The Bohemian Coconut

The first week back dieting is tough!

After seeing my trainer Jena compete this past weekend in her first figure show after 8 years of not being on stage was more than motivating and I found that spark I had nearly a year ago.

I thought I was never going to be myself again. These past few months have challenged me in more ways then I had ever expected. I have moments still where I’m overcome by the deepest sense of sadness it almost paralyzes me.

I can’t say exactly what has started to change in me but I suppose I’ve accepted what’s going on in my life.

perfectly stated.

I have so much going on right now!?*!

Life Update: I’m still in school finishing up my Bachelors degree, I have a new position at work as a paralegal and next week start in my own office, I’m back to work at my seasonal job of waitressing, I sold my house and Jarod and I bought a new one with an in-law apartment for my mom- so in one month it will be moving chaos, I’ve been going to see a therapist every other week, my older brother Eric’s wedding is right around the corner, and I’ve committed to training/dieting for my second figure competition, yowzaa!

What a whirlwind beginning to 2012

I lost my Nona in the beginning on January followed by the passing of my father in early March. It hasn’t been easy mentally emotionally and physically and I completely lost control of myself and didn’t take care of ME the way I should have.

I can easily write a post about all the things I should have done but today’s a new day, the start of a new week, a new start over date, and I’m determined to pull myself through this mess and become that happy girl I once was just a few months ago.

I’ve set some goals for myself this year and I’m going to start blogging again to help me reach them and I’m hoping that through writing I can weed through the mess of things going on in my head.

So here’s to giving this another try…..

Work It Out

This morning I went to a different gym then the one I normally go to (I have a multi-club pass that allows me to go to 4 affiliate gyms). I had a great back workout but I didn’t like the new atmosphere at all. It was the gym I used to work out at all the time a few years ago but now that I’m no longer a cardio queen and spend most, if not all my time with free weights and machines it just didn’t work for me. There were quite a few people there at 5:30, the weights weren’t put away neat, machines weren’t in any particular order….lets just say I’m a creature of habit and don’t do good with change. I don’t mind going to a different gym on the weekends when I have more time, but on weekdays I have just over an hour max for my workouts. The only upside this morning was I got an extra dose of motivation when I saw my friend Jen who’s kicking ass with her diet and workouts and is looking amazing!

I feel like I’m starting over again, but in reality I’m so much father ahead then when I started back in May sometime I have extreme motivation and sometimes I feel like taking a spoon and sitting on the couch eating a jar of peanut butter (I know I could easily demolish a jar in under an hour!)

Here is a workout Mantra I like to read when I feel like giving in:

SO worth it!

Short post tonight, have to get back into the swing of blogging and taking pictures! my usb cord for downloading pictures broke so I’ll have to pick one up tomorrow

When Jena asked me if I would like her to write something up for the blog I was more then excited. I had no idea what she was going to send me, but when I opened my email yesterday afternoon I pretty much cried……

My Journey With The Condiment Queen

Well, most of you Bohemian Coconut followers may already know of me, but just in case you’re new to the wonderful world of Brooke, I’m Jena, her personal trainer. What do I do? Well…. as Jarod joked this past weekend “Oh no, you don’t run her life, just what she eats, when she eats it, her supplements, when she workouts, what she does for a workout…. but that’s it”. So I guess that’s what I do, I don’t run her life.….but I think I might have changed it.

I’ve known Brooke for probably 8 or 9 years now, since our husbands are good friends, but have had the pleasure of getting to know her much better in the last 5 or so. We were in my bedroom at my house warming party and she picked up a picture of me from a photo shoot I had done before one of my competitions, and started asking a bunch of questions. I think that was the moment this little spark was originally lit. That little spark ignited this past Saturday at the OCB Cape Cod all natural figure competition, and it was a sight to be seen!

Brooke started training with me back in May. She had trained with me in the past for her wedding, and from knowing her habits so well, I knew she was slacking in the weights and dieting department, so I was determined to get her back into shape, and make sure she stayed there this time. Fortunately for me, she was also determined, so determined that she asked me if I thought she could do a figure competition.

Although she was determined to lose the weight once and for all, the idea of her doing a figure show in October was borderline unrealistic. I don’t like to starve people, and force them to hours of cardio a day, it’s much healthier and less risky to lose the weight a little slower, but I knew this meant a lot to her, so I agreed. With one condition, that if October came and she wasn’t ready, she wouldn’t do it. I didn’t want her to get up on stage if she wasn’t ready. I didn’t want her to look at pictures or see the other girls, and feel bad about herself. This is supposed to be about feeling better about yourself, not worse. There’s nothing like a bad show experience to cause someone to go into a deep depression and gain all their weight back. So with that agreement, the diet, the supplements, and her first workout split routine in place, the journey began.

Brooke, aka, the condiment queen, did great. She worked out hard everyday, sometimes twice, regardless of her 2 jobs and schoolwork, and also found time to practice posing. When she was with me, I would do my best to push her beyond what she’s ever done, and what she ever thought she was capable of, and she never, ever complained, it was unreal! She also did great with the diet. She brought her cooler, and gallons of water everywhere she went, and she never missed her vitamins or supplements. We tweaked her diet and cardio regimen when necessary, trying to figure out what works best for her, and every time we made changes she just rolled with the punches. Brooke’s only obstacle was her little friend, sodium, which is found in most condiments. This girl could put on 2 pounds of water weight over night!! When I finally put my foot down on the whole condiment issue, you would have thought her dog died. But within days the weight was flying off again, she started losing all the water she was retaining, and she was her normal, happy, positive self….the sight of abs I’m sure helped her get over it.

The week of the show was so exciting and nerve racking, there’s so much to do, and everything has to be perfect, the suit, make-up, hair, skin color, posing, etc.…..never mind the dehydration process and carb depletion/loading. Again, Brooke just rolled with it, as positive as ever. The day of the show I knew she was feeling a little nervous, but I also knew she was going to rock the stage. Brooke has a smile you can’t ignore, that and the amazing transformation she did with her body is a beautiful combination. As her family and our husbands arrived, I felt more and more proud of her. I was so happy I didn’t let the short amount of prep time we had stop us from going for this show. I could tell how proud her parents were of her, and I knew we made the right decision. When she finally got up on stage, after the backstage prepping and pumping up, her big smile lit up the auditorium. People were literally talking about #12’s smile! She was so happy to be there, and it showed. Her family had equally big smiles on their faces, and so did I, although I was also sweating bullets.

The next morning I went to Brookes house for breakfast. She made me pumpkin oatmeal (condiments are back) and vanilla whey protein. We sat on her couch re-capping the weekend and the show, and chatting about things to work on before the next one. Then she looked at me and said “Jena, I feel like I could do anything”. That to me is what its all about, although Brooke placed 2^nd in her class, knowing what she’s capable of is far more important, there’s nothing like that sense of empowerment, and that’s what I’m most proud of. It has been a great journey, and I’m already looking forward to Brooke’s next show!

Thank You for everything Jena! xoxo

I can’t believe it’s no longer September, I feel like the whole month just flew by!

I’ve been baking and cooking up a storm this past month. Just because I can’t eat anything fun doesn’t mean the rest of the house has to suffer too. There were a few meals that I wanted to try and make for Jarod that I wouldn’t particularly care for even if I wasn’t dieting so I figured now was the perfect time to make them; two of which were Shepard’s Pie:

and Kielbasa with beans and rice. I made them healthier then their original recipes of course and have some new ideas to make them even healthier so I can post some recipes up.

On the baking front, I made real Apple Crisp from the infamous cook book Joy of Cooking, twice.

The first time I made it it was gone by the end of the day, so the following day I taught Brian how to make it and yet again it almost didn’t last the day.

We also cooked Pumpkin chocolate chip cookies and Pumpkin Oatmeal Muffins.

The batter looked really good and it took everything I had to not taste it!

I can’t wait to share more recipes on the blog next month. I have a feeling it’s going to be recipes that include pumpkin and apple overload, just a warning.

What I’m Looking Forward To This October

1. Changing leaves in New England and blooming fall flowers:

2. Fall scented candles:

3. Baking and Cooking: think Apples/Pumpkin/Cinnamon:

4. Halloween

5. Pumpkin Carving

6. Enjoying cool breezy weather and walks in the woods

7. Redecorating our bedroom

Here is the link to the new Quilt I just purchased at the LLBean outlet in Nashua, NH, more on the redecorating to come.

8. Competing in my first Figure Competition

sneak peek of my abs coming in:

9. My dad’s 60th Birthday

10. Starting a new off-season workout and diet plan! cant wait to post fun workouts and new goals.

These are just some of the things I’m looking forward too