I was sent a pair of Honey Cloudz to review.

Hey, it's 2018? Why shouldn't my kid get a MRSA infection while the crown on my dental implant decides to LITERALLY go sideways on me? Oh, and the AC? Take a dump, please, while the dog goes in for Cushing's Disease testing.

(And as I type this today, I just cracked a wisdom tooth. Great.)

What I'm getting at is I literally cannot wait for this year to go away. Don't get me wrong -- many amazing things have happened (like nearly 90 pounds off my caboose), but the year has pretty much been a dumpster fire for family and friends.

I think we all can use a little somethin' somethin' right about now, and to you I give you the somethin' somethin' of a great new product for all us sports bra and swimsuit wearing people -- inserts that stay put!

Since losing a bunch o' weight, I've had the pleasure of getting a bunch of new sports bras and swimsuits, and those foam inserts are just the worst! Either they're weirdly shaped, too small, too concave, too wrinkly, too lumpy or too active -- disappearing in the washing machine, or folding in half while you're trying to wrestle on your bra or swimsuit top.

I got some great sports bras from a very popular activewear store, and while I love the bras, I don't love the weird boob wrinkles that the inserts give me.

Enter Honey Cloudz!

They're premium bra/swimsuit inserts that have a grippy face covered with silicone honeycombs that allows the inserts to stay put. They're also a lot smoother than most inserts so you won't have wrinkles or lumps where there shouldn't be any. The part facing your body is a moisture-wicking material. 

The best thing is that they come in two shapes -- half moon or oval -- five sizes from extra small to extra large, and five colors from light to dark.

I have tried them in a couple different sports bras and also in a couple swimsuit tops that have removable pads, and they are absolutely great!

Nothing budged, everything was smooth and comfortable and they went in and came out easily, so you can get a pair and use 'em in all your clothing.

Right now, I'm around a 38C, and I ordered the medium in the half-moon shape. The size fits all my bras and swimsuits perfectly. I also got the lightest color, which is Vanilla Sugar. 

I talked with Honey Cloudz, and they assure me that they'll hold up in the pool:

"The fabric base is polyester, queen of chlorine fabric wise. We have tested them with aqua fitness instructors and competitive swimmers over the course of 12 months of an average 3 swims/classes per week. Some 4-5 and others 2-3. The inserts held up very well in a chlorine and seawater over 12 consistent months."

Here's a video from Honey Cloudz that explains the product more.

And now, a giveaway!

I really love Honey Cloudz and think you will, too. You can take advantage of their Black Friday weekend sale, now through Monday. Use code BLACKFRIDAYWEEKEND  at www.honeycloudz.com. 

Or you can try and win a pair! All you need to do is follow the directions on this Rafflecopter form.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

One big side effect of losing more than 80 pounds is that I've lost my caboose! 

I was kind of shocked when I caught a side view of myself lately. Apparently, my rear was made up of pizza and tacos and not much muscle, because when the weight came off, so did my back side.

So I knew that I'd have to work on building muscle and definition in that area, and what better way than to squat!

But squats can be tricky -- unless you have perfect form, you can end up aggravating your knees and your back. Since I don't have the best upper spine, I tend to lean over too much when I squat, and bad squats can be more tiring than good squats. 

Enter the SquatMaster!

I was sent a SquatMaster for review purposes, and I love it. It's not a machine -- instead you do all the work but you do it in perfect alignment, which makes the squats less stressful (and you can do more of them).

From the photos, it may look like I'm sitting on something but I'm not. I'm performing a perfect squat.

This thing is great. All you do is stand on the SquatMaster, put your legs between the rollers, grab onto the handle and squat. Holding onto the handles lets you sink into the perfect squat while keeping everything in perfect alignment. 

I'm all about the squat, but you can do a bunch more moves on the SquatMaster, including post-workout stretches and yoga poses. Here's a short video showing all the different exercises you can do,

 We keep the SquatMaster in the corner of the living room where it's easy to hop on and bust out a bunch of squats while watching TV. 

I've made the SquatMaster a part of my everyday strength training because you can never do enough squats.

You can find out more information at SquatMaster.info.

... and a cardio workout when you try and take the sweaty sucker off, amirite?

Here's a little secret -- twice a week I've been working out with people my mom's age and loving it. 

Maybe it's because I'm usually the youngest person in the pool, maybe it's because you can't get hot and sweaty in the pool, maybe it's because I get to wear all my new swimwear that I bought since I've lost more than 75 pounds. 

Or maybe because aqua aerobics classes are a damn good workout and it's super fun. 

Now that I have a Fitbit that I can safely wear in the pool, I noticed that each hourlong workout burns around 500 calories, which is not too shabby for feeling like you're playing with pool toys while Pitbull "dales!" in the background.

If you want to take the plunge (HA!) and try pool workouts, I have learned there are some things that are essential.

Don't workout barefoot

Aqua aerobics has a lot of jumping, shuffling, hopping and jogging, so it's important that there's a bit of a supportive layer under your feet. It'll just make things more comfortable and more enjoyable -- and it'll keep you from getting athlete's foot from the soggy locker room floor. There are some top-notch real-deal aqua workout shoes out there but I wanted to see if I could economize and get a happy medium between those and those drugstore cheap-o aqua socks. (Do they only sell stuff like that in Florida drugstores?) I found these slip-on water shoes and they seem to be holding up well -- unlike the water shoes of one woman in class whose shoes basically disintegrated in the pool last week. She was picking up chunks of rubber from the pool bottom at the end of the class. They drain really well, dry quickly and are relatively cute.

Wear a supportive swimsuit

There's a lot of jumping going on in the pool, something that on land would be considered really high impact. You need to hold those girls down so finding the right swimsuit is important. I have learned that floaty layered tops don't work (the layers just hang out in your armpit area) and flirty skirted suits don't stay where they're supposed to and you spend half the time yanking the skirted part down.

Tankinis are great as are sporty one-pieces. I got a cute purple paisley tankini at Swimsuits for All, but alas, I can't find it there anymore. I also got a sporty Reebok suit at Nordstrom Rack that's made for working out in. It's not there anymore either but here it is at Amazon.

Get a wet bag for that drippy swimsuit

Here's my tip for doing a "prewash" on your chlorine-saturated swimsuit -- take a shower at the gym in your swimsuit to wash off a majority of the pool water. Then instead of wrapping up your wet suit in your wet towel, creating a wet mess in your gym bag, get yourself a "wet bag" that'll tote your suit home and keep everything else dry. I got a set of two cute Alva Baby wet bags on Amazon, and what's great about them is that they have two compartments, because I found that one of my new swim tops bled a little on my board short bottoms. This way you can keep 'em separated.

Protect your hair

The first week, before I had my aqua goodies, my hair resembled shredded wheat, so I desperately googled how to protect your hair from chlorine because my mop isn't going to fit in a swim cap without looking ridiculous. The key here is to make sure your hair is already saturated with something good so your hair doesn't suck up the chlorinated water. Fresh water, hair conditioner, even coconut oil (greasy!) is supposed to work, but I found AquaGuard Pre-Swim Hair Defense, and it got enough good reviews that I decided to give it a try. First off, it smells fantastic and has a really nice texture. I put my hair in a ponytail, then squirt out a big handful of AquaGuard and coat the outside of my hair and all the ponytail area. It has made a huge difference in my hair's condition, and it also rinses out easily (unlike the coconut oil, I'm guessing).

Soak your suit

I bought a swimwear cleaner that's supposed to get the chlorine stink out, but so far it's not working as well as Woolite Delicate Care liquid and a splash of vinegar, so that's what I'm going to stick with. Just make sure to soak the suit for around 20 minutes, then rinse it well and hang it to dry without wringing it out, because that's bad for the fabric.

My gym has its own pool noodles and aqua dumbbells, so thankfully I didn't need to buy those or shlep them to the gym. But I did learn that even though the dumbbells are basically made from foam roller material it makes a difference what size you use. The bigger the dumbbell the more water resistance, so go big for a lot of "weight." But go thinner on the pool noodles because you want to be able to sink that noodle down under your foot to provide lower-body resistance, and unless you're King Kong, you're not going to be able to keep a full-size noodle under your foot.

(I learned that the hard and hilarious way on the first day!)

I've been trying to add in more fruit and vegetables lately, but when your diet is "all protein all the time" it can be hard to make room for things that aren't protein. So my plan is to cram in as much protein as I can at meal time and save snacks and evenings for the produce bins. Tonight, for example, I had a salad and some peach slices. I bought some big-ass peaches that are probably bigger than my stomach and I can't finish them in one sitting, which is NOT what the situation would have been before gastric bypass. But it feels good to make room for fresh stuff.

So I increased my workouts and water and my weight loss has slowed! Go figure. But I'm thinking these changes will benefit me in the long run. Body's just got to get used to it.

Yes, this song is a couple years old but Grubhub has been using this song in its ads and it is stuck in my head now. But that's cool -- every time I hear it I dance!

I don't know why I think I'll be back over 200 pounds when I get on the scale every week because it doesn't work that way anymore.  

I don't know why I think my jeans won't fit when I put them on, even though they fit a couple weeks ago. 

I don't know why I thought all those extra-large tankini tops would fit me when I brought them in the dressing room when I just got rid of a bunch of swimsuits in that size.

It doesn't work that way anymore.

But my brain still works that way, and it's going to take time to remold it to my new normal. That's the cool thing about brains -- you can rewire them but it takes time.

It's not really body dysmorphia because I DO see the changes when I look in the mirror. It's more like my brain having to play catch-up with my body. When I'm folding laundry I'll hold up a pair of my jeans and think "How do these possibly fit me???"

But they do. 

:) 

This post has been sponsored by SheSpeaks, Inc., General Mills and Cheerios. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

We're a 4-box family, as in I buy four boxes of cereal every week. Yes, there is only three of us, but cereal is a frequent breakfast, snack and dessert food.

There's always some variety of Cheerios in the pantry, so I jumped at the chance to try the new Cheerios Oat Crunch cereal, which I purchased at my local Walmart Neighborhood Market. It has all the grocery bargains of a regular Walmart in a more streamlined place to shop just for food.

The nice thing about the cereal is that it comes in family-size boxes, since we're such a bunch of cereal hounds. And yes, even I, of the tiny stomach, can pour out a toddler bowl of Cheerios Oat Crunch for a nighttime snack. I'm at the stage in my eating where I can add in more whole grains. 

Cheerios Oat Crunch is made with Multi Grain Cheerios and topped with whole-grain oats and real cinnamon. Here's a closeup shot so you can see all the tasty bits.

That is some big-time hearty fun in a bowl there. The "multi" in the Multi Grain Cheerios is oats, corn, rice, millet, and sorghum. 

The husband likes to end his day with a bowl of it mixed with yogurt and frozen berries. The kid will eat it with milk for breakfast and a late-night snack, and I have my toddler bowl.

Mom tip: Don't get rid of your toddler plates and bowls, even if your kid is in college. They're great for portion control!