Quarter Century Birthday!

Well guys and girls, I am officially 25 today - Quarter Century Birthday WOOT WOOT!

The last 12 months have been pretty amazing, yeah there have been some downright LOWS but on the whole i have had a very positive year!

The highlights of being a 24yr old included:

- getting my 'girls'!
- buying my pad
- dropping 10.3% Body Fat and 64.8ml since the start of the year... and getting into SEXY BITCH shape!
- doing a photo shoot
- wooting it up with TIESTO!
- getting my Cert III & IV in Fitness (Personal Training)
- and developing a healthier relationship with 'the hemorrhoid'

I have learnt SOOOOO much about myself over the last 12 months. My confidence has grown, my knowledge on nutrition and its effects on the body is forever increasing and all in all i am just happier and more positive on a day to day basis. I still haven't got a grasp on the binging issue yet, but i am working on it. Consistantly. Emotional issues take time and effort to resolve so i hope that when i write about my 26th birthday next year, that willl be in my highlights section!

I'm actually quite excited to be 25. I feel like i am forever evolving the older i get. I'm becoming a more rounded person (not in shape haha) with a lot more to give and a hell lot more to achieve. I've got some big ideas in the pipeline for where i wanna be and what i WANT (and WILL) become in the next few years. So look out world and watch this space ............................... ;-)

Me as a 24 yr old

Me as a more 'sophisticated' (nearly) 25yr old lol

Cairns, Fabulous Friends and INTENSITY!

I am finally HOME and god it feels good! FYI, i left brisvegas sunday to fly up to Cairns (North Queensland) for work and it was a crazy arse trip - 4 days, 20 clients, 1000km of driving and now i am WRECKED!... who ever said that travelling for work is glamorous???.... I got drenched in Port Douglas (it was supposed to be gorgeous blue skies for my day in paradise so i never even considered bringing an umbrella.... ocean? what ocean?...... it all blended in with the fuckin RAIN!) yesterday and ended up having to wear my havanas on the plane (with my work suit- hot look haha) cos my work shoes were completely wet - totally gross.

The above is from Rex's Lookout on the way to Port Douglas not long before the torrential rain event started lol

The plus side of travelling for work is:
- Visiting cool places.... though i wish i had more time to sight see!

This is the beautiful view from the Atherton Tablelands on my way to Mareeba.

- Eating amazing seafood ..and dessert ;-)
- Catching up with some AMAZING FRIENDS!

Yep i got to catch up for a good old gossip with my girlfriend Vanessa from primary school who is also a nutritionist. Miss Belinda Potter (my old PT and Miss IFBB Figure Australia) -her and her hubby James have just bought a Sumo Salad franchise in Cairns so if you are up there make sure you pay them a visit! And Miss Raechelle! We've been chatting for like forever here in the blogosphere so it was awesome to finally meet you girl!

This trip i decided that i had to be a little less extravagent with my meals (seeing that i don't have time or the facilities to prep anything) and chose to only 'fine-dine' for dinner and not lunch and breakfast. Gotta be mindful of the calories- seriously  i swear 'masterchef' style foods taste amazing cos everything is marinated in butter/olive oil lol. So I stuck with healthy fruit smoothies for breakfast - the local organic cafe would make me up one using rice milk, protein powder, super greens powder, banana, mango and ice. Yummo, just like i would make at home- i told them to leave out the ICECREAM!.. Lunch i stuck with chicken/prawn and salad wraps and also had sushi on one day.... After a few days eating wheat (from the wraps), i noticed a bit of bloating and fluid retention starting to occur which was a sign that i HAVE NO CHOICE but to go back to eating GLUTEN FREE. That i am cool with and i know my body will love me for it.

Unlike my last trip (townsville/mackay) where i was fine-dining for lunch as well as dinner, i definitely felt a lot better/lighter this time round from eating more simply throughout the day which allowed me to indulge a bit for dinner ;-)... Though for my next trip to Rocky/Gladstone in november i will just have dessert on one night..... Too much dairy (and wheat) in a short space of time has really affected my energy levels - i'm still feeling a little lethargic and phlegmy- totally gross lol...Sugar is the devil.

On the training side of things i did manage to do one 6.5km run and a 4.5km walk but unfortunately that was all i got time for. I hate using 'no time' as an excuse but i seriously did not have any (well i suppose i could have brought some dumbells to do bicep curls in the car lol) so i ended up doing a full body weight workout this morning to get my blood pumping again.... I've also got a sudden urge to attempt a 10k'er this arvo too!

Seriously guys, getting results (for me) is all to to do with INTENSITY now. I have been able to maintain LEAN within my comfort zone for quite a while now. I want MORE yesterday NOW... I have also come to realise that going from LEAN to SMOKIN HOT requires a choice:
1. Tighten up my nutrition
2. Intensify my training
3. 1 +2

My nutrition is pretty good but i will be tightening it up a little, more so in the 'treat' department which is why i have been making my own healthy ones. You know i have no interest in OBSESSING over food any more- calorie king, low carbs and carb cycling are currently NOT in my vocabulary!... So because i don't want to take the EXTREME (and boring) diet route the alternative choice is to challenge myself with the training side of things. (my dodgy left collar bone has been playing up a bit so their is only so much i can lift in the weights department)

So BRING ON the RUNNING, BRING ON FAST TIMES and BRING ON the RUNNERS HIGH!

I challenge you to challenge yourself. And FYI, if you want to get into SMOKIN SHAPE and you don't want to choose option 1, 2 or 3 i promise you that you will probably get NOWHERE .... serious. People look fuckin fantastic for a reason and its not by sitting on their arse all day long eating tim tams and drinking coke....but if that is your secret to success i would love to know ;-)

Homemade Non-Dairy Chocolate Icecream

For those of you who have been following my crazy journey for sometime now will know that i have a bit of a sweet tooth.... Chocolate, icecream and dessert to be exact! .... You could leave cheese, chips, pies, breads and crackers in my pantry for years without me giving them a single glance... but the former will get me salivating asap lol...

During my little Raw Vegan venture earlier this week i stumbled across some amazing desserts that i was desperate to whip up. The benefit of raw vegan desserts is that they contain no nasties - no added sugar, low in saturated fats, no hydrogenated fats, no wheat and no dairy! They do contain real fruit, high in mono and polyunsaturated fats, EFAs, protein and  fibre. Because there is no refined sugar you won't get a massive insulin spike either that can cause your sugar cravings to go out of control!

So here is my version of a HEALTHY non-dairy chocolate icecream:

1 large ripe banana sliced
1/2 cup raw almonds
1/2 avocado  (don't worry you can't taste it - it just gives the icecream a creamy texture)
1 scoop vanilla protein powder
2 tbsp cocoa powder
1 tbsp flaxseed meal
1 cup rice milk

- Put all ingredients in a food processor (my blender didn't cut it) and blend until you get a creamy consistancy.
- Pour the mixture into 4 x Paddle Pop moulds
- Freeze

ENJOY!

Raw Vegan Experiment OVER!... and mega cleavage ;-)

As you know i have been experimenting with Raw Vegan meals since sunday night. As much as my meals so far have tasted fabulous and give me that complete nourishing feeling, i am going to have to add back the fish and eggs into my diet. Why??... Cos my strength and energy has competely DISAPPEARED! You have no idea! Its like Ms Zero Energy Fairy sprinkled some expired fairy dust over me. I even had to have a coffee this arvo just to keep me awake! ( i gave up my 4pm coffee over a month ago cos i was just drinking it for the sake of the taste, not cos i needed a pick me up ;-))

Monday morning was my first weights sess after a non-animal protein dinner. I noticed i was a little off in my strength but we all have 'off' days so i just brushed it off. I then ran a 5km in 25min 17sec that arvo and felt pretty damn good. Tuesday was Leg day. My fav muscle group to train. I don't go that heavy with legs but i do do a LOT of volume and my sessions are INTENSITY PLUS! After doing a warmup set on the leg press i thought to myself, 'OMG, i can't lift a thing!' I barely moved up from my warm-up weights! I got through my sess but it was a real struggle. By lunch time i was just getting tired and finding it a little hard to concentrate. Usually tuesday arvos i like to go for a light walk around the block but by mid arvo i was completely SHATTERED! Today was the same...no energy at all.. I am one of those girls who usually have boundless energy (i've been nicknamed 'energizer bunny' by heaps of people over the years), i am always on the go... but not today, i could have fallen asleep standing up! I seriously haven't felt this fatigued since comp prep last year. So as i mentioned before i had to have a coffee to psyche me up for boxing class tonight...

OMG, now boxing class is ALWAYS tough, but tonight i was so exhausted i thought i was gonna vomit all over my partner lol... seriously, i felt really ill and i knew something wasn't quite right...So i decided to cook up some eggs and vegies for dinner tonight and i am feeling pretty good now. But one thing i did notice is that i LOVE the taste of vegies better RAW! So i think i will stick to eating raw salads with amazing nut pesto type dressings but include animal type protein sources (mainly fish and eggs) with my lunch and dinners. For me, it seems that with the type of intense training that i do, i simply need more protein for muscle recovery. Nuts alone ain't cutting it.....

On the positive side, what i did like about raw vegan was that my digestion was great - no bloating from all the natural foods, i felt satisfied after each meal and my skin has cleared up- got that glowing thing happening ;-)

Oh and last of all - for all you girls out there who want MEGA CLEAVAGE from a sports bra, i highly recommend Lorna Jane's Seamless Sports Bra. I got this one free months ago when i bought a pair of  Sketchers Shape Up shoes from Lorna Jane and had never worn it till tonight... Reason being, i don't like thick bra straps so i have never bothered wearing it, (cos of all the damn rain all my other crop tops were still in the wash so i had no choice), plus i am more concerned about keeping the girls in place rather than displaying them to the world. There are members at my gym who are famous for their 'flying girls', seriously , wearing a push-up padded bar to the gym is just ridiculous- PUT THEM AWAY, before you smack someone in the face lol.... So on went this baby and HOLLA, the girls were busting out! - Liz - Totally Rosa-Maria style lol... The amount of gawks i got at the gym tonight was priceless lol

My 'raining ceiling' experience!

I tell you what, my life is NEVER without excitement...So i woke up yesterday morning, boiled the kettle, made my bed and walked back into the kitchen and thought to myself, "geez, whats going on with the kettle, there is water EVERYWHERE!"...Seriously half my kitchen bench was flooded.... then i saw a droplet... descending from the CEILING!.... WTF!... A sudden rush of adrenaline pumped through my veins... OMG...the storm...my neighbours unit is flooding ..... my ceiling is gonna cave in .... NOOOOOOOOOO!... So i've raced out the front door, flew up the stairs and starting banging on old mates front door (lovely retired man- late 60s/70s) .... NOTHING..... so i knocked again and started calling out what i thought was his name... CHRIS, CHRIS! ( i found out later it was Steve, i've only been calling him Chris for 6months oops) .... he's come racing to the door (probably wondering who the hell is calling him by the wrong name at 7.30am on a sunday morning) in nothing but a towel ( i must have startled the poor man out of a deep sleep lol)... He asked if i was ok, and i told him about my internal raining situation....

First we checked his kitchen pipes.... no leaks.... bathroom pipes.... no leaks...... then the laundry..... at first we thought his cat had missed the kitty litter..... nope..... his hot water system had SHIT itself, BIG TIME! There was a crack right through the bottom.... So we turned it off and was able to drain the whole thing..... In the meantime i had woken up my other neighbour out of a deep slumber as i was in desparate need for some buckets. ... About half an hour later, all the 'rain' had dried up.... I also discovered i have a concrete ceiling - no gyprock/plasterboard which was a good thing... it wasn't gonna cave in YAY... just gotta wait a week for it to dry completely cos the 'rain' has taken off some of the paint.

House delemas aside, my running has been kicking arse! Seriously, i have been killing it on the treadie... yeah i know i said i'd be running outside but brisbane is on the verge of flooding atm...serious... i could go kyacking if i really wanted too lol... I ran my first 7km in 38.03mins yesterday and did a 5km last monday in 25.59mins. Gonna try and crush my 5km PB this arvo! I have also decided that i am going to work towards running a 10km, so that will be my goal for this month. Also too, one thing i am stoked with since i started running 8 days ago is just how much my body has CHANGED! That's right, i have leaned up heaps, you have no idea! My body is tightening up by the day, my size 6(aus) CUE shorts are getting loose and i am just HIGH on LIFE!

And last of all, i prepared my first RAW VEGAN dinner last night. I made a zucchini pasta with marinated mushrooms and a cashew spinach pesto... omg it was AMAZING. The flavours were unreal and  it was very satisfying ( i was a bit weary beforehand that i would still be peckish without the large amounts of protein that i am used to). Every bite seemed to nourish me, it was quite an experience! ( i sound like a hippie now lol).. So tonight i will be making a fennel salad with a macadamia and strawberry pesto. YUM!

Getting my 'raw on'!

Well I've had a sudden fascination with 'raw foods'. My eyes have been glued to my laptop devouring information from raw food blogs non stop since last night and i tell you what, I AM INSPIRED! These raw foodies take their health to a whole new level. WOW.  Check out RAWAMAZING, Raw Glow and Raw on $10 a day (or less).

Read here the reasons why we should eat raw.

Raw Foodies eat food in its natural state. That means the food is whole and fresh, no cooking is required therefore everything is made from scratch thus retaining all the nutrients that heat destroys. Traditional raw foodies are also vegan - no animal products including milk, cheese, eggs are consumed.

This whole year for me has been about achieving balance, improving my health, changing my body and improving my nutrition. Now i am NEVER going to be an extremist (or anal lol) again when it comes to my food.... you know me- life's too short without a fabulous dessert ;-)... but i'm definitely keen to make even better choices when it comes to meals on school days. Who doesn't want more energy and vitality in their day?

FYI, i'm not much of an animal eater. I do love seafood and eggs/eggwhites but i can happily go weeks without eating anything that walks. For example, the last time i ate chicken was over 3 weeks ago when i dined out with Miss Leisl and Miss Kristin....and i am pretty sure that was the last time i ate beef too... Since i bought my pad in April this year, i have only cooked red meat (lamb) once... and that was cos i was throwing a dinner party!

I am also quite lactose intolerant - i don't digest dairy that well and i usually end up with a runny nose. After abstaining from daily dairy for a long time i decided to experiment with it again for the past 6 weeks or so. I re-introduce natural yoghurt, feta and pesto.... and guess what? NO runny nose!... BUT it only occured to me last week that it still has been upsetting my stomach - that bloated blah feeling so it is off my menu again...and the fluid retention has gone with it =)

So i have printed out a few delicious recipes in preparation for getting my raw on tomorrow. Will keep ya posted how i go!

If you eat raw i would love to hear from you!

Endorphins =)

I have been on the biggest endorphin rush this past 24hrs, seriously i feel AMAZING! My decision to get back into runnning again has put me into such a positive frame of mind i am floating on clouds lol

I know i said yesterday that my first 5km goal would be to get under the 30min mark.... well i smashed that out of the window in my first run- 26min 19sec! Then i took off another 20secs this arvo - 25min 59sec! Can i get a WOOT!?

The running is really helping to clear my mind and flush out all the negativity. I love that burning feeling in my legs as i challenge myself to go faster. I love it when my mind enters 'the zone' where nothing else in the world matters. I believe 'the zone' is like a meditative state because it is there that i feel free and INVINCIBLE.

My New Challenge...

As the title suggests, i believe that it is now time to embark on a new challenge! I have spent this entire year focussing purely on weight/fat-loss which has been awesome (and it needed to be done!) BUT now to be honest i am a little over it. I think the reason why is that i am in pretty damn fine condition now (if i do say so myself ;-)), so trying to get to 11% BF from 14% BF has got me feeling like i'm in a COMP PREP scenario. My poor little head has been consumed with scales, numbers, body fat %, skinfold mls for months now and i just need to diverge my attention away from obsessing over the numbers. I'm only a couple kgs away from my 'goal body' and i know i WILL get there (soon) BUT i have an urge for a more exciting goal!

Summer is fast approaching and i have decided that not only do i want to be LEAN and STRONG, i WANT to be damn FIT too! Yes, I want to feel INVINCIBLE! I have been following KellyO, AmyB and Raechelle as they have all taken up running and are madly settings goals, kicking butt and sending out  positve energy vibes. SO i am now totally inspired to get FIT too.

For the past few weeks i have sporadically run a few kms here and there after some weight sessions but i havent been consistent. Why? Cos i have been goal-less! One thing i noticed yesterday during boxing class was that it was a real struggle. Yeah i was a little tired from travelling all week for work but i've noticed that the weeks that i don't do extra cardio, i lose some fitness which means i can't box as intensely as i would like to. So for that reason i have decided to ditch the post-weights cardio and use that time to focus on sexy six-pack training. That means 3-4 x week i will be RUNNING 5km in the arvo (outside)! I may build the distance up over time, but for now 5km is the magic number. I haven't run 5km in at least 12 months so my first goal is going to be 30min, once i build up my endurance i will focus on speed to get down to the 25min mark!

Running has been a love of mine for many years now. I was a track athlete back in school with the 400m being my pet event. My best time was 59.9 seconds when i was 15 or 16. For any of you girls out there who used to race would know that the 1min mark is a huge barrier to break! For those of you who didn't race I dare you to try running a sub 1min 400m on the treadmill! ;-) I  ran all the other distances plus cross country too. After school finished i focused more on endurance - no crazy distances - but anything up to about 10km. These days i go through phases with running. I love the runners high you get when you are completely in the zone and right now with all the negativity going on in my world, that is a place where i need to take my mind to on a regular basis. Plus my cardiovascular system will only benefit too. And of course i will be burning off quite a few calories during my runs which means i will get leaner without having to just focus on food.

After chatting with my BFF Demi last night i am totally pumped about running again. Demi's a hardcore gym junkie an avid runner too, she runs at least 5km 5days a week, plus she mixes it up with bike and dancing. Besides from healthy eating and weight training she swears by intense cardio to keep her LEAN and in SMOKIN shape year round.

A picture says a thousands words...

My crazy trip to the tropics!

Well what a full-on week it has been! For those of you who don't know, I work as a territory manager for a natural medicine company here in brisvegas and i have recently inherited North Queesland into my region. So this week was to be my first trip up to Townsville and Mackay. This is how it went:

I was told by Virgin Airlines on tuesday to arrive at the airport by 4.30am wednesday morning due to the backlog of delays that occured due to their computer malfunction over the weekend....that meant a 3.30am wake up grrrr. So i arrived right on time, no line-up, sweet as. Half an hour later there was an announcement, "We apologies for the inconvenience but we are experiencing a computer fuck-up glitch"....That meant that EVERYTHING had to be processed manually... So my 6am take-off turned into an 8am take-off.... 2hrs late, perfect way to start my day...  Then Hertz didn't have my hire car ready on arrival in Townsville...after a 15min wait i demanded politely asked for an upgrade...2hr 15mins late is not a good thing when you see clients by appointment!....

I got my upgrade - a Holden Optima Cox (quite heavy to drive, but had lots of power), oh and guess what? There was no MAP in the car! I was already running way too late to go buy one so i did my best to navigate my way around a town that i had never been to with a vague memory of it from street-directory.com that i had looked at the night before. After seeing the ocean i knew i was going in totally the wrong direction so i called my first client to ask for some directions, "Just go down the main road love, take a right at street 'x' and we are in the big shopping centre, you can't miss us!" ....Ummm do you how many MAIN ROADS there are in a town? And when you dont have a clue where you are to begin with makes it fun trying to find the 'main' one, sigh... I finally found the pharmacy.... by then my day was running 3hrs late...

Oh and i forgot to mention the car was BLACK.... Seriously, do you know what its like to drive a black car when it is 35 degrees C (95F) and a zillion percent humidity!? Fuckin gross, thats what its like, i had just about sweated off all my make-up by lunch time.

The day ended nicely with the most amazing seafood and dessert at The Watermark Restaurant. Thursday was hot and gross too, but i did manage to get in a beach walk and enjoyed more amazing seafood and dessert.. Fine dining is the only real perk of country trips... in my opinion.

So now we come to Friday.... The drive to Mackay...400km (249miles)... 4 1/2hrs of boring highway.. What makes the drive painstakingly worse are the following:
1. Cars hauling caravans
2. Slow drivers (those who drive at 20kph or more BELOW the speed limit!)
3. Douchebag drivers who don't know the meaning of OVERTAKE!
4. Slow Truck Drivers... They are even worse than slow car drivers, they just hold everyone up.

So as you can imagine i was becoming very irrate during various legs of my trip. Now picture this: Slow Truck driver in the lead, followed by 2 x Cars hauling caravans, followed by a Slow Douchebag Driver, then me....now thats a very LONG distance to overtake when you are number 5 in line on a one-lane highway... After what seemed like an eternity, i decided i had no choice but to overtake them ALL at once if i was to get to Mackay this year.... 145kph was pretty hair-raising for the few seconds it lasted! I made it to the front just in time before the Army Trucks heading north ran me over lol...... This scenario happened about 4 or 5 times....my life is never short of adventurous!

I made it to Mackay smack bang on time for my appointments.... Now the best part of Mackay was catching up with the gorgeous Selina for coffee!! That is one thing i love about this whole blogging experience - meeting amazing people whom have similar interests to you....  Hmmm, so are there any AMAZING, SINGLE, HEALTH & FITNESS GUYS in BRISBANE who BLOG?.... just putting it out there ;-)