Time to get your #BOOM on!

Chris Walsh, along with Carl Mason-Liebenberg have heard all the excuses in the book, even the ones that haven’t been written yet, and now with 360XBT all those excuses are as good as a bull in a China Shop. So don’t you dare even try to find a reason not to do this – you are being handed your life back to you on a silver plate.

If you are hustling and bustling in Hong Kong or drinking yak’s milk in the Himalayas (and you have somehow found internet connection) you can do this because it is online!

Transform your body in 90 days! *without the gimmicky accent*

As you know I train at 360 Specialized Training (if you don’t you should really carve away at the moss of the rock you are living under and come out into the sunlight) and they are getting ready to get you to be the best you can be and to live by the words of  Socrates “No citizen has the right to be an amateur in the matter of physical training… What a disgrace it is for a man to grow old without ever seeing the beauty and strength of which his body is capable.”

Just wait a second before you yawn and think “oh, dear – another one of these fads…” or “holy shit, I haven’t set foot in a pair of gym shoes in 100 years” or even “uh, no thanks – this is clearly just for the WHO-YA! guys” …  take 5 min, maybe 6 or 7 and decide for yourself … have the courage to do it!

Regardless of your health and or fitness level, Chris and Carl as well as every single other person who will be doing the 360XBT will be there with and for you every step of the way. You will never be left alone standing in your lounge holding a weight over your head while trying to do a downward facing dog on a stability ball (no, that is not a real position so please don’t try that at home) just highlighting the fact that you will be guided step by step on everything YOU need and can do with videos, discussions, advice, recipes and even possibly a little ‘here is my shoulder to cry on’ moment because if there is one thing I have learnt is that it’s not only the body that physically transforms – it’s your whole life – you will cry and sweat, you will scream and laugh but most importantly you will be proud of you!

Check it out and get ready to experience the first 90 days of the rest of your life.

xoxo

Jello {Jelly} Cookies!!

I have officially died and gone to heaven!!

I LOVE jelly and I LOVE cookies so when I found out that you could combine the two, the angels sang … harps and everything! I felt like Annie on her hill in Sound of Music!

Once a week at the kiddies at Phoenix’s school get to make jelly at home and take it to the school to ‘sell’ to their friends. So with me being super mom and everything, I couldn’t bare the humdrum old school flavours so I opted for the UBER cool flavours they have at Woolies – Candyfloss, Bubblegum, Lollipop … {weak at the knees} and posted it to Facebook {as one does these days} and a friend directed me to a recipe for jelly cookies … at first the sound of it make me like of vodka shots … just balls of jelly … but boy oh boy was I wrong!

And what is even BETTER is that it can be used as play dough and THEN made into the cookies … gone are they days of shortbread biscuits in my house!

Check it out on iheartnaptime.com

Jelly cookie monster making time!

Be The Change…

“Be the change you want to see in the world” – Gandhi

One of the most humble and most terrifying quotes I have ever come across. I have always loved the quote – it has a way of creeping into you and making you feel a little braver, makes you look up and take notice of the rainbows but then your eyes drift and you are back to everyday. But yet I have also found it a tad intimidating in the sense that you feel you have to be some kind of Noble Peace winner to make any kind of difference – it makes you feel so small against the world. But your place in the world is bigger and more influential than you think.

But what one doesn’t realise is that you don’t have to be quitting your job, selling all your possessions and travelling the world on a whim – not at all, all you need to do is change your immediate surroundings – you don’t need to be parading on a street, rambling a message on sign board and you most certainly do not have to be a glimmer-in-the-eye celebrity – you just need to change you first.

I have tried to live a better and healthier lifestyle and without forcing things down everyone’s throats {maybe a little sound advice here and there} I have done it for me and have slowly started noticing how it is making a difference to the people who I spend most of my time with – the ladies in the office. I hardly ever see takeaways being bought, the water cooler seems to be seeing more than one glass filled throughout the day and just a general feel good vibe happening and it makes me SO happy!

And with it being winter, this is the saddest time of the year for me because I am ALWAYS thinking of the people who do not have anything warm to wear or to eat and so many people always want to do something, anything, but either they feel their actions will be insignificant or won’t make a difference … they are SO wrong, it WILL make a difference – it will a make a difference to the person that was on the receiving end of that gesture. You don’t need to start a movement or be apart of a charity or yet again, have lots of money … it takes something that we all have and are capable of … heart and compassion.

I am going to ask my friends and family to each donate a blanket, a jersey, a jacket, old boots and anything warm and to drop it off at a shelter closest to them, or even give it to someone who they see sleeping on the street, put something in the trolley at the entrance of the shop that is collecting, ask your company to have a collection box and be the first to put something in it… just something that will start the change – it really isn’t as scary as you think! Promise!

I hope that you can change someone’s life – even if for just a moment

All it takes is for ONE person to start.

The Invitation…

I wish that everyone will someday meet someone who they will know better than the timing of their own heart … knowing someone so well though is crazy and beautiful and a gift that can never be matched! You can find someone who will dote on your every need, that will flatter you with words and will wine and dine you from sunrise to sunset but it’s the person that can feel your shattered heart in their own chest, the one who hears you smile from distances apart … that is the kind of person that everyone should meet.

It doesn’t interest me
what you do for a living.
I want to know
what you ache for
and if you dare to dream
of meeting your heart’s longing.

It doesn’t interest me
how old you are.
I want to know
if you will risk
looking like a fool
for love
for your dream
for the adventure of being alive.

It doesn’t interest me
what planets are
squaring your moon…
I want to know
if you have touched
the centre of your own sorrow
if you have been opened
by life’s betrayals
or have become shrivelled and closed
from fear of further pain.

I want to know
if you can sit with pain
mine or your own
without moving to hide it
or fade it
or fix it.

I want to know
if you can be with joy
mine or your own
if you can dance with wildness
and let the ecstasy fill you
to the tips of your fingers and toes
without cautioning us
to be careful
to be realistic
to remember the limitations
of being human.

It doesn’t interest me
if the story you are telling me
is true.
I want to know if you can
disappoint another
to be true to yourself.
If you can bear
the accusation of betrayal
and not betray your own soul.
If you can be faithless
and therefore trustworthy.

I want to know if you can see Beauty
even when it is not pretty
every day.
And if you can source your own life
from its presence.

I want to know
if you can live with failure
yours and mine
and still stand at the edge of the lake
and shout to the silver of the full moon,
“Yes.”

It doesn’t interest me
to know where you live
or how much money you have.
I want to know if you can get up
after the night of grief and despair
weary and bruised to the bone
and do what needs to be done
to feed the children.

It doesn’t interest me
who you know
or how you came to be here.
I want to know if you will stand
in the centre of the fire
with me
and not shrink back.

It doesn’t interest me
where or what or with whom
you have studied.
I want to know
what sustains you
from the inside
when all else falls away.

I want to know
if you can be alone
with yourself
and if you truly like
the company you keep
in the empty moments.

By Oriah © Mountain Dreaming,
from the book The Invitation

28 before 29 … Final Update!

It’s my birthday today! Happy Birthday to me!!! *hip-hip-hooray* {Even though there are only a few hours left}

This birthday has been a bitter pill to swallow because it will be the last time I will be in my 20′s! {If I hear one more ‘older’ person say “well, how do you think I feel?” I will cut their tongue out with a blunt spoon – it’s right up there with a creepy aunt that you haven’t seen in years, who grabs your cheeks, pretty much drawing every ounce of blood into them and says “look how big you are! Well, no shit Sherlock.}

Right … moving along swiftly…

Before I get started on my 29 before 30 list an update on my 28 before 29 list is needed. Here we go!

1) Fall asleep in the shade of a tree *done*
2) Make a flower crown *done – it didn’t last as long as the movies make you believe they do*
3) Ride the Argus *I ran the Two Oceans 22km trail run so … #BOOM*
4) Learn to play at least one song on the guitar *I hope 4 cords count*
5) Skydive *incomplete*
6) Reach my goal fitness and weight *I will let ‘Cos That’s How I Roll say it all*
7) Read a story to an elderly person *does my mom count? *
8) Draw a picture *I drew more than one – even some flowers in chalk*
9) Get a new tattoo *done*
10) Go away for the weekend *shakes head sadly … camping is not my idea of ‘weekend away’*
11) Meet someone famous *done* {if Mr Maker counts}
12) Go on a cooking course *not done* – although I do watch MasterChef like my life depends on it…*
13) Get a pen pal *I have my reservations after watching a prison pen pal documentary*
14) Climb into a taxi and scream “follow that car!” *not done*
15) Hug a complete stranger *done*
16) Kiss in the rain *done*
17) Climb a tree *done – on my ‘weekend away’ LOL!*
18) Make a new friend *done*
19) Draw and play hop-scotch in the road *done*
20) Have a lemonade stand *this proved to be a lot harder than first thought*
21) Send a teddy around the world *stupid family politics stopped me from doing this*
22) Learn to surf *sort of*
23) Make mud pies *done*
24) Go for a week without chocolate *DONE*
25) Stop smoking *um…well…ya*
26) Make amends *done*
27) Play a prank on someone (harmless of course) *really sucked that April Fools was on a Sunday*
28) Learn to do a french plait *@cupcakemummy … cough-cough*

Well, I don’t think I did too badly!

Off to tackle the next 365 days with 29 awesome things! {blog post coming soon}

xoxo

‘Cos that’s how I roll!

ok .. so it’s been awhile since I have last blogged – but what happened yesterday deserves one me thinks and its perfect timing as it follows on from Solo Plateau.

Yip… you guessed it – I had my 3 month weigh in yesterday, or should I say, assessment, because it is no longer about the weight, and to say that I was happier than a white fluffy bunny rabbit in a field of daisies (yes, I shall give you a moment to picture that) was an understatement! Even though I knew (fingers crossed behind my back) that the results would be better than last time I hate … HATE weigh-ins – being weighed, measured, pinched, prodded … no fun … BUT then when a certain personal trainer, aka Wesley, punches in the information to gather the difference and a huge smile breaks from his face you can’t help but want to air punch like your life depends on it!

The last few months have been the toughest … both mentally and physically – far more mentally than anything else. But not only that, these few months have been the bravest I have ever been, I have fought demons that I create, I did something that I would never have believed I could achieve (I ran the Two Oceans 22km trail run) and I have finally taught myself how not to listen to myself when I want to quit – quitting is no longer an option. It is no longer a goal – it is now my life. And I am BEYOND grateful for the enormous support I have had from Wesley through the blood, sweat and tears (and the occasional gag reflex).

Oh! And I now swing a 24kg Kettle Bell … ‘cos that’s how I roll!

It’s been a journey that I hope everyone can find themselves on one day because, as cliché as this sounds, it can be done! Your body will listen to what your mind tells it!

I do this for a lot of reasons, reasons that change every day and 2 reasons that are prudent for me at the moment is 1. “they will first ask why you do it, in time they will ask you how you did it.” and the second reason is a quote from Socrates: “No citizen has the right to be an amateur in the matter of physical training… What a disgrace it is for a man to grow old without ever seeing the beauty and strength of which his body is capable.”

ok … enough of the deepness … let’s get onto the real reason behind this post … the results!
*drum roll please*

Red is my first weigh in that was done on the 26th May and blue is yesterdays one …

Weight: 72.7kg – 65.5kg – (I love how this is no longer a major issue – lean muscle baby!)
Waist: 92cm – 81.5cm
Chest: 96cm – 90cm (nothing a boob job can’t fix )
Bicep: 30cm – 27.5cm
Thigh: 58cm – 51cm

Body Fat – Skin Fold in mm:
Abdomen: 40mm – 27mm
Supra illiac: 25mm – 10mm
Tricep: 29mm – 14mm
Thigh: 25mm – 13mm

Body Fat %: 28.64 – 16.65 (YES! That’s right! SIXTEEN. POINT. SIX FIVE)
LBM: 51.88 – 54.59
Fat Mass: 20.82kg – 10.91kg

*does the Mr Bean Harlem Shake*

And the cherry on the top? I bought (and fitted into and look good in) a pair of size 8 jeans! yes please!

Let me just put one thing straight – this is not some crazy diet where I detox drink my way through the day or measure everything I eat by the milligram … I train my tush off and I eat well … I will have the whole slab of chocolate if I like but I just wont have the whole chocolate every day because of course you do have to watch what you eat and how much of it you eat. As the guys from Sleek Geek say … Eat Clean. Train Dirty. It really is as simple as that.

Solo Plateau…

Yay! I made the 100 post mark! I was holding out for this one to be a good one because it was going to be about my 3rd weigh-in at 360 Specialized Training and I just couldn’t wait to get my results because I had worked my ASS off and after my 2nd weigh in {check it out on There is NO Magic Pill} I was so excited to feel that pride again … but alas … it ended up in tears, a dose of the good old ‘beating yourself up’ with a side serving of the words ‘you have just hit a plateau.’

But after sleeping on it, I woke up this morning feeling a little better because I still did ‘well’ … not great, but well and it’s a massive comfort when your oldest and best friend {who happens to be your trainer} is so amazingly supportive, but don’t let the relationship fool you, he is quicker than a fox when it comes to telling you how it is … if I sucked he would say ‘you sucked’ and even though I pretty much put my finger down my throat and give the ‘arg’ sound every time I get a compliment or a pat on the back – deep down I am so happy and proud!

So here goes *cringe*

Red is my first weigh in that was done on the 26th May, blue is my 2nd, done on the 7th Oct and green is from yesterday!

Weight: 72.7kg – 68.00kg – 68.4kg … *note to self: do NOT eat a big lunch before your weigh-in*
Waist: 92cm – 86cm – 84cm
Chest: 96cm – 98cm – 92.5cm
Bicep: 30cm – 28cm – 28cm
Thigh: 58cm – 52cm – 55cm *that extra 3cm is muscle* #BOOM

Body Fat – Skin Fold in mm:
Abdomen: 40mm – 27mm – 29mm *I have no words* *she quietly sobs in the corner*
Supra illiac: 25mm – 17mm – 14mm
Tricep: 29mm – 17mm – 14mm
Thigh: 25mm – 20mm – 21mm

Body Fat %: 28.64 – 20.63 – 20.41 *only .2%down in body fat! ARRRGGGG!*
LBM: 51.88 – 53.97 – 54.44
Fat Mass: 20.82kg – 14.03kg – 13.96

Seeing the comparisons from my 1st and 3rd weigh-in’s made me feel much better … even though I  put ON and extra 2mm in my abdomen body fat  and only went down 0.2% in Body Fat {I blame that one on the festive season} I did a fairly good job and I will just use this as motivation for the next 3 months!

xoxo