11 days and counting!

28 June.  11 days to go.

I’ve packed my bag for the show…all important items such as:

Bikinis, shoes, tanning stuff, gloves, resistance band, 2 copies of my routine music, pen, vivid marker, bikini bite, jewellery, make-up, Vaseline, hair-spray, sewing kit, straws, magnesium, and some food supplies that wont go off

The past week has been a bit a bit if a struggle – and I have done some hard days of ‘soul searching’ as the show gets closer; one evening I almost pulled out as I drank some wine …chasing down some blue cheese!  I have questioned how I look, and if I have really done enough to look worthy of my sparkly bikini. I guess show day will tell. 

My inner Nigella was trying to break free all week….if only I could be happy with over sized hips/thighs/tum/everything, look gorgeous, and be able to indulge in the delicious meals I prepare my family! However, my vanity and desire to have a tight toned body wont allow it... not this year anyway!

Ah well, like one of my gym tops says “if it was easy, everyone would do it”. I have pep talked myself and have had some great ‘inspirational/get your act together/you can do it’ talks with friends also which is just what I needed.  Its times like these that you become very thankful for the support that you get!! I am now counting down to carb depletion, then the loading and then have my oompa-loompa-come-nutella tan to look forward to. I am positive that once I’m on stage I’ll remember why I do this crazy sport!

I’ve changed my cardio a tad…instead of 40+ minutes on the bike, I am making sure I get through 300 calories, so the time fluctuates.

Tuesday.  Food 100%.  No cardio. Trained Back: drops & supersets         

Wednesday. Food 100%.  Spin 37 mins. Trained chest & biceps: drops & supersets

Thursday.  Food 100%.  Spin 32 mins. Fully booked so no weights

Friday.  Food 100%. Decided to have a sleep in today which saw me sleep to 5.30 (an extra half hour). Had planned on doing legs but ended up having a mare of a morning. Got to the gym, no training schedule for clients, no diary, forgot my uniform, wallet and food (can’t go without eating!).  I decided to call it a day and rest. Grrrrrrrr.

Saturday.   Food: Hmmmmmm.  Spin 30 minutes. No weights today.  Visited a girlfriend, got a flat tyre (shit! thanks to my Dad for teaching me how to change one) and had a ½ glass of wine.  Followed up with returning home (+ a quick supermarket stop), and stocked up on lovely piece of eye fillet, mushrooms, potatoes (which I thinly sliced, tossed in olive oil, garlic & rosemary then stacked them up high for baking), blue cheese and a bottle of savvy.  And some chocolate. Enough said.

Sunday.  Food 100%. Felt pretty rough due to half a bottle of wine being consumed and look like a puffed up puffy puffer fish I’m so bloated.   Legs session at the gym with lots and lots of supersets.  No cardio.

Monday.  Food 100%.  Spin 27 minutes. Trained Shoulders & triceps.

Tuesday Food 100%.  Spin 24 minutes. Trained Back…and feeling a hell of a lot more positive! 

2 and a half weeks to go

22 June. 2.5 weeks and I’m there!

Well, I’ve sent in my entry form, added some more bling to a bikini and am just about set to go. Last week I tweaked my food – and definitely noticed the difference with energy levels lagging a little. I had also taken out creatine & beta-alanine which showed in my workouts and recovery.  My hammies were still telling me off 4 days after training them – ow ow ow!   

The last week I have really noticed the cold; yes, it’s winter and we have had some chilly days but the lack of body insulation makes me feel it even more!  My stats were done on Friday and this is where I’m at….

25 May (6 weeks)
Body weight. 59.8
Body fat %. 19.16
Body fat kg. 11.29
LBM. 47.61

16 June (3 weeks)

Body weight. 59.8
Body fat %. 16.95
Body fat kg. 9.98
LBM. 48.92

I am pretty happy with my stats and will have them done once more next week so I know what volumes of food to eat on my final week.

Tuesday.  Food 100%.  Spin 30 mins. Trained Chest & biceps                  

Wednesday. Food 100%.  No cardio. Trained Back

Thursday.  Food 100%.  Spin 30 mins. Trained Shoulders

Friday.  Food 100%. Spin 30 mins. No weights today as everything is too sore! Body stats done.

Saturday.   Food 100%.  No cardio today. Legs. Lots of supersets!

Sunday.  Food 70%.  Posing practice in Tauranga.  This was pretty tough and my back hurt like hell afterwards.  It was a good reminder that I need to get practicing more – and in my heels!  As I tend to live in trainers or slippers (nanna), I’ll have to get walking around the house in my stage shoes.  Had a ‘sanity meal’ roast chicken with roast spuds, pumpkin, carrots, peas and gravy. Dessert of plum & apple crumble with French vanilla icecream.

Monday.  Food 100%.   No cardio. Trained shoulders & triceps.  I’ll be sticking to dropsets, giant sets and supersets from here on in.  Basically to keep my mind challenged and to have a cardio aspect to my gym sessions.

Week 3 of my supermarket savings!

Week 3 report for my shopping challenge.

I’m very pleased to announce yet another successful week with change left of $5.50.

It goes to show that with careful planning it can be done.  Once this week is completed I’ll be doing a summary to see how much I have saved/spent in comparison to the 4 weeks prior to starting the challenge. Last week a couple of staff members at Countdown mentioned they hadnt seen me much lately!

Here is how the last week went + a few recipes…

Monday: Chicken Pie.  Linc loves pies and I feel pretty happy serving this up to him.  This makes a very generous pie so we usually get a couple of extra serves in the freezer.

Chop and fry off 1 leek, add to the pan chopped (cooked) chicken, 2 chopped carrots (I cooked carrots on Sunday so used leftovers – I also had a cup of peas leftover so put them in too),  1 cup chicken stock + 2 teaspoons thyme.  Simmer for 15-20 mins. Add 1 tablespoon cornflour that has been mixed with 2 tablespoons water.  Cook till thickened. Season & allow to cool.  Prepare a pie dish with pastry.  I make my own pastry using the ‘Short Pastry’ recipe from the Edmonds (pg 72 in my book).  Its simple to make in the blitzer and I get to freeze 1/3 of it to use later for a quiche or smaller pies.  Place filling into pie. Cover with pastry lid. Brush with 1 beaten egg, sprinkle with sesame seeds and bake at 200c for approx 30 mins.

I reserved some pie filling and made Lucy up a couple of ramekins with pie filling topped with mash for the freezer.

Tuesday: Thai Pumpkin Soup.  Simple recipe…I use a pumpkin soup recipe & add in 2 teaspoons thai green curry paste, 2 T fish sauce and 1 can coconut cream.  In place of coconut cream you can use 1 tin light & creamy evaporated  milk & 3 teaspoons of coconut essence.

Wednesday: Nachos. Beef casserole. Good old Edmonds recipe again.  Pretty much a cook-free day as I chopped everything the night before then threw it all in the crock pot in the morning.

Thursday: Leftover day.  Linc thought choosing something from the freezer was cool and picked out chicken pie and chicken fried rice.

Friday: Thai green chicken curry. Made with thai green curry paste, chicken, onion, 1 tin light & creamy evaporated milk & 3 teaspoons of coconut essence. Served on rice

Saturday: Pork chops. I marinated these in maple syrup and garlic. Served with mashed kumara with orange (just add some juice & finely grated orange zest) and green beans

This week’s menu all set.  I made the Lemon Cookies last night and have the soup already cooking. My bread making hasn’t gone particularly well but I am persevering with it!  

The menu for week 4

Final 4 weeks to show...

14 June. Final 4 weeks.

This week its time to tweak my food which I’ll be doing by taking out some foods and replacing them with others.  Next week I’ll be changing it again also, which will then lead me up to my final weeks prep.  I’ll also be doing some switching and dropping some supplements.  

I’ve also felt a bit doubtful about my appearance towards the end of last week.  I think part of it is from looking at too many other competitors on the internet,  part is not having anyone else to monitor how I’m going, and part of it is from not being on stage (in figure) for a couple of years.  I should be alright – and Matt tells me I just need to hang in there and keep going! 

My dessert is egg whites, protein powder and lashings of cinnamon now – nyum nyum!  Its cooked into some weird consistency and extremely tasty!

Tuesday.  Food 100%.  No weights (fully booked with clients).  Spin 40mins                      

Wednesday. Food 100%.  Spin 40 mins. Trained Legs

Thursday.  Food 100%.  Allowed myself a sleep in today to allow my legs to fully recover…slept till 6am. Trained Shoulders

Friday.  Food 100%. Spin 30 mins. Did a light back train…the gym was extremely cold and I found it hard to get warm. Must remember to pack thermals in my gym bag!

Saturday.   Food 100%.  No cardio today. Trained chest/bis

Sunday.  Food 100%.  No weights today. Cardio was LifeSprints on the bike – damn hard!

Monday.  Food 100%.  No cardio.  Light leg workout (tho completely nailed my glutes!) – energy a little low.

This weekend I’m off to Tauranga to join in Kaye’s posing class so I’m looking forward to that.  I've been practicing posing after each weights session but still like to get to a class to see if I need any pointers.  I still haven’t made a decision on what to wear, but this weekend will shout myself some eyelashes, nails and some new jewellery. 

Over shopping….week 2 report

My shopping challenge is going well and this week I have $17.40 left over!

I didn’t get time to make the Fruit salad muffins I had planned, so they are rolling over onto this weeks planner. 

Here is the rundown of our last week:

Sunday: Roast (chicken & veges).  Sunday is always roast night.  I recently discovered the size 22-24 chickens which cost about $13, and are more like a small turkey. By purchasing a large chook, I can plan to make chicken pie, fried rice or risotto the next night.  Linc has a massive appetite which I’m sure any mother with sons understands so I make sure he gets a large serving of veges and my (in his words) “legendary” stuffing.

Monday: Chicken Fried Rice.  Linc loves this meal!  I used leftover chicken from Sundays roast. Also ‘gladwared’ up 3 roast meals for Lucy and got 2 days worth of sandwiches for the boys out of it. 

Here’s my recipe…..  Beat 2 eggs, then cook them in a wok like an omellete, remove, cool and slice.  Heat up 1T sesame oil, add in 1 chopped onion, cook till clear. Add 2 cloves crushed garlic + 1t crushed ginger + 1 cup peas.  Cook for 1-2 mins, add approx 2 cups cold rice & chopped (cooked/leftover) chicken & stir fry till well heated. Add chopped egg to heat through. Serve with soy, sweet chilli or sweet n’ sour sauce.

Tuesday: Bacon & Egg Pie.  Used 4 slices of a 1kg pack of bacon, the rest has been divided up and frozen.  2 meals stored for Lucy and the boys got pie in their lunch box the next day.  The rest of the bacon can be used for macaroni, pie, quiche or what-have-you.  Simply used the recipe from the Edmonds cook book.

Wednesday: Nachos. Made with 500g mince, 1 can tomatoes, 1 can refried beans, onion and tomato paste.  Served on nacho chips, with cheese & sour cream.  Only used half the mix and froze the rest.  I try to do a ‘quick meal’ on Wednesdays as Matt has a wine appreciation course and needs to dine & dash!

Thursday: Steak, mushroom sauce, scalloped potato, broccoli. Found the best price for steak at LifeStyle meats in Dinsdale

Friday: Butter chicken & garlic naan. Had my brother over for dinner. :o)

Saturday: Tangy chicken, mashed pumpkin, beans.  Tangy chicken is chicken marinated in  4T tomato sauce, 1 T Worcestershire sauce, 2T white wine vinegar and 2T brown sugar

This week’s menu is printed ready to go…and I’ve just pulled the gingernuts out of the oven halfway through typing this.

Thursday I’m pretty busy: I’m guest lecturing at WinTec, have a business meeting in the afternoon and a haircut booked in the evening, so the boys can pick a meal out of the freezer to reheat so I don’t have to worry about cooking. 

Matt’s parents have supplied us with a pumpkin from the garden so that will be used for the Thai pumpkin soup, and then I’ll use the rest of the jar of curry paste on Friday night.  I’m planning on using some of the pumpkin next week for Sweet & Spicy Pumpkin Muffins.



The menu for this week



5 weeks to the comp

7 July 

Over the half way point now! My sore throat and lethargic bod was all sorted well and truly in about 48 hours last week.  Thank goodness for speedy recoveries! 

My early starts are still continuing…with my earliest wake up at 4am on Friday.  It seems so weird and I’ve never had it before.  I’m not hungry when I wake, and I don’t take any fat burners/thermos so I’m not winding my system up.  I just wake up; and am wide awake ready to go – so I go!

I am still sorting out what bikini (or bikinis) to wear. I have it down to a choice of 4.  I like to wear a different one at judging and at the night show. My final choices are red lycra, deep red velvet, green or burgundy. It will probably be a last minute decision.

I’ve started working on my routine.  The first half is sorted, so over the next week I’ll try to piece the rest of it together.  I’m not really too focused on it since they don’t count towards a placing.

Tuesday.  Food 100%.  No cardio (still on throat recovery). Trained Chest/Bis                    

Wednesday. Food 100%.  Spin 45 mins. Trained Legs

Thursday.  Food 100%.  Spin 40 mins. Trained Shoudlers/Tris

Friday.  Food 100%.  Spin 50 mins. Trained Back.

Saturday.   Food 100%.  Had a sleep in today (6.30am). Rest day from weights and did 30 minutes of interval sprints at the gym after breakfast.

Sunday.  Food 100%.  No cardio, no weights.

Monday.  Food 100%.  Spin 60 mins…the last 10minutes were pretty tough! Trained chest & biceps. 

I’ve really noticed how I react to low carb and high carb days the last couple of weeks. On Thursday I was looking (and feeling) teeny-tiny-deflated-flat in the gym but come Friday arvo after a feast on carbs I was looking a lot better… so I hope I can nail that on my carb up for competition.

Over Shopping...

The past fortngiht I have had to come to the admission that I spend far (far far) to much money at the supermarket.  We have a budget but I tend to blow it on a weekly basis when I stop in to get a “couple” of items and walk out with 3-4 bags and another 100+ gone on the credit card.  Some weeks I would be spending over double what we should be and it needs to stop! 

Part of it, is that I stopped meal planning for the week.  Nearly every day I’d pop into my friendly Countdown (so 

My menu for the week

 friendly I know most the staff by name and they know mine & Lucy’s too)  on my walk home to grab a bunch of stuff and top it up with more things I think I may need – but don’t really.  The other part is my love for baking…my pantry is extremely well stocked so I can bake pretty much anything the recipe book has to offer, and some items are way overstocked!

The last 2 weeks I have gone back to menu planning for the week – and this week have added my 4 things to bake for the week.  I have my shopping list set, and now embark on a 4 week challenge to stick to the budget!  Lincoln loves my menu as I print it out and stick it to the kitchen wall. He is always wondering what his next dinner will be so it’s stopped him pestering me too!




The Money Man!



To do this I have taken a lesson from the Money Man.  Remember him, the sergeant major type guy who would teach people on TV how to spend their dosh – and save more in the process.  My lesson… take out the budgeted grocery moola from the bank, and spend only that for the week. And once it’s gone, there is no more money allowed till the following week.  It has certainly made me think a lot more and I have reduce my visits to countdown.  Last week I had $4.50 left over. I am so proud of myself!

I’ll let you know how I go over the next few weeks and if it works it’ll be a plan I stick to!

Macaroni & Cheese with Bacon

MACARONI CHEESE WITH BACON.

Lincoln first made this a year or so ago.  I turned my nose up at the idea of it as my only recollection of macaroni

Ready to cook (or chill till required)

 was when an aunt was baby-sitting me (at around age 6?), and she wouldn’t let me leave the table till I had eaten my (hideous) macaroni. It seemed like it took forever to get through my plate…and I’m sure I recall gagging at it.

I helped Lincoln make this and it came out of the oven smelling exceptionally good. I decided to try a spoon-full and it was incredible!  This is a good ‘sometimes’ food as it’s loaded with all things bad: pasta, cheese and bacon. 

However, if you have boys who are going through growth-spurts it’s a fantastic filler. I will often make it during a morning (up to the baking point) it if I have a busy afternoon with clients when prepping dinner could become a mission.

It would also be an ideal ‘gift dinner’ if you have a friend who has been really busy and could do with a night off cooking.  Lincoln tells me he could eat this “every day” and Lucy goes nuts for it too.

This macaroni has a fantastic crunchy topping. 

Ready to serve!



2 ½ cups dry macaroni

50g butter

¼ cup flour

2 cups milk

Pepper (I don’t use any salt in this recipe as there is enough in the bacon)

150g grated tasty cheese

4-6 slices chopped cooked bacon

2/3 cup breadcrumbs.

Set oven to 180°C.  Chop & cook the bacon and set aside.  Melt the butter in a pot, add the flour and stir for a couple of minutes over a medium heat. Whisk in ½ cup milk. Keep whisking until the mix thickens. Whisk in another ½ cup till the sauce thickens and repeat the process until all the milk is mixed in.  Bring the sauce to a simmer, then remove it from the heat, season with pepper and stir in 100g of the cheese. Stir in the bacon once the cheese is melted through.  If not using immediately, cover and set aside.

Meanwhile, bring a large pot of water to the boil and cook macaroni till al-dente (approx 7-9 minutes).  Drain, then mix in with the sauce.

Put the mixture in a large oven dish that has been greased with butter or oiled.  Sprinkle 1/3 of the breadcrumbs over it. Then sprinkle with 25g cheese. Repeat the crumb/cheese layer then bake for approx 25 minutes.

You can prep this in a morning, then cover and chill it. Bake for approx 40-45 minutes if baking from cold.