Surprise! I am back!

Hola tout le monde! (Yes that is Spanish and French)

SURPRISE!! I am back. HELLO! HI! How ya doin'? Ok, enough of that.

Where have I been? The answer is simple... here, there, everywhere.

What have I done? Not much... you know.. got married... no big deal.

And from that moment on... I STOPPED CARING. lol. Typical Becka.

My weight on my wedding week was 175.3 lbs. I was happy, I felt happy. I have never felt more beautiful and sexy than I was on my wedding day. It made my heart so happy to be in that dress, 25lbs lighter than the start of my weight loss journey. Since then, however, I gave up on diet and exercise. I was recklessly eating whatever and where ever I wanted. The big event was over... why do I still want to lose weight?

From August 25th to about mid October I had gained 10 lbs. I was officially back at 184.(something). Two months and ten pounds. If I kept going I would gain 60 lbs in one year! It is crazy how fast one can gain so much weight and how much work it takes to lose it again. I stopped posting my weekly weigh ins on Instagram (@beckybeatsthebinge). That's when I realized (as I was self reflecting.. a frequent past time) that I want to lose weight and be healthy so that I can have a happy life. So I can walk go to my husband's Christmas work parties and not be self conscious of what I look like in my dress. I don't want to be squeezing into spanks and constantly worried about my double chin in every picture I take. That is not a fun life. That is now who I am or who I want to be. 

So, in about Mid-October I decided to get back onto a healthy lifestyle (not a diet) and get back into figuring out how to have a new lifestyle that is sustainable and realistic. I have not gone into hardcore dieting like I did at the beginning of the year, but I am trying to make my lifestyle more balanced in a way that I am not obsessing, but I am still losing weight. I was doing okay, but still fluctuating and having a hard time getting out of the mid 180s.

That is when I got advertised (thanks facebook) for Noom. I LOVE it so far. Tomorrow marks the end of my 14 day free trial and I have already lost 4.4lbs. It is awesome. The really cool thing about it (and this is totally not sponsored... if that isn't clear) is that it is actually teaching some really cool psychology tips that go along with weightloss. It has been super beneficial to learn how my brain works and how weightloss is just as much psychological as it is physical.

It is taking it day by day and everyday I learn a new tip or trick to help me navigate my life. It has taught me so much in such a short amount of time and I am so thankful for it. It is not this app that makes you feel awful for eating the wrong things. I can't even describe all that I have learned the past two weeks. Here is a QUICK list of some of the first things that pop up in my mind.

Calorie dense foods

Different types of food triggers *BEST LESSON SO FAR*

Portion size guides

Staying motivated

SOS Plan *For those days when I can tell I am about to go off the rails*

This is just a quick list off the top of my head that I can think of. To be honest, 4.4 lbs in two weeks. I will take it..  I am excited to continue on my journey with Noom and trying to figure out a healthy lifestyle. 

Official weigh in tomorrow!

Hope you are all well.

Stay focused,

-Becka. xo

Hola Everyone: Vacation Blues.

Howdy Ya'll!

It has been some time since my last post, true true.

We had March Break on the last two weeks of March. I went to my parents' house for a week and then to Edmonton with my fiance for a week. Let me tell you something: HOLIDAYS ARE THE WORST! Thank goodness I can't afford to take a million vacations because my eating was OUT OF WHACK for two whole weeks. It was awful. I literally ate lunch and dinner at a restaurant every day for TWO WHOLE WEEKS. Even when trying to choose "healthier option" I had the most difficult time. 

It wasn't pretty... and I knew what I was doing... and it resulted in a whopping 5.2lbs gain (on April 1st). INSANE. NOT HAPPY. WHAT WAS I THINKING!? Ugh... would it have killed me to meet with someone after lunch and have a healthy lunch at home? Apparently... YES. Apparently when I go to hangout with people or catch up with people it HAS to be over a meal. Is anyone else like that? I ate out more during those two weeks than I have my ENTIRE weight loss journey. It was insane. UGH.

The past week has been a big pity party for myself. While I haven't gone out to eat, I still have not been making the healthiest of choice: having 2 wraps instead of 1, eating junk, having second helpings, etc. I have been stepping on the scale every day to try and see that 5.2 pounds leave, but not even taking any steps in the right direction to see that weight melt off. (Yes, I know stepping on the scale every day is not healthy... I know... but I couldn't help it). Last Sunday I was so upset about the weigh gain that I did not meal plan or meal prep. 

I was feeling so bad about myself and having a huge pity party instead of getting my head back in the game and working my ass off (literally).

So this Sunday has been different. I made a list of things I love about myself and what I am proud of. I have come such a long way since 202.6 lbs and I can't let this set back ruin my success. I was honest with myself and told myself  that gaining 5lbs is not work losing all of this progress. If I kept doing what I was doing, I would gain it all back (and quick). 

(Side Note: isn't it funny how long it takes to lose 5lbs but it took me 2 weeks to gain 5lbs? This is how people get to be 500+ lbs so easily- imagine what it would be like to eat fast food every day).

SO:

This week WILL be different. 150% different. Alex and I have planned out our meals for the week and I have started meal prepping too.  I have some goals for this week and I will stick to them. Here are my goals:

Goal #1: WATER BABY. Get that water in. 

Goal #2: Breakfast (Shakeology or something else... but get it in!)

Goal #3: WORK OUT

Essentially my goals are to get back to the basics.

Weigh In:

Original Weight: 202.6 lbs

Last Weight: 176.0 lbs

              Current Weight: 179.6 lbs

Weight Lost From Last Time: +3.6 lbs

Total Lost: 23 lbs

HAVE A GREAT WEEK :)

Stay Focused,

-Becky.

Second Round 21 Day Fix

Round Two is OVER!

This round of 21 day fix I focused a lot more on eating than I did working out. Unfortunately it is Report Card Season, and it really does not leave time for working out (I know it is an excuse, but I feel okay with it this time...). Report card season means a lot of stress. Stress (normally) means over eating and not taking care of myself. These past couple weeks have consisted of trials and errors and a small journey of how to cope with stress without stress eating. I admit, week #2 was tough and stress eating won a couple of times (2), but I reflected and rebuilt myself from those failures.

I did my measurements this morning and lost another 11.5 inches this round. This makes my grand total 23 inches since January 7th! It is unbelievable. 

I also had another non-scale victory this week. I fit back into some size 12 pants that never fit me! I bought them in 2014 (ish) and they never really fit because I ordered the wrong size. I should have gotten a 14. I always kept them (I have two pair in two different colours) because I wanted to fit in them one day. Well, this week (Tuesday I think) I needed black pants for an outfit and I could not find my regular black pants. I saw these old, never worn pants in the closet and decided I would put them on for the heck of it... not expecting that they would fit at all. AND THEY DID. They fit! I could button them up with no muffin top! They are still a little tight but I still wore them to work and it was a GREAT day. I was so happy. Below are a picture of me in the beige pair. I took a picture in the beige ones so you could see they are same pants!

This week will be a quick week, I don't really know what to write about to be honest. Here is my weigh in update!

Weigh In:

Original Weight: 202.6 lbs

Last Weight: 179.4lbs

              Current Weight: 178.2 lbs

Weight Lost From Last Time: -1.2 lbs

Total Lost: 24.4 lbs

Have a GREAT week!

Stay Focused,

-Becky, xo.

I did it... again.

Hola!

Not a fun happy post here, but an important one none-the-less. 

For the first time since January I emotionally ate. I was upset and went to food to make me feel better... twice. The first time was at home. I had an emotional night and was very upset about something. I waited and waited and at 8pm I decided to make myself my favourite meal: poutine (fries, cheese and gravy). I had a good sized portion and I am not going to lie... it felt good. I needed that poutine in that moment and I had it. I wasn't until I felt how uncomfortable I was with a distended stomach and feeling so full I was sleepy that I realised I did not need to be doing that. 

Same thing happened today. I had a stressful day at work, and instead of drinking water, taking breaths, making a list of ways to better my situation I turned to good old pizza day. I bought 2 slices of pepperoni pizza and enjoyed them along side my class. Again, it wasn't until about 15 minutes after the pizza that I realise that 1. I did not feel better about the stress of my day, and 2. I just felt guilty. Two nights out of 5 I have failed myself. It does not feel good. It feels awful.

BUT that is not going to stop me. The past 2 weeks have been rough, I am not going to lie. But I am not giving up. I am going to sit down and make a plan (maybe I will post it on here). I am going to get my butt into gear and get going. 

Emotional eating does not define me. I am not an "emotional eater," it is simply not who I am. I battle and struggle with using food as comfort, especially when I am feeling alone. I know this about myself.. which is why I refuse to allow this small sliver in my journey to define me and ruin the entire process. 

Tomorrow is a new day (not Sunday) and I am determined to make this week turn around and become a good week. I will not let they two slip ups ruin my mindset and ruin what I have been working so hard to accomplish. I will not go back...

Here's to a kickass Friday, Saturday, and Sunday! 

Stay Focused,

-Becky. xo

Success!?

HELLO!

It is now the beginning of February and I have so much to talk about! I want to get straight into it!

Last Goals:

#1 Eat Breakfast: DONE. I ate breakfast EVERYDAY this month. It has been the best I have done in my entire life! I get shakeology and it has been WONDERFUL. I have been making fruit smoothies with a scoop of Vanilla shakeology and I have been in HEAVEN!

#2 Exercise 30 minutes EVERY DAY: DONE! I did skip a couple days (I hate Pilates to be honest), but for the most part I did work out Mon-Sat. The first week I was HELLA sore.. but after that I did so well!

#3 Meal Plan/ Make a Grocery list:  DONE! Alex and I planned every day for the past three weeks! 

Weigh In:

Original Weight: 202.6 lbs

Last Weight: 185.4 lbs

              Current Weight: 181.2 lbs

Weight Lost From Last Time: -4.2 lbs

Total Lost: 21.4 lbs

PARTY!

21 Day Fix has been incredible for me! I have been so motivated and focused on crushing my goals. I could not be happier. I feel energetic and NOT DEPRIVED (the most important thing). I cannot believe it. I plan on blogging more in the next 21 Day Fix (starts on Monday). 

21 Day Fix says that you need three things to be successful in weightloss:

1. Meal Plan

2. Exercise Plan

3. SUPPORT

The support has been awesome. Knowing that there are people out there doing the same workouts as you and waiting for you to log what you are doing was so important to me! I didn't know how important putting things out to the universe was. Knowing that someone (my coach Joanna) knew what my goals were and was there to encourage me made a big difference to me. I wanted to make her proud and make myself proud. It has been wonderful.

Honestly, I am so pumped to get started again. I have been eating healthy this week (even though it is a prep week) and I am excited to get back to the grind! I am going out to buy heavier weights for next round.

11 inches in three weeks..

I am going to look HOT on my wedding day.

-Becka, xo

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

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.