Diet Enlightenment The Real Secret to Success - Free Ebook from Tomoson

Free Ebook: Diet Enlightenment - The Real Secret to Weight Loss

I just discovered a new website for freebies and I am so excited about it! This website is called Tomoson.com and it's where all the product review "pros" go to sign up for and be invited to try very special, unique, and often quite expensive products for free in exchange for an honest review from bloggers.

All you have to do is sign up at Tomoson.com with your email address and connect your social media accounts. Anyone can join, but some of the giveaways have strict requirements and require a set minimum amount of followers on your personal social media pages and ultimately it is up to the business providing the product to have the final say on if you are chosen to receive the product. To me, getting picked to try a product review on Tomoson is hitting the big time! I will discuss more in detail as I progress through the "ranks" but for now, this is my very first product test with them and I am so honored to share my product review with you! I received this product complimentary.

The product I am reviewing is for an Ebook called Diet Enlightenment The Real Secret to Weight Loss by Rachel L. Pires.

When I saw what this book was about, I knew that it was right up my alley. Just a little history about me, up until I hit my 30s, I had a super high metabolism and could eat whatever I wanted and never worried about my weight. I guess I was one of the lucky ones.

But then after 30, the weight started creeping up slowly. I then realized that I could no longer eat bacon cheddar potato wedges and a triple cheeseburger in one sitting without seeing it show up on the scale. I'm 5'0 tall and for me, every pound shows. I had tried numerous diets like Weight Watchers, Nutrisystem, and South Beach. And while each one of them helped me to lose weight, it was always temporary. After I had my son at 36, my metabolism really slowed down. Did I also mention that I hate to exercise? It is sooo boring and excruciating to me.

Then I discovered calorie counting. And with the invention of free calorie counting apps on smart phones with bar code scanners and massive food databases, it makes it so easy! Just by keeping track of what I ate every day, the weight just started to melt off. It is the only thing I have tried that has actually helped me to accomplish and maintain my ideal goal weight.

Me, size 10 in 2011, after having my son

Fitting into a size 2 in 2013. Whaaat?!

Just by tracking my calories I went down 4 sizes! In this book, Rachel shares my weight loss philosophy. She talks about the ups and downs of dieting and provides many different resources on how to discover your ideal weight. She also provides readers with ways to find free weight-loss calculators and apps that make the calorie counting process so quick and easy.

One of my biggest fears as a calorie counter is always eating out in restaurants and at friends houses. I will admit, that I have declined a few social gatherings on occasion just because I don't think there will be anything there that I can eat and maintain my healthy diet without giving in to temptation. But Rachel shows you how you can plan ahead of time and estimate your calorie consumption by "budgeting" your calories. You can even enjoy a piece of cake now and then without feeling guilty.

I don't want to give too much more away, because it will spoil the book. But she can do it, I did it, and you can do it too!

You can find out more by going to her website http://dietenlightenment.com/ available on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and Tate Publishing.

April's Free Goodie Haul from Bzz Agent

First off let me start by saying this was an AWESOME Bzz Kit! I could not believe the selection of products that Bzz Agent allowed me and my family to try all complimentary from Kroger. The kit contained P$t Brownie Mix, Tomatillo Lime Tortillas, Private Selection Breakfast Blend Coffee, and Simple Truth Organic Banana Chips. Then we went to our local Fry's food and picked out the HemisFares Rigatoni Pasta, Private Selection Applewood Bacon, and Kroger Classic Fajita Cooking Sauce with the free coupons we received.

Check out all of the stuff in this BzzKit!

The first thing we tried was the Applewood Smoked Bacon. The bacon was very high quality with just a hint of smokiness. It was not only great as a breakfast side, but we used it on burgers and put it in omelettes.

Then we made the HemisFares Rigatoni for dinner. I'll be honest, I'm not a huge fan of large pasta noodles. I prefer thinner pastas like spaghetti, angel hair, and linguine. But the rest of the family wanted to try it, so that is what we picked out. The rigatoni was very firm and extremely filling. It was okay, but I think for me it's a texture thing. I don't think I would have purchased it without the coupon. I feel that there are other pastas out there that are comparable and less expensive.

Hubby decided to make the brownie mix for dessert. The brownies were very light and cakey and really good. You can't go wrong with chocolate!

Another night we made chicken fajitas with the Classic Fajita cooking sauce and the Tomatillo Lime Tortillas. It was pretty tasty. The Fajita cooking sauce was a bit on the salty side, but it was still really good. The Tomatillo Lime tortillas were different. The hint of lime worked well with the fajita sauce and lessened the flavor of the salty sauce. I'm not a huge fan of the packaging though. The sauce was very hard to find on the shelves at Fry's and the blue color doesn't scream appetizing to me. It feels very dated for some reason.

Jaxon trying out a banana chip. He spit it out right after.

The banana chips didn't go over very well. Nobody in my house really likes them. They are a bit too hard and tasted like stale bananas. We only had one or two pieces each before we put the bag away. It's still in my pantry though. I hate to waste food. Any takers?

But the best was the Private Selection Breakfast Blend coffee. We are still using up the bag. It is comparable to more expensive coffees and really feels like a premium product.

The coupons were really fantastic too! I passed them out to my family and friends. Perhaps the most coveted were the $5.00 off of these Kroger Products. I wanted to keep it for myself, but that kind of defeats the purpose.

Have you signed up for Bzz Agent yet? Click on the bee to join for free!

How to get free stuff with pre-packaged food rewards programs!

Rewards Programs are a fantastic way to get free stuff!

I eat a lot of frozen dinners. I know they are not the most healthy of meals, but for me they are a convenient option to take to work. Not only are they tasty, but they help me maintain my weight on a budget at usually less than $2.50 a meal. So one day I read the box on one of my Lean Cuisines and saw that they had this rewards program and a way to get free stuff. I figured, well I eat them every day anyway, why not take a few minutes to enter the codes on the Lean Cuisine website? This led me to discover a treasure trove of free goodies to explore!

All I had to do was create an account and cut open the box to uncover a code with random letters and numbers inside and enter them on the website. Each code is worth 20 or 40 points. I have even had my friends and family save their boxes for me for even more opportunities. Unfortunately the rewards program has already closed down, but it looks like it is still available to Canadian consumers with even cooler stuff. But to show you some of the perks of rewards programs, here are some of the awesome things I got for free just for entering the codes:

Colorful plastic measuring spoons

How cute are these?

A free thermal lunch bag

Perfect for taking your Lean Cuisine to work!

And my personal favorite...free magazine subscriptions! I seriously haven't had to purchase a magazine in almost 3 years. I've gotten free subscriptions to Self, Glamour, Women's Day, Redbook, and Living. But there were lot of other ones to choose from.

I spent most of my points on Magazines

Since joining the Lean Cuisine rewards program, I have paid attention to other rewards programs advertised on the products I buy. Another recent one was with Healthy Choice (another one of my favorite frozen dinners). 

See the rewards advertisements on the boxes?

It was a very brief promotion. You had to purchase 4 Healthy Choice frozen entrees in a single transaction between January 1, 2015 through February 25, 2015. I purchase 4-5 meals at a time, so I figured why not? So I went to the website at http://reward.healthychoice.com/ and followed the instructions via text and got to choose between lots of different prizes in my area. These prizes consisted of free passes to a gym, to day spa treatments. I was really looking for a massage so I used my code to get a free hydro massage at my local Planet Beach.

My voucher for a free massage

So I booked my massage and got to enjoy 20 mins of what is called a "Hydro-Massage". You basically get to relax in a private room and lay down fully clothed on this special bed where waves of high pressure water goes up and down your body. It was pretty cool but could have lasted much longer. I don't think I would have paid actual money to get this type of massage. But I'm not complaining because after all, it was free!

Check out this "Hydro-Massage" bed!

As of this posting, Kellogg's has a rewards program that I am currently accumulating points for. I mean, who doesn't eat Kellogg's? You can sign up for it here:

So next time you purchase something you are planning to buy anyway, check out the box to see if there are any opportunities to get free stuff! It only takes a couple of minutes out of your time and it's totally worth it. Have you tried out any rewards programs? What cool free stuff have you got? I'd love to hear about it! Thanks for reading.