I know, I know... where have I been?

Hello Everyone!

I know I made a deal with myself to keep blogging once a week, and it failed. To be truthful, I was just getting tired of writing the same old thing. The plateau hit me hard, and I couldn't seem to get under 192 and maintain it. I didn't know what was wrong with me.

Honestly, I was getting tired of writing positive blog posts when inside I felt like crap because I could NOT get past that 192. Sometimes I would be 191.8, but it never lasted long. 

Anyways, I am back! I am also here to announce that I have KILLED the plateau! I am officially under 190! It has taken me MONTHS, as you all know if you have been following along with me. I weighed 202.6 lbs in October of 2016 and I sit here now 7 months later finally under 190. It has been so frustrating. This is the slowest I have EVER lost weight. I thought for sure I'd be AT LEAST in the 60s by now. 

It has been incredibly difficult this time around, which is good. I am hoping I remember how hard this is becoming and it will help me keep the weight off. Last time I lost 25-30 lbs in three months. So I always though "it's okay, I can just lose it." Not this time. It has been a STRUGGLE. 

So here is my Weigh In:

       Original Weight: 202.6 lbs

Last Weight (27 March): 194.0 lbs

              This Weigh In: 189.6 lbs

Weight Lost From Last Week: -4.4 lbs

Total Lost: 13.0 lbs

My goals are to continue exercising (it is getting so much easier now that it is nice outside), and to continue drinking water. 

Stay Focused.

Have a good week.

Becka.

Week Twenty One: Weigh in Day!

I am super happy that I have started blogging on my iPad! I can sit in bed, close the door and have 100% concentration on my thoughts. The only annoying thing is I can really format it. Have to use my PC for that.

Week Twenty-One!

Alrighty, last weeks goals.

Spoiler Alert: I killed it this week!

1. Eat Breakfast: as you have seen from my previous blog, I have been doing just that. I don't have much to say since I wrote a whole entry on this. Click here to take a look!

2. Drink Water: I have done really well with this too. I have been drinking 8+ glasses of water every day. I chug one when I wake up, and one before/with each meal. I have cut back on soda in a big way too!

3. Be mindful of what I am consuming: I have done so well with this too. I have been on SparkPeople which is a website/app that helps you track calories and exercise. It allows you to set other goals (hours of sleep, water intake, no soda, etc). It is also filled with articles with great tips too. This website has make me aware of the calories/carbs/fat that I eat with every meal. It is very much like myfitnesspal but I think it is more social media based and there is a huge community on there. Anyways, long story short, it has helped me think and rethink what I am putting in my body.

Like I said, I KILLED IT. 

This week's weigh in:

       Original Weight: 202.6 lbs

Last Week's Weight: 196.4 lbs

              This Week: 194.0 lbs

Weight Lost From Last Week: -2.4 lbs

Total Lost: 8.6 lbs

This week's goals

1. Exercise! I want to do some sort of exercise at least 3-4 times a week. I do not what to overwhelm myself... but it is about time I star doing SOMETHING. Exercised three times this week and it was nice but I do feel like I can do more. We will see.

That's it: only 1 goal. I feel like the exercise goal is a big one and something I want to focus all my attention on this week.

One more thing I want to share is this little visual that I made to put on my fridge to help me track my goals. 

Short Term Goals:

182 by May 19th

179 by June 4th

Wish me luck!

Becka

xo

Two Game Changing Items

Whoa, lucky you!

I will be publishing three blogs in a row after I do tomorrow's weigh in! 

Today I really want to talk to you about some items that have been game changers for me the past month or so. As some of you may know, I have been counting calories and being very picky with what I put into my mouth the past little while. It has been great but I realized that perhaps it wasn't being all the accurate. 

A while back Alex bought a food grade scale (he makes homemade beer and liquor) so I decided to try out measuring my food by weight rather than just estimating. I found that by doing this I got more accurate readings of the calories I am am eating. 

For example, I usually write that I am eating 1/4 of an avocado when I am having breakfast. I know I am not actually eating 1/4 but I say that just to be safe. With a scale I can write in the actual grams of avocado I am eating and have it come back with a much more accurate reading. When I put in a lunch of 1 taco with estimates it came to 245 calories, and I was perfectly happy with that. That's a great number for lunch (I would consider that low actually). Today I put in the exact measurements of EVERYTHING and it came to 198 calories!!! Can you believe it? 

I was able to add in a healthy snack to go with it (about an hour later so I could spread out my food).

Measuring lets me eat more (usually) because I am using more accurate numbers. I always think I am eating more than I am!

The second item that has been a game changer is this 5$ cup from independent grocers.

I have found on  my weight loss journey that I am more disappointed with myself when I don't get enough water in than when I go over calories for the day. I don't know why, but it is just how it goes. Drinking water is something that comes so easily to me so there should be no reason why I don't drink 8 full cups. This little tumbler thing has really helped me to get the water in. I don't know why but every time I fill this bad boy up I have the whole thing finished within minutes. I love it. I've even started to bring to school with me.

Well, that's it from me for now.
Cheers!

Becka
xo

Importance of Breakfast

Note: I am currently writing this on my iPad mini because Alex is on the computer and 

I am feeling very inspired!

Hola Amigos !

Okay okay, I know 

. What a silly title. Everyone and their dog knows that breakfast is important. I got it. It is written on every fitness blog, every chat room, and grandma has been telling me for years. However, I am a stubborn human being and I go against societal norms and I am living proof that one can survive 25years without breakfast (even if I am overweight... Minor Side effect). There stubborn Becka has said her bit. 

This week my goal was to eat breakfast everyday. This had a couple of slight setbacks right from the get go... Let me explain. 

1. I am on March break right now and therefore in order for me to have a proper breakfast I must be an adult and wake up at a reasonable time so that breakfast doesn't become brunch/lunch... What a road block for me.

2. I have to get out of this silly mindset that I simply am not hungry when I wake up. I say that will 100% honesty here... I am NEVER hungry the moment I wake up (unless I wake up at noon and go straight to lunch). 

That being said... This week I have been making sure that I have a nutritious breakfast that is well balanced and delicious. I have given myself a little bit of extra sleep in time, forcing myself to have breakfast between 9am and 10am. I set my alarm for 9am and told myself that I had less than an hour to get hungry and have breakfast. If I didn't get hungry I had breakfast at 9:45am anyways.

I have had 2 different kinds of breakfasts this week. I had either had an omelette or a smoothie. I honestly don't know which one I prefer, but I enjoyed getting up and making them.

Here is one of the omelettes I made this week.

I know it isn't the prettiest thing, but dannnnnnng is it ever good. 

Here are the ingredients:

1 Whole Egg

1 Egg White

4 Slices of Sun-dried Tomato

Chopped Onion to Taste

1 Pressed Garlic Clove

Salt and Pepper to taste

1 tbs Frank's Red Hot Sauce

1/8 cup Cheddar Cheese OR 1/4 of a Crushed Avocado

Calories: 215   Fat: 14g  Carbs: 10g    Protein: 13 g

Here is a picture of my GREEN Smoothie, something I thought I would legitimately never make.

Again, not the pretties picture... But really yummy!

Here are the ingredients:

1 Banana

8 frozen strawberries

1 cup chopped pineapple

1 cup Spinach

1/4 Cup Greek Yogurt (new addition)

3/4 cup Water 

Calories: 266   Carbs: 59g. Fat: 2g.  Protein 7g

Note on the Greek Yogurt: I bought plain 2% Greek yogurt to put in my smoothie because I found I was a bit more hungry at lunch time without it. Since I was eating virtually no protein. I've only used it once and only added a little bit because I was afraid my smoothie would taste too much like yogurt if I added more. I think next time I make this, I will add more to the smoothie.

Alright, so, how did I go?

It went really well. I didn't feel like I was forcing myself to eat the breakfast. By the time I was done making it I think I was so excited to taste the food that it made me feel like I was hungry, which is good in my books. I really enjoyed waking up have and having breakfast. It just generally boosted my day! 

I also found that I was able to have smaller lunches because I wasn't feeling so calorically deprived from my huge break from food (dinner to next day lunch). I was able to have a healthy turkey taco wrap that held me over for quite some time. I decided to use half a tortilla while making my lunch because I didn't need as much carbs to get me through the days (I still used the same amount of filling I would normally use). It was just slightly tricky to eat a half a wrap. You don't  realize how much bread product you are needlessly consuming when you have a wrap! 

Anyways, back to breakfast. 

So, here are the three benefits that I want to remember about breakfast.

1. You will eat less bad foods if you start eating earlier in the day. Having a stready flow of food throughout the day is so important. You have experienced this during the course of this week. 

2. You will be more excited to wake up and cook and eat if you have a nice breakfast. I've just woken up is such a good mood all week (is this because I am on vacation or because of the food? I don't really know).

3. You can actually accomplish your water goals if you wake up and start eating breakfast (I had a big glass of water with eat breakfast).

I think it will take a while longer to see some of the other benefits that come a long with eating breakfast such as a boost in my motabolism, but I will for sure keep an update on here.

Only one more thing left to chat about. My only concern here is how I will  keep up with this breakfast trend when I go back to work. I can't make these foods and eat them before I leave for work. I am that kind of person that makes up 30 minute before I have to leave. I may to actually wake up at a proper time. That seems like such a silly thing to say, but I am just trying to be honest with myself here. 

There's no way of knowing until I get there. For right  now, I am really enjoying this change. I  hope to keep it up literally forever.

Becka

Xo

Week Twenty: What went wrong?

So, if you take a look at my weigh-ins I have updated it with the information on the app that I downloaded. Let's be real here: in the past week I have gained over 4lbs. 

WHY?

My weigh-ins have been fairly regular, my biggest jump being 2 lbs. What happened when I was doing so good (the lowest I have been last week) to back above 195 lbs. I seriously do not understand. 

Looking back on this week I see that I have had A LOT of pasta.

Most days for lunch I had left over healthy chicken Alfredo (small portion) [Here is the recipe]

Wednesday I had Spaghetti for supper

Saturday I had Mac and Cheese for supper

and Sunday I had Lasagna for supper.

I usually only allow myself to have pasta once a week, last week I didn't even realize how much pasta I was having.

I also wasn't eating a proper breakfast. I may have only had "breakfast" (yogurt and an apple) twice this week. Either I didn't make breakfast before work OR I slept in and skipped right to lunch. We also ran out of eggs last week (which is my main breakfast food when I do not work) so I had to make other options or just skipped to lunch.

NOT GOOD.

Goals for Week Twenty-One 

(a lot of the same goals as the beginning of this journey)

#1: Eat Breakfast! I started today and had a wonderful omelette (with sun dried tomatoes, onion, garlic, avocado, and a tsp of hot sauce... it was delicious). I have bought fruit (frozen and fresh) to have a smoothie if I want something quicker and I am looking up lots of egg dishes to get myself started. I will NOT skip breakfast everyday and I will try to wake up between 9-10 (I am on March break) to make sure I have breakfast.

#2: Drink Water! It is as if I have completely forgotten that water exists. Ugh... I have been drinking diet coke at an incredibly fast rate. At one point over the past month I had 6 diet cokes in ONE day. I was shocked when I saw the cans lying around. I only had a glass of water when I woke up in the morning. I am going to switch that COMPLETELY. I will only have one diet coke per day and I will have 6+ glasses of water. 

#3 Just Be Mindful in General! I just need to focus again on what I am putting into my mouth. Am I needlessly snacking? Am I giving up and having extra cheat days? When am I snacking? Why am I snacking? Just enjoy each bite and be mindful of what is going on eating wise.

The next couple months are going to be hard with my fiance leaving for Ontario for two months. I will be alone, and probably bored so that leaves a lot of room for needless snacking and stress eating. 

Back on Track.

Here we Go!

Becka, xo.

Big News!

Good Morning (afternoon, night) to you, 

I know, I know... I haven't been on here for quite some time (my profile tells me 71 days).. is that even possible? 

I realize that I need to start blogging again because it keeps me accountable. If I stop telling people what I am doing, I stop doing good things. 

Anyways: 
BIG NEWSSS!!! 

I AM ENGAGED!   

Our date is set for August 25th 2018! I am going wedding dress shopping on May 19th and therefore I need to get my butt into gear. 

I want to be down 20 lbs by May 19th (this year obviously). 

I have already lost 8lbs (which isn't very much), but I am more motivated than ever to get going. That leaves me 12lbs by May 19th, I think that is extremely achievable. 

I have been doing alright when it comes to diet. I don't know what has gone wrong but this week I gained 4lbs, and I don't know why. I haven't been stopping myself from the goodies and have been having a "cheat meal" twice a week instead of once. This leads me to new goals and focusing.

Here's the thing.

My new fiance is leaving for two months (military life) and therefore I will be alone up here in Yellowknife until June. I am hoping (here are my goals) to be at 182lbs to go wedding dress shopping (May 19th: -12lbs) and under 180 when he comes home in June (-3 to -5 lbs by June 3rd).

That means that by June 3rd I would like to be AT MOST 179lbs meaning I will have to lose at least 15 lbs from where I am now, making my grand total 22.7lbs.

There, I said it. It is out there in the universe. 

Now I need to make it happen!

So this is just a post to get me started again. 

I am so excited for the future! 

Becka, xo. 

Day 71: New Years Resolutions

Day 71: New Years Resolutions

*Complete Side Note Here: Alex (hubby) just realized I have a blog that I never told him about. "If strangers can read about you, why can't I?" So, babe... I am sure you have looked me up by now (even though I asked you not to!). Hello, I love you :)  Enjoy! xo*

New Years Resolutions, oh boy don't get me started. I have let my family know that I am trying to lose 50ish lbs. So I heard about a million times "is that your New Years Resolution?" No, no it's not. As cheesy as it sounds, my weight-loss journey is a life style change, not a decision made by some obscure date on the calendar. I decided I was going to lose the weight a long time ago, and I am sticking to it.

Therefore, many family and friends have been shocked to hear that I have OTHER resolutions. I've heard "you want to lose 50 lbs, isn't that a big enough resolution?" about five times since January 1st. I have to tell them that this is not a resolution, but a change I decided to make a few months back. That being said, my resolutions revolve around weight-loss in a more abstract way. 

Let me explain myself:

Resolution #1

To learn more recipes and how to put proper nutrition into my family's life (Hi Again, Alex).

Not that he needs it, but I really want to learn new recipes that we can add into our rotation that are healthy and full of nutrition. 

Ways I have already done this:

• On Friday I made chicken fajitas completely from scratch (spices and everything). Alex loved them, I loved them. They were a hit! 
• Here is the recipe: https://recipes.sparkpeople.com/recipe-detail.asp?recipe=775180
• I have also saved all of the scraps from every vegetable I have been using so I can make my own veggie broth (the goal is to make a vegetable soup, or chicken noodle soup)
• I have even started my very first recipe book! So exciting!

Resolution #2

To have a hobby to distract me from mindless/bored eating.

Ways I have already done this:

• Alex (hello again) bought my a ukulele for Christmas (hobby #1)
• and I have recently taken up crocheting (hobby #2)
• They both keep me very busy when I am feeling bored/hungry

I feel that these are achievable goals that will not be the end of the world if I do not follow through. I feel like setting weight-loss as a goal can be super intimidating and cause a lot of unnecessary pressure on me (I've done it before). Even the tiniest of gains can set me off and make me feel like I am failing, and I don't want that for myself.

So far, the New Year has been so kind to me. I hope you all achieve your own goals!

xo

Day 68: Peaks and Valleys

Day 63: Happy New Year All!

Ugh, it is good to be back home. I absolutely loved my trip back to Ontario for the holidays, but it was a tough time. My uncle passed away on the 23rd of December and therefore the Holidays weren't as relaxing as I expected. It was a very difficult time for my family and myself and controlling my eating habits weren't at the top of my to-do list. I regret it now.

Now that everything has settled down and I am back in Yellowknife I regret not being more sensible while I was home. However, I know that having regret will only make me feel worse about myself and will not be helpful at all. It is so important to me now to accept what I have done, and move on. Get back on track and work towards my goals again. 

Just a short post to let you all know what I am up to and give a small update. Here is the update on my weight:

Original Weight: 202.6 lbs

Last Weigh-In:   192.2 lbs         

         This Week:  198.0  lbs

Weight Lost from Last Week: +5.8 lbs                  

              Total Lost: 4.6 lbs

Total Left to Lose: 45.4

I've had a healthy breakfast, I am back to drinking loads of water. Here we go. I will post again soon with a bigger update.

xo