Category Archives: Self Love/Recovery

Plank Challenge Met!

Yesterday I hit up my gym for my second-ever TRX personal training session with Marcy. She was kind enough to offer me a freebie after I blogged about my first one for Kaitlin! And I now have two more freebies under my belt (or yoga pant waistband) because before we did our TRX, I accepted – and met – the Healthtrax Abs of Steel June challenge!

I had to hold good form for the whole five minutes. The bottom right is me immediately after finishing. Sweet relief! (That’s what she said.)

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Resting Up For A Plank Challenge!

Oh what a weekend! Summer 2013 continued to deliver with fun activities like…

  • …taking my parents out for an epic night of cocktails and pizza at Krust in Middletown on Friday night (we’re already planning our next trip back)
  • …visiting the Willy Wonka Chocolate Factory of liquor stores in MA (Yankee Spirits) on the day they happened to be having a wine tasting gala
  • …attending the Glastonbury Rotary Club Lobster Fest yet again (blog post to come!)
  • …destroying a Saturday morning Group Power class
  • …my first beach trip of the summer!

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The Alcohol Calorie Struggle

I mentioned briefly in Monday’s MIMM weekend recap that some portions of the weekend brought on anxiety and emotional struggles for me. Not surprisingly, these were ED-related…specifically to my feelings before and after drinking alcohol.

One of this past weekend's day drinks - Yellow Tail Sparkling Rose in Lilly Pulitzer glasses (of course).

One of this past weekend’s day drinks – Yellow Tail Sparkling Rose in Lilly Pulitzer acrylic wine glasses (of course).

Since I entered recovery, my relationship with alcohol and its “empty calories” has improved. To this day the number “seven” still sticks out in my head – as in the number of calories per gram of alcohol. I see this number in my mind each time I have a drink. The difference between me now and me two years ago is now I can actually take a sip of a drink, as in I can actually perform the action. I used to be crippled by such fear of empty alcohol calories, and my belief that they’d just pile up on my stomach in the form of fat, that I rarely ever drank. If I did, I had to be STARVING first to do so. My senior year of college, I’d barely eat all day long so that I could go out to the bars at night and drink rum and Diet Coke (gross).

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It’s OK!…Healthy Living Blogger Version

Kaitlin and Sarah both recently did posts about the healthy living blogger stereotypes that DON’T fit them, and I totally love the idea. I wanted to do my own post with a version of their idea in Glamour‘s “It’s OK!” format. I love that feature and what it’s all about – very #sorrynotsorry. Which by the way, now pops up on my iPhone as soon as I type the word “sorry”. Guess I’m #sorrynotsorry a lot, huh?

So hey healthy living bloggers – it’s OK…

…to think oatmeal is extremely boring and lame. I know, I can add stuff to it to make it more exciting, but I just don’t feel like it.

…to hate running. Music is just not enough to keep me entertained, nor is scenery.

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The New Path to Safety

Today’s post is something I’ve been meaning to write for awhile and I get more and more ideas for it the more I read awesome posts like this one, published this week by Alex. I’m at a point at which I’ve been able to do more than I have ever been able to do before in terms of food, and NOT do more than I have ever been able to do in terms of fitness. And as I’ve mentioned before, I’ve been happy about it, and that scares me. It’s almost like my eating disorder has gotten me used to unhappiness and hatred of myself as signs of safety. When I don’t wake up the morning after a restaurant event feeling the urge to skip breakfast, or when I don’t skip wine with dinner the night after an evening out enjoying several cocktails with friends, I get freaked out.

ALL the cheese.

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An Introvert’s Goals

I usually do Fashion Friday if I have time to blog on a Friday, but instead today I’m feeling some reflections on this morning’s therapy session (yes I go to therapy – have been since I started my recovery – and I used to be ashamed of it but now I’m comfortable saying it benefits me and I don’t know many people it COULDN’T benefit). I explained to Bridget that I’ve been feeling pulled in a thousand different directions and I thought that after I handed in my big MBA capstone on Monday I’d be feeling better, but on Tuesday morning I woke up in one of those I-hate-anyone-who-tries-speaking-to-me moods and last night I dropped some salsa on the floor, it spilled everywhere, and I started sobbing. So I’m still feeling lots of (non-MBA-related) pressure.

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Being OK With Marvelous

My giveaway for a $25 credit to healthy-living discount shopping site HealthyChic ends tomorrow night at 11:59 PM EST. Make sure to enter and if you don’t win, you can still sign up and use a discount code on your first order!

This weekend was really out of my box – like last weekend in Boston. I pshawed sleep, homework, and my usual kill-me Sunday morning spin class in favor of all sorts of marvelous. And I enjoyed myself while doing so. And that SCARES me.

Let’s get the marvelous moving, thanks to Katie!

Some people who read this post may understand exactly where I’m coming from. On the other end of the spectrum, some may think I’m a spoiled brat who will always find something to complain about no matter how good my life gets. I can see both perspectives but what it all comes down to is what feels safe to me and realizing that the safe option is not always the option I WANT. And that does not make me an irresponsible, reckless person. It makes me a normal 24 year old!

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Belated Birthday and Vacation Reflections

I don’t have much time at all to expand beyond yesterday’s simple WIAW recap of my Florida vacation eats/drinks. Work’s so busy that I shouldn’t even be taking a lunch break to write this! But I am because I also finally managed to get more FL pics uploaded to share and use in this post about what you CAN’T tell from simply looking at my photos.

My co-workers know me well and got me a rhinestone birthday card and wine!

Right around my birthday (perhaps even on that day, 3/22) I felt much more pressure than usual from my ego. It’s almost like warning bells started going off in my head as soon as occasions – my birthday, a wedding, a vacation – came around that my mind saw as excuses I could use to “slack off” on eating healthily and exercising regularly.

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Love From Ed

I woke up this morning in a stinker of a mood and had no idea what to blog about or if I’d blog. I was up in the middle of the night throwing up last night thanks to a stomach bug and did not sleep well at all. I still felt extremely nauseous and also very exhausted when my alarm went off for work but I felt a bit better once I got out of bed and moved around, so I sucked it up and made the drive.

Typically, most of my thoughts during the commute were not centered around hoping that I would feel better soon, but around worrying how feeling sick would affect my eats and exercise. Would I be able to go to the gym today? I attended a cocktail class with food pairings last night at Barcelona in West Hartford, and had NOT planned on not being able to get in some cardio after work. I was regretting doing Group Power yesterday instead of a cardio workout. I wondered if I’d be able to eat my fruits and veggies or if I’d “have” to eat carbs, which would make my stomach feel better. A lot of future tripping, putting high standards on myself, being unkind when I already was feeling crappy enough. Eating disorder thoughts abound. I was getting multiple visits from ED and future tripping like crazy.

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Fashion Friday and An Ego Check

Before I dive into Fashion Friday today, I want to give myself an ego check. For the last several days, my ego has been being downright rude to me. I’m having a LOT of ego-based fears and really need to keep attempting to silence my ego so that I can hear the quiet but true messages from my ~ing. I may have already lost some eye-rolling readers after those last few sentences, but I really need to vent! And the teachings of Gabby Bernstein really have been helping me.

Source

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Meet Caitlin

I’m a 28 year old full-time working girl living in Boston (previously lived in Connecticut). I’m passionate about food/drink, restaurants, self-love, fitness, and the ever-present search for balance. I write about that journey on this blog – I hope you enjoy!

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Design Credit

My header was originally designed by Mai Le and later tweaked by Chris Roggi to match this theme, which he helped me customize. He also moved me over to self-hosting! Both can be contacted through their sites for design & development work!

Disclaimer

I am not an RD and do not have any official training, certifications, or degrees in nutrition or fitness. This blog is a way to write about my life. Any views I express are mine alone, based on what works for me, and should never be taken as medical advice. Always talk to your doctor or a trained professional before starting a new diet or fitness plan. In addition, this blog and its content are in no way affiliated with Kate Gosselin, “Kate Plus 8”, TLC, or any related affiliates.

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