90 days to nudity: how did i do it?

this is going to be a long one..better be prepared!!

these past 90 days have been quite the journey. 

here's me 90 days ago.  i was making it to the gym 

2-3 days a week and prior to that i was doing a lot 

of running to train for an 8k run at the beginning of spring.

in that photo, i weigh 145lbs. a year ago around the same time,

i was 155-158lbs and tired of it but didn't know where to start. my

dear husband suggested i sign myself up for a 5k race that

was at the end of the summer as a means to motivate me

to become more active. 

it was definitely the kick start i needed.

after that race, i continued to run a few days a week and 

even went as far as running a race on new years day!

shedding 10lbs made me feel really good and put

me in the frame of mind that i needed to get back into.

turning 30 last year was also a huge contributor to

my motivation because i knew i wanted to enter this

decade of life knowing that i was doing everything i

could to be a healthier me, not only for myself

but for my family.

i should mention though, that i even though i 

exercised, i didn't really change my eating habits. i realize now

that instead of fueling myself with enough good and wholesome

food, i was filling in the breakfasts, lunches and dinners

with junk. coffee and muffin for breakfast, sometimes i skipped

a lunch and a frozen pizza for dinner.

anyway,

then, i stumbled upon an account on instagram (@90days2nudity)

and was intrigued by her recipes and workouts

and this challenge that she holds quarterly.

 the concept was simple: you submit your body composition
information on day 1 and in 90 days you repeat the same
and if you're the competitor with the most body fat % lost,
you win!

how you get there though, is entirely up to you,
whether it be hire a personal trainer, follow an online
workout regimen, buy a weight loss shake program, whatever,
as long as you had those measurements, you were in.

so i thought to myself, what the hey. 90 days of my
life that i can sacrifice to get closer to my goals.
i bought into the challenge, found a moderate
12 week workout plan, figured out my meals
and off we went!

here's me 90 days later: 135lbs.

i've got some work ahead of me as you can see by my pear shape;

my weakest link are my legs and my butt (that i've so graciously

kept hidden!) so i'm definitely going to put more focus on that.

but seriously though, how did i do it?

well first off, i got rid of the excuses.

number one reason why people don't exercise and why *i* didn't

exercise?

"i didn't have time"

well of course i did..i had to WANT to make the

time in order for the time to be there.

it's just like really wanting that cup of starbucks coffee.

when you really want it, you`ll drive around hell`s

half acre to find the starbucks so you can order that caramel

macchiato regardless of how long it took you to get there

or what it cost you or how much time you lost by going.

ok so with the time excuse out of the way, 

as a mom with kids, what would naturally be the next

barrier to taking time for yourself to get healthy?

"i've got kids at home"

or if you don't have kids then it's,

"i have to work"

OR

if you have both then it's

"i have to work and then come home to my kids"

and hey i get it, you've put in a days worth of house work

or clocked in at your day job and then you have to

come home or make dinner and get the kids ready for the night.

you're tired and the last thing you want to

do is throw on your gym clothes and exercise.

i get it.

when you make big changes like this in your life,

and i mean BIG..like, life changing, you have to want it.

i said to myself, okay i am short on time, when do i 

work out?

 if i had my kids with me and i was alone with no

childcare, i took them to my complex gym (toys et al) 

kept them occupied while i cranked out an hour or

if it was sunny or decent out, we`d go to the park and i`d use the 

playground as a gym.

if i was alone i'd set aside time to put in

a solid workout (1.5-2hrs) and if i had to work

i worked out on my lunch break!! people! it can be done.

at work i would eat at a 15 minute break, workout on my

lunch for 20 mins (treadmill or HIIT) and then eat again 

at my last break. i had to improvise on those days

and my co-workers thought (probably still think) i was crazy

but i got it in, every day i had to work out.

the other part of the transformation is the eating.

i said good bye to all of my starbucks coffees (and switched

to skinny versions as occasional treats) 

pastries, saltys, fried, savourys

and sweets.

i refused cake at parties, going in on a pizza or

some other take out meal with co-workers and 

even went as far as bringing my own food

to certain events.

a few weeks before the competition started, i went out and bought

a bunch of reusable plastic containers to store meals that i would

prepare in advance. seriously people, meal prepping

is one of the easiest things to do and doesn't

require that much time once you've taken the time to plan.

i created a weekly meal plan and essentially

practiced how i would prepare these things so i could

figure out what would work for me and what wouldn't

(for example i meal prep every sunday and wednesday

so that it changes the menu and the food is fresh)

and make necessary adjustments when i needed to. my hubby was also

a huge help because he too was on board with this idea

that it became second nature to whip up a bit extra

of whatever meal and slap it into some containers.

i started focusing most of my shopping on REAL food.

none of this premade low carb, low fat food like products that you

find in the middle aisles of your grocery store.

i wanted to teach myself how to make great food

using natural products so that this could be a lasting 

and tangible change rather than relying on

"get rich quick" type schemes.

talk about discipline. did i give in at times?

yes i did. was it worth it afterwards? not really because

i became so used to eating so clean that 

unhealthy things just made my stomach upset. plus

i stopped feeling satisfied from eating foods like that too.

the tools i have learned during this competition

are things that will now stick with me and best of all

because the meals were home cooked, the kids

got into eating healthy too! (BIG WIN)

it's been so wonderful to hear from people that have

followed me on this journey get inspired and 

ask questions or tell me they're getting into a healthy lifestyle.

no word of a lie, it was damn hard. the amount

of food i had to refuse and the days where 

it hurt to sit on a toilet made it difficult to

slap a smile and want to do it all again the next day, but i WANTED

this change so badly i was willing to put in the WORK

to get the results.

i hope i have inspired you to get out there!

if you have any questions or want to know in

more detail what i did, feel free to leave a comment on this page

with your email and i'll tell ya all i know!

thank you for being so encouraging, it meant

a lot!!!

hooray for my 100th post! (giveaway!)

pop the champagne!

(okay fine, i can't drink that right now remember? 90days2nudity? ya.)

pop the sparkling water!

it's my 100th blog post!

i can't even believe that this blog started 2 and a bit

years ago and has grown and touched

so many different people in many

different ways.

i'd like to thank all you secret blog

stalkers for taking a moment to come and visit

me on here to read my rants

or find out how a vacation was and never

leave any comments.

real nice.

joking.

anyway, what's a celebration of this

magnitude without cake!?

and since i'm the cake mama, i thought a giveaway in honor of this

historic moment would be quite fitting.

one lucky blog visitor can win a 6" cake and 2 dozen

cupcakes with butter cream swirl (your choice of flavor) for your next

special occasion!

that's a $75 value folks!

here's how to enter:

1. like "thecakemama" on facebook.

2. share a link to this blog on facebook.

2. leave a comment on this post telling me what special occasion you'd

like a cake mama creation for and leave your email!!

winner will be selected and announced on the blog

on september 1, 2013.

oh and of course, there has to be some rules:

1. giveaway is open to residents of the lower mainland, british columbia, canada (but you can

like my facebook page nonetheless lol!)

2. the offer is what it is, may not be changed or rearranged 

or have it's cash value applied to a different order.

3. giveaway must be redeemed within 12 months of winning. 

4. winner must respond within 48 hours of announcement or another winner

will be selected.

that's it folks, thanks for following!

Chewy Chocolate Oatmeal Cookies (the sneaky healthy way)

These beauties were gobbled up as quickly as they were made! While they still contain the fundamentals of a good cookie, I was able to make a few substitutions to add some protein and omega 3s!

The recipe:

1 c butter softened

1 c packed brown sugar

2 eggs

2 tsp vanilla extract

2 c brown rice flour 

2 scoops vanilla whey protein powder

1/4 c flax seeds

1/4 c chia seeds

1/2 tsp baking powder 

1 tsp salt

3 c quick cooking oats

1 c mini chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350.

Cream butter and sugar until fluffy. Add vanilla and eggs and continue to mix. In a separate bowl combine all dry ingredients. Add dry ingredients to wet ingredients and then add the chocolate chips.

Using a tablespoon measuring spoon, spoon batter onto a cookie sheet and bake for 8-10 minutes or until bottoms are light brown in color.

Cookies will be extremely soft so be careful when transferring onto a cooling rack!

Enjoy!

Approx calories per cookie: 150 

 

Super Protein Blueberry Pancakes

You'll have to bear with me folks while my laptop is down *tear* and I type this recipe out on my itty bitty iPhone keypad!

Here goes!

1 c brown rice flour

2 c steel cut oats 

2 tbsp chia seeds 

2 tbsp flax seed 

2 whole eggs

2 scoops vanilla whey protein powder

2 c blueberries

2 tbsp coconut oil

2 cups coconut water

Sprinkle of cinnamon (as you like)

In a food processor blend the steel cut oats, chia seeds and flax until as fine as you can get it. I have a tiny food processor so mine turned out a bit chunkier but I like the texture it gives the pancakes!

Throw all of the ingredients in a bowl and mix until a nice batter forms. I used a 1/3c measuring cup to spoon into a non stick pan and it yielded 11 servings.

Follow me on Instagram @jzzygettinbzzy for more recipes!!

I'd love to hear what you think of them!

cucumber boats

these, my friends will definitely become

a regular staple in my meal planning rotations.

they're pretty versatile which is why i just

titled them "cucumber boats" since

you can pretty much fill them with whatever you want!

these ones in particular have spicy thai tuna

in them and the cucumber does a great job cutting 

the spiciness :)

alternatively, you could make a chicken salad

and what you'll need for that is:

a food processor

cooked chicken breasts

peppers

avocado

salt free seasoning

(if you're a red onion fan, have at 'er too)

using the avocado as the good 'fat',

you will not require any mayonnaise like a 

traditional chicken salad requires.

chop the peppers into large chunks

before putting into the food processor,

as with the avocado and pulse all of the ingredients

together until you've reached the consistency you like.

using 1 whole cucumber, wash

and divide it into 3's then slice them

length-wise to produce 6 pieces.

i used a small measuring spoon to hollow out

the seed portion to create the groove for which i'd put 

my stuffing in.

after testing, i learned this is best prepared and 

served at the last minute as the cucumbers

get quite watery and you get a nice

little puddle in your container. ew.

you might wonder to yourself, 'now

what the heck am i gonna do with all of those

middles of the cucumber?!'

well, grab a pitcher, fill it up with ice cubes and water

and add the cucumber middles to it,

very refreshing!!

here's the nutritional breakdown:

per serving: 6 cucumber halves & 1 can of tuna

calories: 206

protein: 17g

fat: 7g

carbs: 19

enjoy!

#90days2nudity: what i've learned in 30 days

first of all, let me just say, i can't believe it's already been

30 days past. 

i'm slowly but surely seeing the physical changes of 

all this hard work but more important than that, i'm

seeing the mentality changes in me too.

while it may all sound so monotonous: wake up, eat healthy,

snack healthy, work out, eat healthy, snack healthy, workout again, 

eat healthy, snack healthy and then wish you could eat that bag of cheetos

in your pantry... it now all makes sense to me.

when you start eating healthier, you realize how much

you used to depend on eating as 'something to do'

"oh i'll just hop on the laptop and snack on some

(insert junk food here)" 

"picking up my kids from school, i'll bring some

crackers with me for the road"

oh, this is just me? not you huh.

damn.

well my point is that when you start learning about what

fuels your body and gives it proper energy and what

percentage of those types of food you should be eating, you kinda

start looking at food a totally different way.

yes, the plain and simple, 'oh that stuff has too many calories'

will get you at first, but then you start looking at carbohydrates

and how much of that is actually fibre, not sugar. fats, you'll start

looking at what kind of fat and where its coming from and whether

or not that's a good or bad source. then protein, does it have

too much or too little.

then knowing all of these things makes you want to put together some

awesome meals which i'll share in coming posts.

not only that, i am learning how my body

reacts to certain workouts, where i'm a total bitch (glutes & triceps)

and when i own the gym: (biceps, hamstrings & abs). knowing 

my strengths and weaknesses pushes me to go harder

on my workouts even when i know i'm dreading it.

in the words of bob and jillian (biggest loser) i strive to make

each and every workout a 'last chance workout' and 

make sure that i leave that gym with my heart in my throat

and my body sweaty.

but. if i go back home from that workout

and say to myself "gee you deserve ice cream cuz

you just killed it at the gym" then i'll completely nullify 

everything i worked so hard for at the gym.

while it sounds so tempting to reward all of those

calories burned with something calorie laden, it's

counter productive (duh) and it'll make those pounds even

harder to lose!

60 some odd days left to go..can't wait for the reveal!

apologies for the hiatus!

well friends, i have to apologize for being MIA from my blog.

i swear i always have awesome things to share but never the

time to do it. 

now that i have embarked on a 90 day fitness challenge which -by the way-

is totally rocking my socks, my daily routine has become,

 kids, work, gym, eating, sleeping, working, parenting,

gym, you get where i'm going with this.

if only i could dictate my blog entries......

never fear though, in the background i've got

a few posts in draft mode from our fantabulous disneyland trip

and olivia's under the sea adventure party so believe you me,

it'll all blow your mind.

lol.

in the meantime, feel free to follow me on instagram (jzzygettinbzzy),

twitter (jzabelala) and vine (jzabela) to witness my 

super crazy life right now, cuz i seem to be able

to keep all of THAT social media caught up haha.

until next time!!