September 8, 2014

HEALTHY CHOICES IN PREGNANCY.

This shop has been compensated by Collective Bias, Inc. and its advertiser. All opinions are mine alone. #collectivebias #balancerewards.

As many of you know, this sweet baby of ours has been in our life plan for quite sometime… He just wasn’t quite ready to come down to our sweet family quite yet! After trying to get pregnant for almost 2 years and a devastating miscarriage, we are so excited to have this awesome little boy coming to us! When I found out I was pregnant, I wanted to make sure that I was doing everything possible in my part to keep this baby safe and growing inside of me. I don’t know if I could handle another loss again. I had decided from the moment I saw that positive on the pee stick that I was going to make healthy choices and make sure I was making this little guys home for the next 9 months the best it could be!

I have never been a healthy eater, and when I had my miscarriage the doctor told me that I had a tiny body and that I needed to be on a high fat diet to make sure there was enough for my baby to live off of. She told me to eat all the cheeseburgers and ice-cream my little heart desired!! Now, when the positive came on the test, I knew that ice-cream and cheeseburgers weren’t going to keep this baby where he needed to be, or in the best environment for him. (NOTE: I do eat cheeseburgers and ice-cream! Just in moderation.) My first, okay let’s be honest, I still have morning sickness, but the first 16-18 weeks I couldn’t keep anything down even with nausea meds from the doctor. I began to worry that this baby wasn’t getting enough nutrients… My doctor reassured me that everything would be okay and that he didn’t need much to live on yet.

Now that I am able to keep things down, I have been striving to eat a well balanced meals and work out. (When I say work out, me and my husband go for walks or easy hike. Due to some of the complications I have had with this pregnancy, I am not able to run or do moderate workouts.) I needed something to track what I was eating and to make me be accountable for it. I started using MyFitnessPal. This is the easiest app to use. It easily lets you input your meals and exercise. My favorite part though about this app, is that it syncs with my Walgreens app. I know I have chatted with you about the Balance Rewards program and how it makes my life so much easier, like saving up for our date nights. The Balance Rewards program is within the Walgreens app and let’s you use their coupons to save on products that you are already buying at Walgreens. Balance Rewards let’s you earn points to use for your healthy choices! It seriously is happiness! Not only does it keep me accountable for keeping sweet baby K happy and healthy, but it also helps me to save money on things that we already purchase and put that money toward Baby K or date nights. All I had to do is sync MyFitnessPal to the Walgreens app and ta-da! It emails me letting me know I have earned more points! You can input things into the healthy choices program like your pulse, oxygen, sleep, meals, and fitness. It keeps it all in one place for me which I love to look back on.

Something I realized while inputting my meals and fitness/walks into the healthy choices program is that I was not eating enough calories a day to sustain my own life let alone this little one inside of me. This was shocking to me! I am a snacker, I always have something to munch on with me, so seeing that I haven’t been eating enough made my physically sick. It was so eye opening to me. Now, I love to eat so I am happier to eat more, but I am making sure that they are healthy choices to keep Baby K healthy and happy.

I am so grateful for the healthy choices program through Walgreens Balance Rewards. I love that it syncs with apps that I already am using like MyFitnessPal and many others. It has brought new things of my health to my attention that needed to be taken care of to keep my baby safe. I also love that it rewards me for making healthy choices. I mean isn’t it easier to say no to the donut when you can earn points and redeem them! (Let’s be honest, never say no to a donut, unless you are eating like 12,212 a day! Say no to things like licorice, or Lucky Charms before a donut!) I promise you this app will make your healthy choices so much easier and you will be a happier, healthier person!