Progresso Souper You Giveaway Winner!

Thank you to everyone who entered our Progresso Souper You giveaway! We are so thrilled to be able to share the Progresso love, being huge fans of the brand ourselves and even bigger fans of a way to manage our weight and calorie intake in a very, very delicious way. The winner of this giveaway will receive the Progresso prize pack which has been provided by Progresso through MyBlogSpark, pictured above–2 cans of Progresso Light and 100 calorie soups, a Progresso soup mug and a digital jump rope that keeps track of your jumps and also of calories burned.

So, without further ado, the lucky winner is…

Congratulations, Jennifer T!

3/365 Days: Progresso

I recently had the opportunity to try 15 out of the 40 new flavors of Progresso Light and 100 calorie soups, thanks to Progresso and their new Souper You Debut contest, and MyBlogSpark. They are so delicious and like I mentioned in the full-length review of Progresso Light soups, I have recently been going through a great deal of physical pain because of my crowded, impacted wisdom teeth that I have not been able to get pulled and having Periodontal Disease, which also attributes to that major cheek-swelling you can’t help but notice in the above picture, so needless to say, soup is one of the major items on my extremely limited list of food items my mouth has been able to handle lately.

Progresso, you couldn’t have come at a better time.

We are also giving away a Progresso Prize Pack which consists of 2 cans of Progresso Light and 100 calorie soups, a Progresso mug (which you see in the above picture,) and a digital jump rope that keeps track of jumps and calories burned over time. Enter for your chance to win! The giveaway ends February 10th at 11:59PM EST.

Progresso Souper You Review and Giveaway

This giveaway has closed.

At the start of every new year, most of the women I know and connect with regularly openly talk about how their New Year’s resolution is to lose weight and/or to eat healthier. These are some great resolutions, especially the eating healthy one because while losing weight is a perk for a great deal of women, I whole-heartedly believe that crash dieting and the diet industry as a whole is a multi-billion dollar business for a reason, so if you do truly want to lose weight, it should be for purely health reasons, which is why eating healthy and choosing foods that will nourish you instead of just fill you is really important.

Now that we are more than a month into the new year, (by the way, can you believe that? I know I can’t!) a lot of women have been reporting on their progress with their New Year’s resolutions and if they have been able to stick to what they had planned before January 1st. I have noticed that a lot of women are increasingly strong-willed this year in the commitments they have made to themselves, nearly everyone I’ve checked up on who I had read on their blogs had made a New Year’s resolution has been sticking to it pretty phenomenally. So, for those of you who made the resolution to eat healthier and who are still on the fast-track to healthy eating, I have something really great to share with you!

I am a big, big, big fan of soup. I have been not-so blessed in the teeth department, having been diagnosed with Periodontal Disease and rapid tooth decay a few years ago after my wisdom teeth had started to push their way in. Because I am a professional blogger and also a freelance writer and web designer and developer who works from home, I have a very modest monthly income. I can pretty much cover my expenses month-to-month and that’s about it. That, coupled with the fact that I also live with Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder and major depressive disorder, (which I have blogged about here before,) makes it impossible for me to hold a job outside of the home, it isn’t a possibility for me to go out and get a part time job to help pay dental bills. Needless to say, this causes me a great deal of excruciating physical pain where for days at a time, I am unable to open my mouth wide enough to get most foods in it. That is when soup saves my life and the sanity I would not have after getting insanely frustrated with how big bite-sized food is.

Progresso has always been a great source of delicious and nutritious soup and they have made it even healthier than before by offering an entire product line of light soups that are all 100 calories or less! It is officially super easy to get a great and satisfying meal in your belly and help manage your weight at the same time. To celebrate their line of light soups, Progresso has launched the Souper You Debut–a contest where you can enter for the chance to win a full makeover in New York City!

To enter the Progresso Souper You Debut contest, all you have to do is go to www.Progresso.com/SouperYou and submit an essay (200 characters or less) telling Progresso why you love Progresso Light or 100 calorie soups and why you would like a full makeover. You will also need to submit a photo of yourself that visually reinforces the theme of your essay. Three grand prize winners will be awarded a trip for two to New York City from May 21st-23rd and includes roundtrip airfare, a two-night stay in a NYC hotel, a full makeover, a $1000 wardrobe shopping spree and personal consultation at a New York department store. Pretty fabulous if you ask me!

Review & Giveaway

To get the good word out about new Progresso Light and 100 calorie soups, I had the opportunity to try them out for myself and thanks to Progresso and MyBlogSpark, received 15 cans of Progresso Light and 100 calorie soups in a variety of different flavors, along with a Progresso soup mug and a digital jump rope that keeps track of jumps and calories burned to help you start working out more, in addition to utilizing soup to help manage your weight.

The variety of soups I received is absolutely insane; I was completely blown away by the amount of different flavors offered and there is definitely something for everyone’s specific tastes. My partner, who usually despises soup and will not eat it regardless of what you bribe him with, loved the Italian-Style Meatball with Penne and I cannot get enough of the Chicken and Dumpling. I love, love, love the Progresso soup mug and now refuse to eat my soup out of anything else. It has a great little thumb indentation at the top of the handle to make carrying it from the kitchen to my computer desk very comfortable.

And we want to share the Progresso love!

Because Progresso is awesome like that and MyBlogSpark is always all about extending the opportunity to try awesome products to others, we have the opportunity to give one lucky Woman Tribune reader 2 cans of Progresso Light soup, a Progresso soup mug and a digital jump rope.

To win the Progresso Prize Pack, all you have to do is visit ProgressoSoup.com and tell us what flavor of Progresso Light soup you would love to try. [REQUIRED]

Additional Entries: [Leave a separate comment for each additional entry.]

• Tell us what steps you take to manage your weight.
• Subscribe to Woman Tribune
• Follow Woman Tribune on Twitter
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• Subscribe to our videos on YouTube
• Tweet about this giveaway. Feel free to use the following tweet or write your own: [Can be done once per day.]
  

  Win 2 cans of Progresso Light soup, soup mug and digital jump rope from @WomanTribune: http://tinyurl.com/yf24hmk #giveaway

• Blog about this giveaway. [2 entries, so leave 2 comments.]

This giveaway ends Wednesday, February 10th at 11:59PM EST. This giveaway is open to all US residents over the age of 18. The winner will be contacted by email and has 48 hours to respond with their necessary information. If no action is taken, another winner will be picked.

Full Contest Disclaimer

Disclosure: I was given the opportunity to spread the word about Progresso’s Souper You Debut and new line of Light and 100 calorie soups from Progresso and MyBlogSpark. For this post, I received the factual information, 15 cans of Progresso Light and 100 calorie soup, a Progresso soup mug and digital jump rope from Progresso and MyBlogSpark. They have also provided me with the opportunity to give away two cans of Progresso soup, soup mug and digital jump rope to one lucky Woman Tribune reader. All opinions throughout this post are 100% mine.

What You Can Do Daily to Stay Fit

It is not always in our best interest to start a complete exercise program or diet program if we are not already used to working out. I went to a huge fair last weekend, walked around for over eight hours and for the next three days could barely move because my legs were so sore from walking so much; so if you’re like me, starting a diet/exercise program could possibly end up hurting you and that is something we definitely don’t want. However, there are very small, simple things we can do to take care of our bodies and keep them healthy; ‘healthy’ and ‘fit’ do not necessarily mean you have to be or get down to a size 4; you can be a size 12 to 16 and still be in great shape.

Firstly, do not be afraid of the stairs. Stairs can be your friend–Just look at the people buying portable steps to exercise on; if you have them in your house, don’t be afraid of making an extra trip up or down stairs and to top it off, it will give you some great calorie burning and muscle strengthening.

Go for a walk around the block, walk the dog or the kids to school or to the bus stop; again, the operative thing here is that you are simply just moving. It is important to take a walk, especially if it’s nice outside so you can enjoy the fresh air and your surroundings at least once, preferably twice a day, every day.

Plan activities. Activities can mean anything where you are again, moving. Plan a trip to the park, play softball, basketball, soccer; any type of sport where you can have fun with you friends and family and make it not seem so much as exercise, but just having a good time with the people you care about.

Yes, these tips sound painfully obvious, but the next time you look at the clock and realize you’ve been sitting at your compute for eight straight hours, perhaps you can recall reading this and get out and take a quick walk or jog around the block.

The Skinny on Diet Pills

Disclaimer: Woman Tribune and its staff do not condone “crash dieting” or putting undue stress on your body in efforts to obtain a “perfect” body image. No matter what size you are, we think you are fabulous. If you are currently crash dieting or are thinking about starting a crash diet, taking diet pills, or doing anything in order to lose weight, we hope that you are doing so for health reasons and are treating your bodies with the respect that they deserve. This post is about dieting, but if maintained correctly, these diet resources are in no way deemed as a way to “crash diet” and are not deemed to be unhealthy for your body. If taken correctly, these resources do have the ability to work long term. If you do choose to start a diet for any reason, we strongly suggest you follow your diet correctly and maintain a healthy calorie intake with nutritional value.

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Every season, especially during the beginning of summer, a handful of new diet and weight loss products hit the scene and because most of these products are well received by consumers and those looking to shed their unwanted pounds simply through the magic of marketing, as we continue through the seasons, these products stay on the market and again, like clockwork, the next batch hit the shelves. Needless to say, someone looking for an effective product may find themselves searching high and low for the product that will fit them just right.

Because there are so many products on the market that essentially all claim to do the same thing, when looking for diet pills, it’s easiest to find some unbiased reviews on a product and choose the brand that you think is the best match for you.

Hoodia Gordonii Plus

We see the plant Hoodia pop up in a lot of different weight loss products, however, it is believed that only Hoodia Gordonii Plus have the appetite suppressant ingredient which allows them to work so well for dieters. Hoodia is a plant grown naturally only in South Africa and Namibia that eliminates feelings of hunger.

Based on 933 reviews, Hoodia Gordonii Plus is 98% effective and is also one of the safest and healthiest forms of dieting on the market today. It is not part of a weight loss gimmick that will see no lasting power and it has also been said to be the only effective weight loss product, combined with a healthy diet and regular exercise that has worked for a lot of people who feel that they have tried everything else.

Proactol

Proactol is an effective (95% effective, actually) weight loss pill that has no known side effects and has also passed all FDA and European Union guidelines. Proactol is 100% all natural and has an astonishing amount of success stories that also include people who have used it no longer feeling the aches and pains that they used to feel every day and has also increased joint mobility.

People who have taken Proactol after a meal have reported losing 1 to 2 pounds per week and because of increased joint mobility and the ceasing of aches and pains, people who take Proactol are now finding it easier to make exercise a daily part of their lives. At 1 to 2 pounds per week, Proactol is safe and effective.

Make Dieting Easier: Diet Food Delivery

Disclaimer: Woman Tribune and its staff does not condone “crash dieting” particularly because it has been proven not to work long-term and is extreme in its nutritional deprivations, typically severely restricting calorie intake. We love each and every woman just the way they are. No matter what size you are, we think you are fabulous. If you are currently crash dieting or are thinking about starting a crash diet we hope that you are doing so for health reasons and are treating your bodies with the respect that they deserve. This post is about dieting, but if maintained correctly, these diet resources are in no way deemed as “crash diets” and have the ability to work long term. If you do choose to start a diet, we strongly suggest you follow your diet correctly and maintain a healthy calorie intake with nutritional value.

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Dieting is perhaps one of the hardest acts to carry out effectively. Women particularly have a hard time losing the weight they wish to lose because women lose weight very differently than men. If you and your partner have decided to start a diet together, you may find him losing weight at a much escalated rate than you, lowering your confidence and will power to be able to carry your diet out long enough to see changes to your own physique; I know, I’ve been there.

The key to effective weight loss is to do it right–In the healthiest way possible. When most people hear the word “diet” they immediately start thinking that they must give up the foods that they have come to love and are apprehensive about it even working to begin with. Most women who diet have also tried two or three other diets in their lifetime, all proving to be ineffective long term. The key to success is your determination to lose weight and also to treat your diet (and your body) with respect. You should not be giving up the foods you love or treating the act of eating as a chore. Food is what makes so many people happy and while this leads to portion control is some cases, the key is to limit your portions, not give up the food you love completely, ie: you can still have a piece of chocolate cake (Oh the love I have for chocolate cake…) but you can’t have an entire chocolate cake.

Grocery shopping, especially for me on a personal level, is a chore and a half. For one, I live in a strictly residential area in the middle of nowhere; I have to drive for at least a half hour to get to the nearest grocery store and because it’s the one grocery store for an entire three small cities, they hike their prices up to a degree where you feel as if you are being robbed by the time you’re ready to check out. Because of this, I usually drive over an hour to get to WalMart, which is the only other option I have for cheaper groceries. If you go through a similar ordeal when it comes to grocery shopping and also feel that purchasing the foods for your diet cost you an arm and a leg and after a few weeks have to quit your diet because it’s easier to order off the McDonald’s dollar menu than buy nutritional, healthy foods for yourself, I have a secret to share with you.

There are many diet programs who offer diet food delivery for a price cheaper than buying it in the store. This is an excellent option for people who, like me, find it difficult to get to a grocery store or find their bank accounts fast approaching zero because of what it costs to buy them in the store.

Medifast knows that dieting is all about choosing health, they believe in choosing health over anything else so much in fact, that it’s their motto. Medifast has a great food delivery service that will ship you the best possible diet foods making it easier for you to diet and not have to give up the delicious foods you love. Medifast is also a highly trusted company when it comes to weight loss, so what you receive from them is simply the best and by using their diet regimen, you will be losing weight and going about the process the healthiest way possible.

The foods you will receive from Medifast are high in nutritional value and are given to you in well controlled portions. While they are about portion control, which is what every diet thrives on, their foods will not leave you hungry afterward, eliminating the temptation of overeating. Their menu is highly diverse with a menu that will please everyone–Even those of you who are vegetarian will be surprised by their extensive menu.

For an entire breakdown of Medifast, their diet plan and diet foods as well as some of their success stories, be sure to check out the Medifast diet reviews.

Nutrisystem is a diet plan that helps you not only lose weight and keep it off long-term, but it will help you lose weight fast. For any of you who need to lose those 10 or 15 extra pounds before your wedding, high school reunion or any other event where you really want that wow factor as soon as you walk into a room, Nutrisystem is for you. Nutrisystem will also work at the same fast pace for people who want to lose up to 100 pounds or more. It has been said to be the fastest working diet plan out there right now, so it is definitely worth looking into and hey, if it’s not for you, they offer a 30 day money back guarantee if you don’t get what you expected or were looking for. With a money back guarantee like that there’s no reason not to try it!

Nutrisystem ships you prepared and packaged food right to your front door. They understand that people who are instructed to eat the same, bland meals every day aren’t going to stick with that diet, so their plan is all about choices giving you a myriad of food choices to fit your particular lifestyle. They offer over 120 different products for you to choose from to help satisfy your hunger and cravings for delicious food.

The Nutrisystem has many different systems to choose from including omnivores, vegetarians, different programs specifically for men and women because women tend to lose weight very differently than men and they also cater to men and women with type 2 diabetes. This system is so healthy that your need for insulin if you do have type 2 diabetes may even decrease over time while using Nutrisystem.

For an entire breakdown of Nutrisystem, their diet plan and diet foods as well as some of their success stories, be sure to check out the Nutrisystem reviews.

Fixing Those Crazy Bra Problems

Every woman out there knows about all of the pesky bra problems we go through. Whether you’re falling out of your bra or it fits half of your bust, with all of the different makes and models of bra on the market now, you have options to ensure that you never fall victim to those annoying bra problems.

If your bra gapes at the top, as shown in the picture above, you should most definitely try a different style of bra that will fit your bust completely and also show it off a little. When your bra has some extra fabric at the top, the best style of bra to try then is a demi.

Strapless bras are the most uncomfortable, problematic bras on the market; I am absolutely convinced of that, since every bra I have ever purchased personally have done the same thing–Slip down and expose almost my complete bust and dig into my sides at the same time. Like any other rational and logical person out there, I thought that purchasing a strapless bra was pretty much the exact same as buying a regular bra when it came to the size. However, I have recently learned that when buying strapless bras, it is better to buy a bra that is one size smaller in the back and one size bigger in the cup, making your bust look supported and shapely.

Want that little something extra to show off while wearing a new, low cut top? If you’re looking for cleavage, your answer is in a molded bra with extra padding added to it to give the illusion of a bigger bust which then moves your actual bust up and creates the cleavage you’ve been dying for. However, keep in mind to never, ever, ever put a molded bra in the dryer–The heat will warp its shape and instead of having that nice, smooth shape, you’ll look like you just grabbed some tissues and stuffed them into your old bra.

If you’re like me and find that you are spilling over the top of your bra, no matter what style or company you buy from, the trick to fixing what makes you look like you have two busts is to get a full-coverage bra with a cross seam to support your breasts–You will have a lot more confidence, too!

It is important to upgrade your bra wardrobe once a year. Because anything from medication, menstruation, weight loss, weight gain and so on can affect the size and fullness of your bust, you should most definitely get into the habit of upgrading your bras. And hey, now you have an excuse to splurge a little on sexy new bras and perhaps some matching panties–Because everyone knows a woman feels her sexiest when her undies are sexy.

The ‘Healthy’ Glow

It’s spring, which means summer is just around the corner and women are getting ready to get their bikini bodies. But what if women, with their exercise schedule and healthy diets, are backtracking and while they think they are being healthy in their efforts to maintain that perfect beach body, are really just harming their health more?

If you go to a gym, you most likely utilize most of the facilities and activities that they have to offer. Work out equipment, maybe some private classes with a personal trainer or being part of a weekly class, if they have a nutritionist on staff, you most likely consulted with them about maintaining some healthy eating habits or have gotten a quick snack from them. Just before taking your shower, getting back into your street clothes and going home, how many women hop into the tanning bed for that healthy summer glow; because lets face it, who wants to be a color just a few pigments darker than chalk? But what you don’t know is that tanning beds, a $5 billion a year industry, are harming you more than you may think.

Personally, I used to frequent tanning salons because I suffered from chronic insomnia and I found that while accompanying a friend of mine on her tanning trip and deciding to try it out for myself, that a tanning bed was the only place where I could fall asleep. While I didn’t strive for the perfect tan, I do know women who became absolutely obsessed with tanning, making appointments at two or three different tanning facilities just so no one told them that they were tanning too much because they would go to a variety of different places. It looked as if they were going once a week, but they were really visiting these facilities three times a week or more!

Tanning, while incredibly bad for your skin to begin with, as the ultraviolet radiation can cause wrinkles, dark spots and premature aging; indoor tanning can also put you at a 55% higher risk for Melanoma.

Dermatologist Louis Barich, MD, has reported that “Essentially, 20 minutes in a tanning bed can do as much damage as five hours of natural sunlight.”

So before hopping into that tanning bed for that healthy glow, go outside and get some fresh air instead–but be sure to put the sunblock on! While being pasty white may not seem very attractive to you, think about how you would feel about wrinkles, dark spots and ultimately, skin cancer.