer the lavender but peppermint is also great.

3. Twinlab Na PCA with Aloe Vera - also amazing. I needed a moisturizer and this one had very very high reviews on vitacost (which I also highly recommend) and I went for it. Love to use it under shaving cream. Makes everything so soft!

4. Perfume. This is my one accessory. I love Chanel Chance in the winter and Dolce & Gabbana Light Blue in the warmer months.

5. Lavender Salt Scrub from K. Hall Designs - so yummy. So soft. One problem - the little exfoliating beads are annoying to scrub out of our shower after I use it. But it's totally worth it!

6. Gummy Vitamins - normal multivitamins scare me because they are so big. And hard to swallow. And they taste funny if they get stuck in the back of your throat (which they normally do, for me). So I started taking ADULT gummy multivitamins and they're great. They taste good and I don't worry about not getting them down (okay, okay, insert THAT'S WHAT SHE SAID joke here).

7. Skintimate Shaving Cream - been using the same stuff since I first started shaving. The pink bottle, for sensitive skin. It smells like baby powder. Love it.

8. Jergen's lotion. Any kind is a miracle.

Weight Watchers Update

So I officially started Weight Watchers over a month ago, and I've lost eight pounds so far! It's kind of unbelievable, when I think about it. It definitely took some getting used to, but I've enjoyed learning more about eating healthy foods.

The hardest (and, let's be honest, the most painful) part of the process has been learning how many points items have. For example - I LOVE s'more flavored Pop-Tarts. They are the perfect breakfast (at least this is what I thought). Also, I love s'mores. So, delicious.

One package of S'more Pop-Tarts (meaning two tarts) is 10 points. A Crunchwrap Supreme from Taco Bell is 15 points. At the beginning, I got 30 points a day - now I'm down to 29, since I've lost weight. It's crazy to watch the points add up, but I've learned a few ways to keep them down. Almost all fruits and veggies on the new system are 0 points, which is great. So I've been eating lots of apples, oranges, bananas, grapes, carrots, celery, broccoli, etc. Which is something that YES, I totally should have been doing before, but...I just wasn't.

Pete and I ate healthy probably half of the time. If we were tired after work, we had the attitude of, "ah, screw it, let's just run by Sonic or Taco Bell and get dinner there." But now we're planning meals (including what we're taking to lunch at school every day) every week and I have to say, it's been great.

It's not that hard AND it ends up saving us a lot of time at Trader Joe's or Schnucks, AND it saves us money because I know exactly what to get, AND it's healthy. And seriously, it takes maybe 10 extra minutes a week.

So that's what I have to say about that.

Oh, but then there's the whole exercise thing. I haven't even attempted to do that in the last month. I know, it's awful, but...it's been cold! We've had snow on the ground for the last two weeks, practically. And it's been bitterly cold most of the time. I do realize that there are ways to exercise inside, and I'll be honest - I am LAZY. I love being outside and walking or biking or hiking but inside, during the winter, I'm fine with eating my veggies and watching old episodes of Community.