22 Weeks

Posted on June 18, 2013 by Brooke

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*Still fitting into my normal swim suit, but just using it to sit on the deck for a bit, my boobs are just ginormous. Pregnancy weight gain has gone just about everywhere on me and I’m not comfortable walking around in a bathing suit without a sarong on. I’m used to being top heavy but trying to get used to butt, hips, arms, stomach, boobs altogether is a trip, but I’m embracing it as much as I can.

Weight Gained: Not sure but I think the weekly gain has started, Monday I have a prenatal appointment so I’ll know for sure where I’m at.

I need to be better with meal planning during the day now that I get hangry hungry every couple of hours.

Symptoms: Nothing that stands out, sometimes my upper back will hurt if I find I’m sloughing too much. Also a Linea Nigra has faintly started to show on my lower belly.

Movement: Every once and awhile I’ll feel her wiggle in there, but nothing too hard and it’s only been when I’m laying down at night or in the morning. Looking forward to more movement.

Food Cravings: anything salty and fast food (probably because of the salt) Just because I crave something doesn’t mean I’ll fulfill the craving. I have has fast food French fries during this pregnancy but most times I just try to make a healthy option to curb the craving…like the 365 Whole Foods sweet potato puffs with sea salt and organic ketchup yummmo.

Food Aversions: Chicken salad is about it and coffee in the afternoons?

Sleep: Some nights great and other nights so/so. I never have a problem falling asleep, its just I’ll randomly wake up at 1:30 am or 3:00 am and find it can take up to 1 1/2 hours to fall back asleep, those days I try and take a nap so I don’t great moody.

Stretch Marks? No new ones, keep lathering on the oil and cocoa butter. My favorite combination is Alba’s cocoa butter and kukui nut oil.

Miss Anything? Being able to do more to help out. I can’t paint the baby’s room, get the house really clean with bleach, fill the water cooler at work, and realizing I need to take breaks while doing yard work. Long gone are the days of getting my housecleaning, grocery shopping, yard work, laundry, and dinner made in 24 hours, but don’t think I don’t try.

Looking forward to: Our first birthing class Sunday! I’ve decided to do BANI (Birthing as Nature Intended) classes. We are taking them with Jamie owner of An Empowered Birth.

Since I’m not able to have an epidural due to my platelet count I wanted to prepare myself with “tools” like visualization and breathing techniques even though I’m sure these will be out the window when labor starts and I forget I even took a class but I’m hopeful :)

Belly Button in or out? In

Happy or moody most of the time? I’ve been really good while being pregnant, Jarod actually likes me better which kind of scares me because I don’t know what that means when I’m not pregnant but I’m going to take the compliment.

I had a really hard time on Sunday, Father’s Day. I think about my dad all the time and it always brings a smile to my face but for some reason Sunday only brought tears. Everyone needs a good cry sometimes even if it feels uncomfortable. I really just wanted to be by myself to let it out and not bring anyone else down so Jarod made plans to go golfing and then my family met up at 2 at my aunts house for a cookout. Luckily I knew from the previous year that’s this wasn’t going to be a good day for me so I gave Jarod his fathers day present Saturday, a new phone….an IPhone, I think I just lost my husband.

New Baby Items: I’m just going to say YES. I don’t even want to list the things I got from the Baby Gap extra 35% off sale. She’s going to be one well dressed babe.

Exercise: Prenatal yoga on Tuesday nights at The Yoga Tree ( Just signed up for the next 6 week session!) and walking. We are looking into getting a spin bike for the house too. Jarod tore his ACL and wont be getting surgery for awhile so a spin bike is great for physical therapy and will be perfect for when the baby’s born, we can put her in her car seat in front of us and pedal away while she sleeps.

* I’m looking forward to seeing Jarod as a dad. He’s so good with kids and when I see him with babies my heart melts, but lets be honest men and babies would make any girl melt.

photoJarod with baby Thomas on Saturday. Baby in one arm beer in another, I think he’s got this Winking smile

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21 WEEKS

Posted on June 11, 2013 by Brooke

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Weight Gained: Not exactly sure but I think around 11 lbs. she defiantly grew this week

Symptoms: I haven’t had any problems really this week, over the weekend I did wake up with a charlie horse in my calf which I have heard is pregnancy related and I also have some upper back discomfort after sitting at my office desk all day. I’m attributing this to being top and front heavy. I ended up ordering a yoga ball chair for the office to help alleviate any back pain and I absolutely love it!

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Movement: I finally felt her!!! Jarod and I went out to dinner on Friday night and I started off my meal with a cup of clam chowder which is usually a no-no for me because it doesn’t agree but I was craving it. Sure enough on our way home I started feeling some stomach pains so I took a bath when I got home and when I submerged my belly into the water I started to feel something that felt like light tapping on my lower stomach I though it may be gas but it was defiantly our little peanut making it know that the water was too hot or I should lay off the clam chowder. The next day I took another bath and felt her again a little but that’s been it for movement… I’ll take it! I was so excited, I’ve been looking forward to feeling her.

Food Cravings: Nothing crazy this week besides the clam chowder Friday night and the usual lemonade and watermelon. I have noticed though that my appetite is getting a lot stronger and more frequent.

Food Aversions: Chicken salad is about it.

Sleep: Great except that one night with the charlie horse in the calf. I seriously felt like my leg was bruised the next day and the thought of even trying to stretch it made me wince. I’ve noticed this week that I’m a little more tired then usual. I’m guessing that she’s having a major growth spurt this week between the hunger and the tiredness.

Stretch Marks? No new ones, keep lathering on the oil and cocoa butter.

Miss Anything? Same as last week.

Looking forward to: Father’s Day this Sunday. Although I will miss my dad, especially on a day that celebrates fathers, I’m looking forward to Jarod celebrating his first Father’s Day as an expectant father!

Belly Button in or out? In but I have a feeling by the end of this pregnancy it might come out!?

Happy or moody most of the time? Well this week I ventured into the moody side. I shouldn’t say moody but emotional, I cried twice in a period of a week and that never happens.

New Baby Items: Girl clothes are just too cute to pass up so yes I have purchased a few onesies from the Beatrice Potter Collection at the gap and a cute blue polka dot head band. I also got a Nursing Pillow in Firefly and an Udder Cover in style Jordan. These two things were both on my registry but just different brands, Boppy and a Hooter Hider but I found an awesome link on Pinterest to a website with all baby deals and bought both of these for just the price of shipping! offer code: MYSAVINGS

Exercise: Prenatal yoga on Tuesday nights at The Yoga Tree and walking.

I can’t wait for this little girl to get here so I can meet her!!!

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20 Weeks

Posted on June 6, 2013 by Brooke

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How far along? 20 Weeks 2 days

Total weight gain/loss: 8 lbs. by dr. scale but my first appointment was at 6 or 8 weeks so I’m really closer to 10 lbs.

Maternity clothes? Bought a few things and was just given a tub of hand me downs that I haven’t even gone though. Haven’t ventured into the maternity pants yet, just rocking the yoga pants, skirts, dresses, and one pair of my old jeans.

Stretch marks? No new ones, I do have a few on my hips from the years I’ve gained/lost/gained but they are really faint and I’m probably the only one who notices. I keep lathering oil on my boobs, belly, and butt and cocoa butter over it and everywhere else!

Sleep: every now and then I get a random night where I’ll wake up, like wide awake and wont be ale to get back asleep for a few hours….I hope its not the start to any pregnancy insomnia. Also the past weekend we had a heat wave and about 3 hours into it our central air broke so it was a rough weekend of sleep

Best moment this week: getting to the halfway point!

Have you told family and friends: Yes!

Miss Anything? Sweaty workouts, and pretty much workouts in general as I’ve just been walking and doing prenatal yoga. I also miss wine, beer, and margaritas now that the weather is getting warmer.

Movement: I had a feeling of digestion/gas in my upper stomach on Sunday that could have been the baby but haven’t felt anything yet. I have an anterior placenta acting as a mattress so it could take awhile until I feel anything.

Food cravings: anything salty, lemonade, the mother of all pregnancy cravings: pickles and fruit, especially watermelon.

Anything making you queasy or sick: I can drink a cup of coffee in the morning but the thought of it in the afternoon doesn’t appeal and chicken salad yuck.

Have you started to show yet: I look like I’m hiding a basketball and my boobs are outrageous so YES.

Gender: GIRL!

Labor Signs: No

Belly Button in or out? In, but definitely looking a lot different then usual these days.

Wedding rings on or off? On

Happy or Moody most of the time: Happy! I’ve been really good throughout this pregnancy but I did have a night 2 weeks ago where worrying about finances kept me up until 3am and then yesterday I have an absolute meltdown, tears and all. I told Jarod to keep on me to stay healthy and within hours of asking him this I told him I got a 99 cent frosty at lunch and he told me to be careful not to get in a rut and I just lost it. I totally freaked him out and he told me he will never say anything again, he doesn’t care what I eat, and doesn’t want me to ask him to help in that way, lol.

Looking forward to: Feeling the baby move!

Baby Items purchased this week: I bought a pair of pink/woods camo Crocs from Marshalls over the weekend, they were too cute to pass up. After my Freeport outlet shopping 2 weeks when we found out our nugget is a girl I’ve been trying to be good until after my baby shower….trying.

I can’t stand the cuteness of these Patagonia and North Face snow suits!!

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Concerns / Other: At my 19 week appointment last Tuesday we reviewed the results of my ultrasound and a few things had come up. I still have my 2 left ovarian cysts but they haven’t grown since my last ultrasound so they were happy with that. They also told me that the baby has an Echogenic Focus on her heart. This apparently is a “soft” marker for down syndrome. They gave me some paperwork on what it was and even though I had previously declined any and all genetic type testing they were obligated to tell me this in case I wanted the option to further test. I  have until 21 weeks to get a blood test to get the percentage chance of having a baby with DS but I’ve opted out of it since the rest of the ultrasound was perfect and the chances of this reversing itself though pregnancy are extremely high. I’ll take her no matter what, this was a discussion me and Jarod had long before I got pregnant. It did make me nervous but they assured me that her health is not affected by this calcium type deposit and her heartbeat is strong. I hold my belly everyday and tell her I love her no matter what!

* Since around 18 weeks when my pregnancy app on my IPhone alerted me that baby’s start to hear muffled sounds around this time, we picked up a few baby books and have been reading one to her either at night or in the morning. I think this is really more for me and Jarod at this point but its fun to get into the habit of doing.

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Watch out World-Little Baby Schena’s on it’s way!

Posted on April 26, 2013 by Brooke

In early February Jarod and I found out we were expecting our 1st baby!!!

I’m 15 weeks today and wanted to start documenting weekly so that I can look back and remember my first pregnancy.

It’s funny how much has changed in such a short amount of time. Jarod and I have been together for over 12 years and have always talked about having kids, we have had a million different names picked out, discussed how we would raise them, but the actual thought of being pregnant I couldn’t wrap my head around. Almost all of my close friends have kids, and if they don’t have more then one they are dying to have another. This was just crazy to me, how were they doing it and making it look so easy. I thought it was one of those things people didn’t really want to tell you the truth about because if you really knew you wouldn’t be so eager.

When me and Jarod finally decided to “try” (which I laugh about- all it means is your having sex more and around a certain time of the month) I was nervous but realized there wasn’t going to be a perfect time. Looking back it was a perfect time, we had been together 12 years, married 4, owned a home, had jobs, and was over the stressful year after my dad and Nona passed and my mother was in remission. It only took 4 months and it sounds so soon but after the first few months of negative tests, periods, and ovulation kits letting you know you don’t ovulate?? 4 months was like 4 years. And now that I’m pregnant all my worries have kind of gone away. I’m so happy to be having a baby with Jarod that I don’t think about anything else.

Me being nervous about giving birth and being pregnant just isn’t an issue and although I think about it, its turned into more of our plans then our worries. Don’t get me wrong I get frustrated with myself! when no one lets me help move something, when I want sushi, or a margarita (better yet a beergarita!) when my clothes don’t fit, boobs look like I can feed the city, when I wake up at 2 am and have to pee and the again at maybe 5, and now that I’m in the awkward stage of…is she pregnant or did she eat one to many crispy crèmes?? but hey I guess it come with the territory.

The 1st trimester was a lot of getting used to.  Around week 6 I started to have morning sickness in the form of all day nausea and fatigue along with crazy food aversions. All seemed to subside around week 11 so I have to say I’m pretty lucky I never threw up or had it any longer. I lived off of Bagels, cereal, chicken pot pie (weird?),  any kind of cracker, ginger chews, and preggie pops.

I can finally say that other than chicken salad (first thing that made me want to heave at week 6) I don’t have any food aversions really and have even had coffee this past week. Sometime I do make something and when I see it don’t really feels like having it anymore or it doesn’t look like what I was picturing in my head and not feel like eating it or the worst just not knowing what you want.

As for cravings I cant really say that I have anything major. One thing that stands out is that I don’t crave sweets like I did before I was pregnant. If we go out for ice-cream I get a slush? this is so unlike me because I can honestly say ice-cream was my favorite food and biggest weakness.

I haven’t been crazy about the things your not supposed to eat and do. I got an awful cold in the first few weeks and refused to take anything. After that I had an infection for a few weeks and took antibiotics and Motrin. I realized I was doing more harm and stressing the baby by not treating myself then being anti-medicine. I have also eaten goat cheese, had a turkey sub, at some prosciutto, and let my heart rate get above 140 bpm and we are doing just fine. I don’t do this regularly by any means but I’m not driving myself up a wall with restrictions.

A new things for me is the constant doctors appointments and microscope on you. If you have something wrong they will find it when your pregnant. After my first ultrasound I found out a have 2 cysts on my left ovary which have to be monitored every few weeks. Ones growing but they don’t seem concerned so I’m not. Another thing they found after routine blood work was that I have low platelet counts. After they went lower again they referred me to a hematologist and so now I go there once a months to be monitored. I may have something called Idiopathic thrombocytopenic purpura (ITP). My hematologist isn’t concerned and there isn’t anything I can do anyways so again I’m not concerned. I don’t care for the fact that where I go, Commonwealth Oncology-Hematology, is the same place my parents went for caner treatments, I was a bit freaked out at first doing blood work next to someone getting chemo, but I feel comfortable knowing I’m closely monitored.

And finally a picture…..

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I don’t have any pictures from the first 12 weeks, but here is a picture Jarod put on Facebook to announce he’s going to be a dad. This is me at 13 weeks and our ultrasound at 12 weeks.

I feel like in just two weeks my belly has changed so much! I will do a 15 week update this weekend but wanted to get all of the other ramblings and announcement out first.

We couldn’t be happier or more excited!!! :)

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Bohemian Coconut Facelift

Posted on September 24, 2012 by Brooke

 

Redesigned the blog a bit to make it a little cleaner looking!

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Giving It Another Try

Posted on April 9, 2012 by Brooke

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…..

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I’m Back!

Posted on December 5, 2011 by Brooke

WOW its been almost…… 6 weeks Yikes!

I’ve taken the past 2 months to enjoy food (maybe a little too much) enjoy some time off from a structured gym plan (never more then 3 days) and catch up on life (but I actually did better with planning and scheduling during contest prep)

I’ll be honest I don’t feel great about how I look right now, but starting today I’m on my off season diet 100% allowing only one day for a cheat meal which I’ve now renamed: my Happy Meal calling it a cheat makes me feel like I’m doing something wrong, happy meal is much nicer.

After my show and the weeks leading up to it I put so much of an emphasis on food, not what I was eating during prep but what I would eat after I was done competing and it seriously screwed me up. I though that having all these things that I couldn’t having for 4 1/2 months would make me happy when I had them but in the end they have made me pretty sad. I always preach a clean eating way of life but I found myself on the other side of that statement and was upset with myself not only because of what I was eating but justifying why I was doing it.

Bad/processed food makes me feel….awful

Good/clean food makes me feel….great

It seems pretty simple right…..wrong

Willpower takes work, serious work day in and day out until it becomes a habit. Once that habit is broken you’ll find yourself back to where you began, only having to work harder to gain that willpower back.

I have about 8 lbs. to loose for me to be at my goal weight, a happy comfortable weight for me. This shouldn’t take me to long to do but now that I’ve been eating whatever I want cravings and temptations are much harder to pass up but I’m pretty focused now and I hope that blogging my way through the off season and into the next prep will help me too.

I have lost of clean recipes to post so stay on the look out….see you tomorrow!

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Back in the Kitchen

Posted on October 14, 2011 by Brooke

 

After a week of eating whatever I wanted, I’m now happy to be back on track with my off-season diet and training plan, having a schedule / routine works better for me. I’m still trying to get used to seeing the scale move up since prior to last week my goal was to see it go down. The extra calories in my diet have helped me power through my workouts and I’ve been lifting heavy and with more energy and that I love!

Current Obsession:

PUMPKIN!!!

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I have had pumpkin mixed in my oatmeal almost everyday since my competition besides the one day I switched it up and had blueberries.

When my old fashion oats are done cooking stovetop, I turn the burner down to low and mix in about 1/4 cup of canned pumpkin.

Pumpkin Pie Oatmeal

  • 1 cup Old fashion Oats (measured dry)
  • 2 cups of water
  • 1 tsp. ground cinnamon
  • 3 packets of vanilla stevia
  • 1/8 tsp. nutmeg
  • 1/8 tsp. allspice
  • 1 tsp. ground flaxseed
  • 1 tablespoon chopped walnuts

Add oats to 2 cups of water in a pot on stove at a low setting, put cover on and let cook for about 5-10 minutes (depending on how much time you have, the lower and longer you cook the oats the fluffier they get) take cover off and add in spices and stevia stirring until the oatmeal reaches desired consistency. Pour into your favorite bowl and add flaxseed and walnuts on top.

*sometimes I’ll mix in a scoop of vanilla protein power while the oats are cooking or I’ll mix a scoop of vanilla protein powder with 2 tbsp. of water and pour on top of the oats in a bowl before I add my toppings <—- really good. (if you add protein powder I would omit the stevia, since the protein adds sweetness)

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SO freaking good!

I’m a huge fan of turkey burgers and I’m always looking for a new way to cook them.

I came across an easy recipe for Turkey Burgers on Bodybuilding.com by Jamie Eason.

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Zucchini and Carrot Turkey Burgers

Ingredients:

  • 2 packages of ground extra lean turkey breast (I used 1 package)
  • 4 medium zucchini, grated (I used I zucchini and 1 carrot)
  • 1/2 tsp salt, (preferably sea salt)
  • 1 tsp garlic powder (I added 2 tsp.- I love garlic!)
  • 2 tsp onion powder
  • 2 tsp dried basil
  • 1 tsp oregano
  • 1 tsp black pepper

 

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Directions:

  1. Set broiler on high, arranging rack so that burgers will be about 2 inches from the heat.
  2. In a large bowl, combine grated zucchini, salt, onion powder, garlic powder, dried basil, oregano, pepper and then turkey.
  3. Mix well and scoop out 4-to-5 oz portions. Mixture will be really moist so for easier clean up, use a foil-lined baking sheet, prepped with non-stick spray.
  4. Place burgers in oven and broil for 7 minutes. Carefully flip each burger and continue to broil for another 7 minutes on the other side. Serve warm.

(SOURCE)

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We cooked our turkey burgers on the George Foreman grill so they would cook fast (we were hungry) and have a crispier top.

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This recipe is definitely a keeper.

I had my turkey burger bun-less with a little ketchup (reduced sugar variety) and a small side salad.

The salad was made with mixed greens with spinach, cucumbers, red onion, yellow tomato, sunflower seeds, and chopped walnuts; dressed with Maple Groves Balsamic vinegar.

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During competition prep I had a running list of things I wanted to eat when I was done. Top on the list was bread. I’m not a fan of white bread; I love multigrain and Ezekiel breads—> carbs with a purpose!

I knew I wanted to bake my own bread so I flipped through some of my Eat Clean Diet books and found one that caught my eye.

The only problem was I didn’t read the recipe through all the way and realized only after I started it called for 24 hour wait period, so unfortunately my bread craving wasn’t satisfied that night, but it sure was good the following day.

EASY HERBED YOGURT BREAD

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INGREDIENTS

  • 3 cups Whole Grain Flour (I used 1 cup each of whole wheat, oat, and spelt flours)
  • 2 cups plain nonfat Greek yogurt
  • 1/2 cup water
  • 2 egg whites + 1 whole egg
  • 1 tsp. sea salt
  • 2 tsp. baking soda
  • 2 tbsp. unsweetened applesauce
  • 1 tbsp. olive oil
  • 1/3 cup maple syrup (I used agave nectar)
  • 1 tsp. dried basil
  • 1/2 tsp. dried oregano
  • 1/2 tsp. ground pepper

DIRECTIONS

  • Combine flour, yogurt, and water in a large bowl. Mix well and cover with a damp kitchen towel. Place in a warm spot to set, for at least 24 hours.
  • After the 24 hours, preheat oven to 350 degrees.
  • prepare a loaf pan, lightly spraying it with olive oil pam and dusting with whole wheat flour (make sure to shake excess flour out)
  • Take four mixture and put it in the bowl of a food processor or mixer (I had neither so I had to do this all my hand mixer which was a lot tougher!)
  • Add remaining ingredients and process until well distributed.
  • Place dough in loaf pan and cook for 1 1/2 hours. The bread when touch should spring back. It will look like it’s well cooked on the outside.

- I recommend eating this bread warm, so eat immediately after cooking or toast it up with some butter, yum.

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I topped my bread with a little Earth Balance butter and ate it with homemade Vegetable Soup!

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Guest Post By: Jena McCracken

Posted on October 12, 2011 by Brooke

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 2nd 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!

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Thank You for everything Jena! xoxo

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Before & After

Posted on October 12, 2011 by Brooke

Oh Boy here they are, my Before & After photos:

**Reminder please that this is a judgment free zone!! It’s taken me forever to finally post these because I’m embarrassed by them, but hopefully by posting them I will never forget how awful I felt being at my heaviest and I will continue to maintain a healthy weight and strive to feel great all the time through clean eating and exercising.

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This is a picture from October of 2009 when I had seriously hit rock bottom with my weight, I was upwards of around 170 lbs.

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May 2011.

First set of Before photos taken the day before I began competition prep.

164 lbs. / 22.5 % body fat

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June 2011

158 lbs.

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August 2011

150 lbs.

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End on September 2011

142.5 lbs.

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October 8, 2011

stage weight: 135 lbs. / 7.5 % body fat

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My goal is to keep my off season weight around 145-148 lbs. I would like to stay 10 lbs. from my stage weight with room to gain more muscle. I have an “off-season” diet that will keep me lean throughout the year but also allows me to, as Jena says: have a lot more energy and a little more fun! The little more fun being a cheat meal once a week- WooHoo!!

I call how I eat a “diet” but it’s really not, most diets have a start and and end point, and then what? go back to what how you used to eat and gain all the weight back?

The way I eat and exercise is a lifestyle, with no end in sight. I don’t feel deprived by the changes I’ve made and the way I live, I feel empowered.

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Posted in Figure Competition Prep, Uncategorized | 7 Comments