jamaica or bust.

EEP! i am leaving on a jet plane in less than 12 hours! and in case you are wondering, no, i have not packed yet. what can i say? i work well under pressure. i am a class act procrastination station.

remember my to do list from yesterday? let’s check in:

• photos
• upper body workout didn’t happen.
• work 8 hours well, i worked 6.. left early ;)
• spray tanning
• pack!!! not yet! 
• grocery shop for travel goodies
• bake more travel goodies (maple nut oaties and chia granola!)
• mail bloggie valentine woops.. totally spaced this. will have momma b run to the post office for me!
• find a book for the trip (i got the hunger games & the latest chelsea handler book)
• post jamaican me bikini ready review doing that now!
• get some last minute quality time in with my dogs!!! the dogs are still with marshall :( he is on his way to my house now!
• leave for the airport at 3:30 AM (friday morning) not looking forward to this one!!

so.. not half bad. not half good either, i guess. but i am an optimist and look on the bright side!

i hadn’t had my favorite meal lately so i reconnected with it this morning :)

meal 1: yoatgurt! and an old friend…

do you spy the old friend?! yes.. that’s right.. mighty maple!!  i am back to eating nut butters with my breakfast.  nom nom nom.

this also had 1/2 cup oats, 1 cup brown cow 0% greek yogurt and 1 TB chocolate protein powder.  so creamy, so warm, so delish.

work was pretty busy today but i got everything handled! and i even had time to make up for the waffle wednesday that i missed yesterday. score.

meal 2: wafflewich!

this had 2 organic flax toaster waffles and 3 egg whites+1 whole egg which i sandwiched in between the waffles.

topped with a drizzle of SF syrup and i was set!

i just love the sweet and savory combo of eggs, waffles and syrup!

i didn’t mention this, but yesterday i drank almost 2 gallons of water.  i have been thirsty lately.  today, i drank a gallon before lunch time. glug, glug, glug.

i left work at 2 PM which meant my snack was on the go.  i dug into a new to me flavor of luna bar.

meal 3: blueberry bliss luna bar @ 3:00 PM

have you guys tried this flavor?  it tastes exactly like fruity pebbles.  i kid you not.

the only complaint i have is the frosting stuff that is on the bottom and swirled about the top.  i hate that stuff. 

it is also on the chai tea and peppermint stick lunas.  i am just not a fan of frosting, i hate the weird coating and texture it leaves in my mouth.  i would prefer every luna bar much more if it did not have the frosting layer.  i think that is why the nuts & cranberry one is my fave! no frosting!

i ran seven billion errands between meal 3 and now.. and i also baked up a storm.  as much will power as i possess, i couldn’t stay away from nibbling and snacking as i prepped my travel treats!

the kitchen was a mess!!

i sipped on this as i whipped things up and “tested” the creations..

addicted.

it is 6:45 PM now and i am stuffed full but have not had a proper meal.  i have just been eating my way through my snack-making adventures.  wanna see what i’ve got?!

first up was a hybrid of HEAB’s maple nut oaties and deb’s noaties..

dark chocolate vanilla maple protein balls of bombness.

sure, that works.

in the mix went:

• 1 cup kashi go lean
• 1 cup toasted rolled oats
• 1 cup crisped brown rice cereal
• 1/2 cup or so crunchy natural PB
• 1/4 cup xagave
• 1/4 cup maple syrup
• 1/2 cup or so dark chocolate chips
• 2 scoops vanilla protein powder
• 1-2 TB vanilla extract
• 1 TB cinnamon
• splash of maple extract
• 1/3 cup unsweetened coconut
• splash of almond milk for mixing

i combined all the ingredients in a pot, because i don’t have mixing bowls at the new house. yeah, i have a vitamix, a food processor, an espresso machine, a kitchen aid, a toaster, a french press and even a miniature cheese grater.. but no mixing bowls.. so i mixed it all in a pot.

scooped them out as balls onto a cookie sheet.

baked at 350 degrees for about 13 minutes

voila!

i had two.. plus however much “batter” i ate as i was “testing the flavor” to get it just perfect.. uh, yeah, right. fat ass, janetha.

these were so good! it was like heather and deb got married and had a baby, and that baby was me, and i made these. and then showed them to you.

i quickly put them into a ziplock bag so i would stop nibbling on them!

next up: bekah’s coconut chia granola because it was so good the first time around.. i ate the whole batch in like, 3 days flat. danger zone.

you can check out her page for the recipe!

mixed up in the pot..

baked on a cookie sheet..

bagged up to prevent mass amounts of granola consumption ;) for the record, i had plenty of handfuls to make sure it was not poisonous. i mean, i might be sharing with my co-workers..

finally i whipped up deb’s latest recipe: puffy pimped protein fauxnola!  you can check out her link for the recipe. i omitted a few of the extracts because i didnt have them. i added vanilla extract because i am a vanilla bean in human form.

mixed up in the pot..

baked on a cookie sheet..

bagged up to prevent food coma!!  seriously i have been eating all these goodies as i went along!

all 3 baked treats are winners, if you are looking for a new recipe, i suggest any of these :)

i also made my own trail mix:

this has dried apple rings, almonds, dark chocolate chips and a bag of whole food’s 365 hullabaloo mix.. and i will be picking out the raisins ;)

and i have braeburn apples + packets of nut butter

and i also have some stoneground whole wheat crackers in case the savory side of my has a hankering..

a plethora of bars & protein powder because i am a protein whore and also always worried about going hungry..

i also am taking a carton of unsweetened vanilla almond milk because i think i would cry and/or die without it..

okay, i am a foodie, what can i say. all my snacks are prepared but my suitcase is nowhere near packed!

and my hair smells like vanilla and baking.

well.. i may as well recap my jamaican me bikini ready challenge now since i don’t have any moves to show you! yep, i am a lazy ass.

first off, i will show you the guidelines i originally set for the challenge, which started on monday, january 4. my notes regarding each guideline are written to the side in bold italics.

the meals.

drinks:

• consume between 1 and 1.5 gallons of water daily success! 95% of the time, at least. i am a water fiend!
• one cup of black coffee each morning yep.. sometimes more..
• drink unsweetened green tea as often as possible two weeks successful.. then it tapered off. honestly, i don’t think green tea is going to make me skinny.
• NO other beverages other than these three (which=no booze!) i have not had a drop of booze since new year’s eve.  the only other beverage i have had is three bottles of kombucha. and black tea.

eats:

• meal plan on sunday for the entire upcoming week this went strong for the first 3 weeks and then the last week i failed miserably! i like meal planning, i am going to try to meal plan on sunday from now on. it was really convenient and awesome to not wonder what my next meal would be.
• three meals + two snacks daily (designated as meals 1, 2, 3, 4, 5) yes, this is how i ate most of the time. definitely mon-fri and then the weekends got a little cloudy, but for the most part, five meals a day.
• no starchy carbs after meal #3 (beans are ok) this was really successful! i did have a sweet potato some nights, but for the most part i got my carbs at night from veggies and fruit.
• no cereal haha.. well, aside from a few slip ups on the weekend, this was a success. i am shocked that i went so long without eating cereal daily, because that is what i am used to doing. i am a cereal addict. it was HARD to not eat cereal, but my challenge did keep me from putting my hand into the cereal box time after time after time. but yes, there were a few bowls consumed on the weekends. cereal is truly my one weakness and i have found, through this challenge, that cereal is in fact my FAVORITE food. i like it even more than i like ice cream!
• no pasta success! this did not count my once-a-week free meal, and i did have some pasta salad in my very first free meal, but other than that i have not had a single bite of pasta. the way i curbed my pasta cravings was by grating squash and zucchini into “noodles”~ works perfectly.
• no rice another success! i did have rice on my second free meal (week two) which was when i had indian food, but other than that i have avoided eating rice. this was not hard as i didn’t really eat much rice to begin with. i am more of a pasta and potatoes girl.
• no nut or seed butters (PB2 is ok) i did work on my PB2 jar! but i really did well at this. i will admit, i had a lick of peanut butter here and there on the weekends but i didn’t eat it in my daily oatmeal and i really think the elimination of SO MUCH nut butter was beneficial to my weight loss.
• no full fat cheeses or full fat dairy this one was a success. laughing cow is my best friend, who needs full fat cheese when you have laughing cow?! seriously, i often times prefer laughing cow. but that doesn’t mean i am giving up full fat cheese. i love it. but it was nice to keep it off-limits and eliminate unnecessary calories.
• no eating after 9 o’clock PM hmmm i would say this was 80% successful. on the nights i worked out late and stayed up late, i would eat after 9 PM.  i am not disappointed in the fact that i ate after 9 PM. i think it is important to fuel your body when hungry and so if my tummy growled, i fed myself something. i don’t think eating after 9 PM derailed my progress in any way.
• no sweets/foods with added sugar (fruit is ok, of course!) aside from my free meal desserts (i had fro yo once and a brownie with almond milk) this went really well. i don’t mind not adding sugar to things and eating fruit totally curbs my sweet tooth.
• absolutely NO bites, licks, tastes (BLTs) well, i wouldn’t say this was a success. i did have a number of BLTs throughout the month. i can’t even remember what, but i know they happened. it is hard when there is so much stuff laying around my house. i believe that this was the one reason i didn’t have as much success as i could have, but i am still happy with the self control i possessed during the challenge because i did decline several BLTs.
• limit potato consumption to two per week easy peasy. sometimes i didn’t even have one potato. 
• one free meal each week (not free day~ free meal) this was half and half.  i think i had two free days during the challenge and two days that were just a free meal. i am sure if i had limited it to one free meal each week i would have had more success, but i have to keep my sanity!

vitamins & supplements:

• CLA twice daily i did this for 3 weeks and then ran out. oops. 
• fish oil twice daily yes, up until the third week, ran out of that as well.
• multivitamin once daily oh gee.. ran out of these, too! i need to go supplement shopping..
• EAS muscle armor + 1 scoop protein powder after strength training (no more than 30 minutes after) i did this probably 75% of the time. when i did not have it, i had a protein shake instead.

the moves.

monday: cardio + abs: 45 min + 15 min

tuesday: lower body: 60 min

wednesday: cardio + abs: 45 min + 15 min

thursday: upper body: 60 min

friday: cardio + abs: 45 min + 15 min

saturday: HIIT + total body: 20 min + 60 min

sunday: rest day: no workout

totals: 6 workouts: 6 hours & 20 min

sometimes i would switch my rest day to saturday instead of sunday, but i am proud to say that i NEVER MISSED A WORKOUT.  i worked out 6 days a week for the whole challenge. props, janetha b.

everything in between.

• take documentation photos once a week uhhh. oops. only have before and after.
• get at least 7 hours of sleep each night i would say i got this pmuch sleep 85% of the time. sunday nights were always bad.
• wash face twice daily, exfoliate/mask once a week (i am notorious for going to be with my makeup still on!) i washed, but didn’t exfoliate. but my skin is looking dang good!
• begin using sensitive paste (i got it from my dentist~i have sensitive teeth!) yes! did this and my teeth are no longer sensitive. so happy about this.
• floss daily done and done. 
• brush morning and night (this i already do religiously but it’s good to note) done and done, sometimes more.
• whiten teeth once a week woops, nope, i did whiten them once though :D
• use jergen’s natural glow daily (helps build a faux tan!) yes i did this and then near the end went spray tanning.

okay! so that is the recap of each little thing. i am sure you all want to see the photos.. bah, i can’t believe i am posting these, it is silly, but whatever. no shame in my game.

january 4 was the before photo, february 4 was the after photo.

front:

back:

there you have it.   don’t weigh myself so i have no idea if i lost weight.

a few words about this.

my stomach lost all the fat it had. i know i still have a “bump” on my stomach, but there is something wrong with me (still trying to find out what) and this bump is sometimes there, sometimes not. i know april shares this frustration. ANYWAY, what i wanted to say is that my stomach fat totally melted away! i was astonished! i think this is because of the CLA supplement which targets abdominal fat as well as the extra cardio and the super clean eats. after all, abs are made in the kitchen. i did lose almost 2” around the smallest part of my waist, this is clear in the photos.

another part i am stoked about is how much my legs slimmed down.  my thighs  went from 20 inches to 18.75 inches (yes, still big, i have big legs!) and you can kind of see that in the photos.  i attribute this change to the many minutes spent on the stairmill and some lighter weight/higher rep lower body moves.  my favorite body part has to be my hamstrings, which have become very defined in the past month. 

i don’t even flex them and they have that super sweet hamstring curve i was aiming for. score.

i am going to stop talking about this now because it is a little strange to ramble about my body, but i know you all wanted to see and hear the end results and my thoughts on the challenge so i felt i owed this post to you all!

i do think that if i had longer to work at my challenge, i would have had a more drastic transformation~ like i did in my body for life challenge which was 12 weeks.  for a 4 week challenge i think that i had great progress! i am still bummed that i let myself go this past year, but i am bound and determined to get back to my ultra-lean self one of these days.  slowly but surely.

i would rather take it slow than be die-hard because i want to enjoy my life.  i will get there.

after jamaica, i plan to go back to the same workout routine and of course will still eat body-for-life style because i LOVE it, but i will incorporate whole wheat grains (pasta, rice) back into my life as well as nut butters and CEREAL. just not whole boxes at a time.

as for jamaica.. well, anything goes. when i am on vacation i don’t make rules on what i eat.  i love to enjoy the local cuisine and i may never visit jamaica again! might as well live it up and eat all the good stuff, right? right.

OH BOY. that was a long ramble! sorry :)

well i think i need to go pack, don’t you? yeah.. probably.

HEY~ before i go.. i was thinking. some thoughts on food and travel:

i spent all this time and energy prepping snacks and treats for the flight and for my trip—which, by the way, is ALL INCLUSIVE and that means the food is there—and i wonder about myself. don’t get me wrong, i enjoy preparing the cookies and granola, i love my apples and almond butter, i like to put protein powder in my oatmeal. really, i do.

but when “normal” people go out of town they don’t do this.  well, at least i don’t think they do.  they don’t make a list of snacks to take and they don’t worry about if there will be good, quality protein sources while at an all-inclusive resort. they just go.. and eat what is at the airport. eat what is at the resort. don’t think, don’t plan.

i wonder why i was never like this? i wonder why i always am mindful about what options are available. i am not a picky eater, i surely can find something i like anywhere i go. yet i always do this when i leave town. prep snacks, tote them along… have more food in my bag than make up and magazines. not a normal girl.

i guess there was no real point to that ramble. just thought i would share my thoughts on it. i am perfectly happy with the way i am. i am glad i know what types of food i like to put into my body (ie: no overly processed airport snacks or 90% carb/10% protein all inclusive meals) but sometimes i just wonder how i missed the “normal” boat on the whole issue.

ah well, enough about that.

i have a trip to take!

and i have 61 guest posts and 1 giveaway lined up!

they are all mini posts, they will be posting every few hours, you will be able to get to know new people, new meals, new moves.. it should be a full blown party over here while i am gone!

and i think this goes without saying, but i will not be blog reading while in paradise~ so please take notes on the fun shenanigans that you will need to fill me in on when i get back.

please miss me, because i will miss you all dearly!!!! :D

Qs~

1. what is your approach with food when you travel? do you take things with you or just eat whatever is there? see above for my ramblings on the topic!

2. what is your most recent accomplishment that made you proud of yourself? i really want to know~ it is inspiring to hear about your successes!

BON VOYAGE!

XOXOXOXOXO! janetha b.