One Day OUT

Part A: Ride or die, baby

Yeah yeah. I get it.
I said I was never going to do this again, I said competing was stupid and it ruins the whole idea behind loving yourself for who you are... I know. Whatever.
Back in May, my mom competed at the Kelowna Classic, a traditional-stream fitness competition through the BCABBA. I watched her diet for months and watched her experience the same kind of process that I had gone through before with my previous competitions. The hard work, the motivation to get from point A to point B, and the overall HIGH you get from being on stage. The competition did not exactly go as she had anticipated, so I stopped right there. I said to her you know what? Fuck it! Mom... we're doing the traditional-stream show in October. We. As in you and I. 
I basically didn't give her a choice.
I was at a point in my life where I had finally been able to get back on track with eating better, without binge-eating, without post-binge-purging... and was feeling pretty good. We had our cheat meals every Sunday where we'd hit up sushi and have our weekly catch-ups. We'd discuss how the week went with our diets... the whole deal.
We initially started this journey basing our diets and training off of what we already knew. That said... we started to run into some issues - we stopped seeing change.
We stopped seeing anything... actually. I felt panicked because I didn't think I was going to be able to pull it off. Both of us were at the point where we were ready to give up.
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Part B: dialling it in

I started to do some research... I found myself an incredible human (some call these humans 'coaches') who basically fixed my body from the inside out. 
I'll give you an idea - In the winter, I was eating paleo, gained way too much weight for my own good, and felt like a giant balloon. I'd eat a carb and would gain weight. My starting weight... 132 lbs. NO foolin', friends. Take a peek:

It's actually embarrassing to me to even show something like this because of how full I felt. That picture was taken on March 1st. I knew I had hit rock bottom and had to get my butt in gear and figure out what was going on with my body. Prior to this sad time, I was following some diet that I purchased online which went against everything I believed in diet wise, but still did it anyway. Everything about it was wrong. I was so full every day and didn't feel like I was metabolizing the food I was eating, the cheat meals were more often and I'd go so hard that I would purge afterwards (bulimia). I just wanted to be back to my usual self.
I did a TON of research... I knew for a fact that I was Celiac, so I didn't know if it had anything to do with that and not being cautious enough... I hadn't a clue.
So March to May, I went full-on Pescatarian, meaning I only ate fish and tofu as my sources of protein with a higher carb diet with lower fats. I went from 132 to 125 in just under a month, so I knew I was on track.
After the two month mark and weighing in at 122 lbs I was pretty jazzed (keep in mind, my normal weight in my off season is about 115 lbs. NOT 132. I was finally ready to start eating like a bikini competitor again, and start prepping for another show. 
Back on track, I found myself this absolutely phenomenal coach, who I knew had reputable results. I basically begged him to take me on (it worked). I started to be able to metabolize carbs again, I started to see what moderation meant again, and I haven't purged since April so *WINNING*. We began this 14-week transformation where I did this thing called lose an insane amount of weight and remain happy. Crazy, right? I started seeing changes after a few weeks. 

Pictured above, I was sitting at 117 lbs on July 8th and my confidence started going back up. Finally. I had a heck of a lot more energy going to the gym, I was feeling stronger, and more mentally capable in my job. A fire was lit under my butt and I was off.
Coming into the last month of this prep, it made me realize how grateful I am for everyone who has somehow supported my crazy love for the fitness industry and competing, I made new friends, I built stronger relationships with the ones I already had in my life, and built focus. I was lucky enough to spend this prep with one of my co-workers who also decided to do the show, and through that process we were able to share so many highs and lows and be able to support one another the entire prep. But mostly, the relationship between my mom and I got 10x stronger because we were able to carry through all of this side by side this time. It's been an absolute honour. I am so lucky.
Moving into this show, I feel more conditioned and confident than any other show I have ever done, and feel so lucky to have had some absolutely incredible humans behind me. This girl is bringing her absolute best and that's all that matters!
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Well that's it for now friends. This girl is kicking her feet up and calling it a night. 
I am so unbelievably grateful for you all. See ya on the flipside.

<3