Pickerington Magazine | Pickerington Magazine February/March 2020

A Little Chat with Big Mama

Pickerington Magazine: Where did your nickname Big Mama come from?

“I got the name from being the owner and trainer at my gym. Everyone called me Big Mama, as in the ‘big boss’ in charge. The rest of my staff had nicknames like Uncle John and Aunt Cassie, and we would refer to each other with these family names. Well, my name stuck.”

Pickerington Magazine: What’s your favorite meal to make?

“While my executive chefs make all the food, I love making desserts. Some of my favorite things to make are the keto chocolate chip cookies and the keto chocolate cheesecake bombs.”

Pickerington Magazine: What’s your best piece of weight loss advice?

“Low carb diets. By eating less carbs and higher fats and proteins, you eat fewer calories and feel fuller for longer. To me, this is the most effective way to lose weight.”

Pickerington Magazine: What’s the worst piece of weight loss advice you’ve heard?

“Liquid diets. This is not a good idea. It isn’t giving your body the right amount of nutrients and what your body needs. In fact, you usually gain weight because of it since you’re hungrier.”

As an owner and trainer at TITLE Boxing in Pickerington, Maria Manzo-Cieply has heard the question, “Why am I not losing any weight?” over and over again. Her immediate question in response is, “What are you eating?”

Women’s Health Magazine says when it comes to dropping weight, the formula is 80 percent diet and 20 percent exercise. So, while staying active and working out is one aspect to the process, you can’t ignore what happens in the kitchen.

No matter how much Manzo-Cieply stressed this to her clients at TITLE, it didn’t seem to stick until someone challenged her: “Why don’t you make my meals then?” Manzo-Cieply replied, “Maybe I will!”

With her mom and dad helping, Manzo-Cieply started making meals for her clients, and Big Mama’s Meal Prep was founded. But as her popularity increased, so did the toll of making 300 plates of food.

“We were spending 8 a.m. to midnight making meals,” she says, laughing. “I thought. ‘Oh my gosh, this is ruining my parents’ lives!’”

Thankfully, she brought on an executive chef to take Big Mama’s to the next level. Just like that, she went from 10 clients to 200. What started as a challenge to her clients to eat healthier suddenly became a full-blown self-startup.

Anyone who knows Manzo-Cieply would say she’s confident at TITLE, but she says it wasn’t always like that. At one point, she says, her eating habits were horrific.

“I thought, ‘How can I own two gyms and gain weight and let myself go like this?’” Manzo-Cieply says.

One day was particularly low for her.

“I had this one purple tank top I wore one day, and three people asked me when I was expecting,” she says. “One person actually hugged me and said how happy she was to see that I was pregnant.”

Manzo-Cieply wasn’t expecting, though. She went home that day more upset than ever, and knew her life had to change. She buckled down and began meal prepping.

“Anyone can fall off the wagon,” she insists. “I’m proof you can get back on the healthy train again.”

As a mother of two and a busy business owner, Manzo-Cieply understands the stresses of life and how much that can take a toll on your health and fitness. That’s why she’s passionate about serving the community and helping change lives one bite at a time. With so many dieters thinking they have to starve themselves or snack on celery all day, eating Big Mama’s keto bacon cheeseburger skillets, keto bacon and brie quiche, and keto cookie dough bites is certainly shocking.

“People always ask, ‘Is this real?’” Manzo-Cieply says, laughing, “but I do calculate the nutrition for everything we have. I love it. It’s just really fun.”

Overall, Big Mama is there for those who think getting healthy is a terrain too rough to tackle.

“You can do it,” she says. “I don’t stress quick fixes and diets. I encourage making a healthier lifestyle change for a better and healthier you.”