Measupro Digital Wrist Blood Pressure Monitor

I have a short list of health based technology as I become more health focused. First was my Vivofit for fitness tracking, along with gadget two, a waterproof heart rate monitor strap to track workouts. Another was a blood pressure monitor as it turns out high blood pressure can be a silent killer. Naturally, I jumped at the chance to review the Measupro digital wrist blood pressure monitor for free.

As a woman, and now mother, my two of the major health risks are heart disease and stroke which can be tied to high blood pressure. On the other hand, low blood pressure can be indicative of diabetes or other heart disorders. All of which can be caught early with regular at home monitoring instead of just relying on annual physicals.

How to read your blood pressure readings:


This chart reflects blood pressure categories defined by the American Heart Association.

Blood Pressure Category	Systolic mm Hg (upper #)		Diastolic mm Hg (lower #)
Normal	less than 120	and	less than 80
Prehypertension	120 – 139	or	80 – 89
High Blood Pressure (Hypertension) Stage 1	140 – 159	or	90 – 99
High Blood Pressure (Hypertension) Stage 2	160 or higher	or	100 or higher
Hypertensive Crisis (Emergency care needed)	Higher than 180	or	Higher than 110

(From heart.org.)

Readings that are lower than 90 mm Hg systolic or 60 mm Hg diastolic are considered low and should also be checked out.

I really like the Measupro digital wrist blood pressure monitor. It takes less space than older blood pressure monitors, stores 3 readings at a time, also providing the averages for those readings and store data for 2 users (perfect for my husband and I. It also gauges whether your reading is excellent, good, normal, poor or emergency level with a marker on the left hand side of the screen. It is also very easy to use and accurate. I'm very happy to add this to my health arsenal. Despite the fact that worrying about blood pressure makes me feel sad and old. 

What other health numbers should I be thinking about?

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Fit Girl Lunch Gear

I've starting brown bagging my lunch, which is to say I am packing my lunch in an adorable lunch bag from Sachi with a few other adorable items.

Sachi Speedy Insulated Lunch Tote: This bag doesn't even look like a lunch bag, but it's huge and holds a lot of food containers. That way, I don't look like I'm carrying food which makes me automatically look thinner. Am I right?

To-Go Ware RePEaT Reusable Bamboo Utensil Set: Instead of trying to track down disposable utensils, I picked up this adorable bamboo utensil set which makes me feel green and fit. 

Ball Mason Jars Wide-Mouth: I'm trying to move away from plastic and started buying glass containers which were not perfect at holding in fluids. I happened to see a case of these wide mouth canning jars that were the perfect size for a cup of soup, holding fruit, even cereal and a separate container for milk. Yes, they are heavy, but they're so cheap and have a homey charm to them.

Orla Kiely Bamboo Glass Water Bottle: I have written about this bottle twice now because I love it in every color. I find that if I like my water bottle's looks, I tend to tote it around with me more. 

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Gift Guide for the Fitness Focused Gal

As we move into the new year, everyone's got health resolutions. Now that I'm personally more fitness focused, here are a few products that I highly recommend for the fitness geared gals.

Gurin Professional Digital Kitchen Scale: I received this free for review and absolutely love it. It's about the size of a small tablet, wipes down easy and converts to various measurements. Between Eat to Live, If It Fits Your Macros, and other diet plans, this digital kitchen scale is a must have.

Orla Kiely Bamboo Glass Waterbottle: I adore this waterbottle, and I have a large collection of waterbottles. It's just so pretty even if the opening is not convenient.

Dragonfly Hot Yoga Mat: I haven't tested this mat yet but it's the mat I'm planning on picking up so I can start taking hot yoga classes. It's very highly rated and coordinates with my yoga clothes.

SodaStream Soda Maker: To up my water intake and combat boredom, I've picked up a SodaStream which has resulting in much more hydration. Health win.

Masterlock Precision Dial: For gym rats, a combination lock is necessary. One where the user can set their own combination is much better than having to memorize a random combination of numbers.

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FlavFusion Infuser Water Bottle Review

In an effort to #getfitordietrying, I have been upping my hydration game. Before, I used glass bottles in silicon sleeves, cycling bottles and even disposable plastic bottles. When I received the FlavFusion Infuser Water Bottle, I was thrilled with the design.

1. Light weight and durable. Lugging around the glass bottles is fine but they tend to be heavy and I worry about dropping it, even with the silicon sleeve at the gym.

2. Wide mouth opening. The most frustrating thing about many water bottles is the inability to add large ice cubes to it. I had to buy these ice cube trays that froze the ice into sticks that melted very quickly. This takes my large ice cubes that are long lasting.

3. Easy open and close spout.  The spout as easy to use and more secure than a cycling bottle. It opens with the pull of a finger and closes up tight so it doesn't leak.

4. Easy to clean. It comes apart in 4 different pieces so it's easy to clean all the nooks and crannies that might gather up food bits from the infusing process.

5. Infuses water efficiently. The aforementioned 4 part system infuses water but keeps the particles contained so they don't make their way up the spout. The reservoir holds just the right amount fruit and herbs to infuse the quantity of water in the bottle.

6. Great for kids. My toddler loves to drink out of this thing. I've used it to infuse water with various flavors that I'm trying to teach him to enjoy and he'll happily drink the water.


The foodie in me also likes coming up with different flavors to add. A few of my favorite combinations are mint and lime which was refreshing like a mojito, strawberry and basil, and spinach and pineapple.

I highly recommend this bottle which can be purchased on Amazon. Use this discount code to get $2 off: 9WMNBVTM.


I received one or more of the products mentioned above for free using Tomoson.com. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I use personally and believe will be good for my readers.

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Motivated to Get Fit

There seems to be a progression in mom life where we go from becoming new moms and taking care of our new babies and one day, we wake up and realize that breastfeeding didn't take off all the baby weight and we're going to have to do something about it.  For me, luckily, this coincided with a few goodies coming to me for free, as though the universe was telling me that I really should lose that pouch.

Here are a few of the things that are really motivating me to make some healthy changes.

Garmin Vivofit Fitness Band
I received this for my birthday off my Amazon wishlist. Among all the fitness trackers, like Fitbit and Jawbone Up, this is the only one that doesn't need to be charged or have the battery replaced for an entire year! Do you know what that means? It means no forgetting it on the charger only to be left off for months.

It is also waterproof, not just water resistant, which means that pool time heart rate monitoring is a go. Also, it includes a chest strap heart rate monitor.

The calorie tracking syncs from My Fitness Pal (MFP), which I think the best calorie tracking app and website. It also does calorie output adjustments in the MFP database so it will correct erroneous exercise calorie counts to what is actually burned!

FlavFusion 26 Oz Infuser Bottle
I received this from FlavFusion to try and will review in detail later. Water is so very important for health but especially so when starting a new fitness routine or wanting to lose weight. Often, however, water is boring, espeically for those used to sugary drinks. Infusing water with fruit and herbs is a great way to make water less boring without adding sugar. 

Victoria Secret Incredible Sports Bra 
This came as an Influenster Vox Box along with sport leggings. I had always heard that dressing well for the gym or workout is motivating but stuck to my yoga pants and t-shirts gym uniform while the Lululemon clad ladies strutted their stuff through yoga class. It was a mistake to understimate the movitating power of looking hot while working out because, let's be honest, part of the getting fit picture is a bit of vanity. Embrace it. Everyone wants to look their best.

The Incredible is simply amazing. Comfortable, doesn't cause a uniboob, and is so extremely figure flattering. It also comes in specific bra sizes so it will cup and hold the "girls" perfectly during a workout. The capris and tights are also phenomenal. Even during the heatwave last week, a walk in VSX black tights was cool. Plus, the fabric has a light weight spanx feel and really shapes the legs and butt in a flattering way.

I also stopped into my local Victoria Secret to see what else was new and was surprised at how much Victor Secret has changed. Aside from having an entire PINK store for VS clothing across the path in the mall, the store is so much more than just lingerie now. Swim suits, comfortable sleep wear and a wide variety of workout clothes offerings caused me to walk out with a few more items of sports clothes than I expected!

Now I'm off to get a short walk in because my Vivofit is telling me that I've been sitting for too long. 

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