It's Easter weekend and I am sick... boo hoo!

This morning I woke up and felt like I'd been hit with a truck, I felt achy and extremely tired. Instead of leaping out of bed I decided that today, I am lying in and reading my book "Reflected in You" by Sylvia Day, it's very much like "Fifty Shades of Grey" what a lot of people call mommy porn, I don't care, I love it! So anyway, I get to the end of the book and find out there is another book after this one but it's not out until JUNE!!!! June! I cannot wait to see what happens between Eva and Gideon until June! How can Sylvia do this to me! lol! So I picked up another book I have been reading "4 Hour Work Week" by Tim Feriss and I LOVE it! I haven't got through much of it yet but I love his style of writing, he speaks from personal experiences and he's quite funny too. But basically the book gets you to think about breaking the rules which of course anyone who knows me knows that I love to do that. So he speaks about leaving the drudgery of the 9-5 job and finding something you can do instead that can not only finance your life, but enhance it. So I am hoping that I can get some great ideas about making money without having to spend of a lot of time doing so. He is a believer in outsourcing and so am I. Once I get through more of the book, I will let you all know what I think and how I am going about designing my own life.

So all in all, even though I felt like a dog's breakfast, a day resting and recouperating is exactly what the doctor ordered, I need to learn to relax more often and get my butt to bed much earlier so that my body can heal itself after the crazy workouts and calorie reduced lifestyle.

Happy Easter xx

Why I have felt like a teletubbie in a coma....

I have it, the answer I completely forgot that Aunt Flo was coming to town and she has arrived. As much as I loathe the inconvenience of the monthly cycle, I am so glad that it is nothing more than that, I seriously thought I was cracking at the seams but instead, I just had a momentary lapse of memory in regards to my female bodily functions. Today, I feel fantastic! After stuffing my body with protein, iron, a trough of water and a good multivitamin, I feel amazing AND I had the best sleep!

Yay for small but definitely welcome victories!

Have a fab day! xx

Oh boy, I've really got to get it together!

Well last night I felt like I was in dire need of a workout after swallowing a much needed shot of iron from a medium rare steak and once my stomach had settled, I threw on my work out gear.

I didn't really want to do it, but I knew I had to, I needed this food to work through my body faster as I was feeling so uncomfortable :(  A few months ago I decided that I was going to cut down on my consumption of meat because it makes me feel sluggish and bloated after eating. The problem with this is that I am iron deficient and rather than pop a ton of iron tablets and other supplements, I try to use food to get my needs.

Yesterday however, I felt so dead and lifeless I felt a much needed steak was in order and an egg. Sure enough I felt better afterwards and then 30 minutes after that ugh...... uncomfortable....gluggy....blah!

So then I worked out and I felt fantastic! I pushed and pushed, jumped and lifted, twisted and crunched and 45 minutes later dripping in sweat I finally finished, dove into the shower and relaxed feeling so much better. This morning however, the thighs, the thighs are burning, my squat session has left my muscles rather tender. Last week aside from walking, I never lifted weights or did my calisthenics so today I am paying for it with pain, great pain, fantastic pain, but pain nonetheless.

So a lesson learned, find another iron source to consume and never, NEVER become lazy about lifting weights, just do it!

Chocolate Zucchini Cake and Happy Conversations

Last night while rummaging through the fridge I came across 6 of the most sad looking zucchinis I have ever seen. I'm not one to waste food so I knew I had to cook them otherwise they were to be destined for the bin, and what was the first recipe you think jumped into my head? yes that's right, a sweet treat dammit! Never mind, at least the girls could take some to school over the next few days and even I could have a little bit especially since I shaved off a lot of the sugar, flour, and oil, viola!

But before I give you the recipe for this, I have to say, absolutely DIVINE cake, I shall tell you about my lovely day with my eldest daughter. Havana is 17 years old this year, it blows my mind that the time has flown by in a flash and before I know it, she'll be leaving home. I am so excited for her, but I am a little sad for me as I will miss her around the house. We will still be living in the same city as we will be moving to Wellington with her as the only reason I am living in this teeny town is because of her finishing high school. So we walked to town (4km's) and had a good chat about her career choices, universities she wanted to go to and after a few hours we had narrowed it down to a university in Wellington which has a brilliant photography programme (way better than the one I'm doing). Moving to Wellington will serve all of us as I will be able to start my photography business and re-ignite my career and my youngest daughter will be able to get into a decile 10 rating school (which is the highest rating), as she is very smart, she is only 6 years old and has to do her phonics class with 8 year old children! She got top for reading and maths last year and is one of those kids lucky enough to absorb information very easily, I am in awe of her sometimes! Moving also means I can easily let go of my soon to be 17 year old because we will still be in the same city so that I am there in a flash if she needs me, and if she wants to come home for some good home cooking, I'm right there!

CHOCOLATE ZUCCHINI CAKE

Okay so this is not exactly "sugar free" but I have cut it down dramatically, I swear! This cake is soooooooooooo moist and chocolate-laden that I have to not look at it as I will get very tempted to wrap my lips around a piece and then suffer the remorse and guilt....... nah not really!

The cake stores well in the fridge and I could easily say that it's good for a few days, but I doubt it will sit in there that long :)





1 cup flour
1 cup almond meal
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
6 tablespoons cocoa
1 cups low GI sugar (or raw sugar if you cannot get low GI, or you can use an artifical sweetener)
3 eggs
1/4 cup oil
1/2 cup low fat yoghurt (I used a natural un-sweetened yoghurt)
2 teaspoons vanilla
2 cups grated zucchini (I made sure to stuff the cup with zucchini to the brim!)

Preheat your oven to 350F (180C)

Place all the dry ingredients into a bowl.

Beat the eggs and add the oil, yoghurt, and vanilla and mix to combine.

Add the wet ingredients to the dry and mix in the zucchini.

Grease (spray) a 9 x 13 inch baking pan and pour in the cake batter. Bake for 30-40 minutes until a toothpick pricked into the centre comes out clean, alternatively you can do the spring back test by pressing lightly onto the cake, if it springs back, it's done.

Cool and serve with Greek yoghurt, low fat whipped cream or low fat icecream, enjoy!!!

NOTE: you can also cover the cake in chocolate or cream cheese frosting, but that's adding more calories! :)

Enjoy, Barbs xx

Super Simple Trifle

This trifle is basically for someone on a weight loss mission who wants to eat a sweet treat. I had a look in the pantry and fridge and thought, mmmm I bet I can make something pretty good with minimal ingredients and satisfy my sweet tooth.









Blueberry & Almond Trifle - serves 1

2 sponge finger biscuits (savoiardi Italian biscuits)
1/2 cup low fat Greek yoghurt, I used plain but you could use vanilla, mango or honey flavoured
1 tablespoon of maple syrup
1/2 cup blueberries
8 raw almonds chopped in half
8 blueberries to decorate

To make this extremely simple dish, all you need to do is layer the ingredients. I used a glass tumbler for this.

On the bottom of the glass place about a tablespoon of yoghurt. Break one sponge finger in half and place on top of the yoghurt.

Top the biscuits with half the amount of blueberries and then add 1/4 cup of the yoghurt on top.

Break the final sponge finger biscuit in half, place on top of the yoghurt followed by the rest of the blueberries then top with the rest of the yoghurt.... phew!

Finally top with the 8 blueberries and almonds, then pour the maple syrup over the top.

Store in the fridge for around 30mins for the sponge fingers to soften or if you cannot wait, just eat it now!

If you want to add a coffee flavour to this, dip the sponge finger biscuits in cold black coffee, yum!

Enjoy :)

Photo of the day: Pineapple in an apple?

I thought this was kind of cute. I bought some apples and noticed that this one looks as if it has a picture of a pineapple in it, mother nature has some funny ways :)

You know winter is on it's way when....

... you start getting annoying things like ear aches! I woke with one this morning and boy was it aching. But was I going to let this pain in the ear stop me from working out today? almost did, but I kicked myself up the butt and went out anyway. I walked my daughter to school and as soon as the sunshine hit my face, I started to feel better, then I carried on in my usual high paced almost a jog speed and made it to town in only 17 minutes, holy crap! I headed to the supermarket, loaded up my bag with groceries, flung it onto my back and decided to catch the bus back because I was feeling a little giddy, damn ear ache! never mind, even though I only managed half a walk (4k) at least I moved my body today. Important lesson, listen to your body, you only get one so treat it with respect!

Photo of the day: a shipping crate!

This crate is used as cover for people walking near a construction site, the footpath is closed as the mall is being built so this crate is there for that purpose. I love it because it's gritty and dirty and how much would I love to do a fashion shoot in here, I would love it BIG TIME!

I'm putting on my chef hat today!

I love, love, love veggie burgers but I have yet to find one that really rocks my world so tonight for my dinner I am going to make a veggie burger using chickpeas as a base and then just throw a whole lot of spices and vegetables in and see how it goes.

I make up loads of recipes all the time and I also modify recipes that I find online and in cookbooks. It seems to me that we are STILL eating bags and bags of sugar even when creating food from scratch. I tend to cut the sugar amount in recipes by half or substitute using apple sauce I make myself. I think our children are eating way too much sugar and white flour these days so, my kids are from now on getting a major reduction of these things in their foods, actually the white flour is completely gone! It is the devil ingredient as far as I am concerned.

I'm a photographer, surely I should be shooting!

Okay so yes I am a photographer and I really should be shooting photographs everyday so what is my problem? Well laziness to be exact. After a work out the last thing I feel like doing is trying to be creative but I need to get on with it and get those creative juices flowing! How can I expect to be an expert without the practice, I can't. I still have a bit of a learning curve with my camera too, so Barbs needs to get off her backside and get clicking and today I started. I shall take one photo everyday and post it in here, I should've started January 1st but hey, better late than never!

Heart Shaped Pepper - taken via iPhone

When it's a struggle to get moving.

The last few days I have been feeling a bit lethargic and achy. I work out almost every day, never less than 6 days per week and I feel like my body is saying 'enough already take a break!' The problem is, I get scared that if I have a day off, I will like doing nothing and then find it hard to get back into it again.

Then Saturday rolls along and I wake up, it's 8:30am, plenty of time to get a work out in before it gets too hot, and I go to lift myself out of bed and it's hard, really hard, my body is so tired even though I've just had 8 hours of blissful sleep. No matter what I try, I can't seem to get it together, so I just have a day off and I tell you what, I felt great the next morning!

So Sunday morning comes along and I am feeling fighting fit and away I go. That night however, sleep does not arrive very easily and I am up four times in the night to go to the loo because I've started drinking my water again. Come Monday, I can't seem to manage moving again, crap! But you know what I did? I am so determined and so focused to getting this fat off my body that I walked my daughter to school with thoughts all the way there of not going for my 8km walk, then I leave through the school gates and tell myself I have to do it, I have to go, I have no choice and so I go and I sweat and I pray for rain which does not come. It's 31 degrees of baking heat beating down on my already weary body and I struggle, but I keep moving because why? because I am focused on the result, I need to get this weight off, I need a better life, I need to take control and even though there are really tough days, I have to push through and fight!

Today I feel a lot better and I realise that I need to take a break in the week to recharge and give my body a well earned rest. I used to go to bed at a crazy time, 2am but now I turn off my computer at 10.30pm, read and zone out for an hour then hop into bed at 11.30pm. I'm still not used to it, I still have good nights and bad nights, but the good nights are now outweighing the bad ones and I feel a lot better, more relaxed and best of all happy :)

Barbs xx

Muscles on fire!

Has it been a week since my last post? Well since I last wrote, my fitness regime is going strong! I am having trouble losing weight at a rate I feel acceptable (I know, I should accept any loss shouldn't I?), so I have had to re-think my food and exercise. I've upped my protein and am getting enough now and to be honest, I do feel so much better, food is fuel and I need that fuel to help my body burn fat properly. As for the fitness side of my plan, I have done loads and loads of research so with the info I have gathered plus the years of training through personal trainers and gym memberships, I have designed a programme to keep my body guessing. This week every second day is a 16km walk broken into a morning and evening session so as not to be to arduous and every other day is a 6-8km walk plus upper or lower body workout using weights and resistance bands. So far so good, I feel fantastic even though my muscles are burning! Sitting down onto the loo is somewhat of a challenge and even though my thighs are screaming HELP, I cannot stop laughing and feel a huge sense of achievement!

Feeling good, feeling great and I'm seeing awesome results, loving my life! <3

When you get that feeling

Today I went for my usual daily walk and it was so hot outside AGAIN! we are on our 7th day of Autumn and yet the cooler weather has yet to show up! Anyway I went and pounded the pavement for 6km's then came home and designed a few more products for my Zazzle stores. Then this afternoon, I got this feeling like I had an immense amount of energy that I needed to expend, so I grabbed my iPhone speakers, took them into the garage where I have set up a little workout area, cranked up the music and burned some serious calories off my body. It was intense, I used the exercises I learned from youtube, plus the pump routines that are ingrained in my brain from years of going to pump classes and a circuit that I have in a book I am currently reading. So after all of that, I was dripping wet again, my pants were even wet ewwwww! but a good eww! Now I'm sitting here waiting for my brown rice to cook and I still feel like I could do more, how weird is that?

Barbs xx

Back into the swing of things....thank god!

Well yesterday I did my usual 8km walk which is more like a jog since I was seriously fast and my legs were burning, I wanted to quit but I just couldn't do it, I had to go on because I can't give up, I've come so far and it would be criminal to go easy on myself so, I sucked it up and carried on and you know what? when I got home, I was so grateful that the angel on my left told the devil on my right to piss off and let me get on with it.

Once I arrived home, I had a sudden burst of energy and decided to do some butt exercises I saw on a video on youtube the night before. So I'm down on the floor, legs into a kind of lunge position and arms in the air following the trainers and while sweating like crazy I didn't feel that the exercise was working. Fast forward 4hrs later and my ass was on fire! After sitting down for a while, I went to get up and wow, pain, pain, fabulous workout pain, I love it! So if you are wanting some killer butt exercises here's the video, give it a shot, you'll love it!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uEHS8XPObyo&list=PL74C51C2109232BC4#aid=P9Aw0bPBbf4

Well that's it for today, take care!

Barbs xx

Where the hell have I been?

Well, it's been a  looooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooog time since my last post and really I have no excuse or reason except that life has been a bit busy and I have been a bit lazy. This does not mean though, that I have given up all together, no way, no chance, no how, I am still in this for good!

So where am I at? Well I decided that it's high time I posted a before pic of myself, and as horrifying an experience as this is, I will do it, I have posted this already on my personal Facebook and I will also post it on my soon to be released Facebook Page called "Motiv8ted, no b.s. just weight loss" where I will post daily pics of my food and what I am doing exercise wise, cool things I find and the tees and other stuff that I am creating through Zazzle.com and my ebook I am working on which is loaded with recipes of the food I'm eating, and will be for sale on etsy.com, my facebook page.

Okay so before I get completely off topic, here are my before pics, I hope you are not eating!

This is me at 136kg (299lb), I had been this weight for years and years and years!

I had shortness of breath, couldn't cross my legs, had terrible skin, bad sleep patterns, was seriously addicted to every bad food imaginable and therefore was borderline diabetic, yeah pretty scary!




Now I cannot post just before pics can I? So here is what I look like now!

 

I am now 109kg (239.8lb)!!! I haven't been this weight for years! In fact I think the last time I weighed this much I was around 18 or 19 years old!

So there you go, that is where I am at, I've lost a total of 59.2lb!!!

I hope you are all doing really well and are living life to the full, sweating your butts off and getting enough good nutrition, take care and I will post again very soon, meaning, next week at the latest!

Take care

Barbs xx