Kristin

My photo
Rhode Island, United States

Saturday, August 8, 2009

I'm baacckk!

Hey guys! 
Long time no blog, right? 

Boy, do I have a lot to talk about!! 

But pictures are worth a thousand words, so I figured I would give you a visual tour of the hilights of summer 2009:
We made lots of fun food on the campfire- pancakes, french toast, even tortilla lasagna, but my alltime fave had to be the Thin Mint Rice Krispy treats 
On July 30 I turned 20 years old (officially not a teenager anymore! whoo!) and my wonderful boyfriend came all the way from Canada to visit me!
I had a big party with family, home friends and camp friends! Twas a wonderful night. 
Here's the spread, courtesy of Pick Pockets (one of my fave mid-eastern delis) and my momma!
Because there were so many people I had not one, but two cakes- a carrot cake from Gregg's, and the best cake of all- dark chocolate with raspberry filling and the BEST home made frosting in the world, made by my amazing Grandma =)
(Yes, I am apparently five years old and requested a Hello Kitty cake. Love it!)

The next day I celebrated my second day off by heading to Boston with Nick and a couple camp friends, Hermione and Peko (camp names of course!). We ate at a Buddist Centre for lunch and it was incredible!
After a couple more long weeks, we had another weekend off where Peko and I went to the farmer's market,  and she bought me one of these FABULOUS fresh-baked whole wheat banana walnut scones. I want to learn how to make some myself!!
Lunch was Tuna Nicoise 
And dinner was fresh tomato sauce from the farmers market over whole grain pasta with basil and parm


We had an amazing staff banquet, but then it was time to say a sad "so long"... but not to this fun girl, because she's staying with me for 4 days after camp!!
So today was my official last day. I had a wonderful summer, full of many ups and downs, and I'm sad it's over, but also glad to finish the rest of my summer. 

As I mused about in my last post, the camp eating situation has been tough. I wish so much I could sit here right now and tell you that it went alright, I ate balanced, kept snacking under control and stayed a good size. 
Unfortunately, this was not the case. 
The summer was not easy. And with this came stress-induced binge eating, too many sweets, WAY too much snacking and, needless to say, a weight gain of approximately seven pounds. 

Also needless to say, I am not happy with this. I have been struggling with binge eating for a long time, and I thought I had put a stop to it until I started this job, and it came back again full circle. 

When I came home  last weekend after those seven weeks at camp I looked in the mirror and was horrified. I was disgusted with myself, with what I had let myself become. I know I have the strength to control myself and eat healthy, and not let this happen. But this summer I let my mind get the best of me, and my body and health suffered. 

After my initial shock of looking at myself and realizing how much bigger I was, trying on clothes and realizing nothing fit, I decided to put an end to this once and for all. Right then and there I vowed to make a change. 

For the last few days, I have been eating extremely healthfully, and exercising dilligently in hopes I can shed a few pounds in a healthy way before school begins. 
And on September 1st, 2009, my eating habits and the blog are going to go through a big change. 
Inspired by the lovely Janetha and her mom, I picked up a copy of Body for Life and have decided to take on the 12-week challenge along with my mom, who also wants to get back on the healthy track once and for all. 

I LOVE the concepts in this book, and I highly encourage you to pick it up if you have a chance, and I will be hilighting some of my favorite concepts in a later post (soon I promise!). 

But for now, it's back to the basics- lots of fresh organic produce, lean protein, low fat dairy and whole grains to stay on track 

My grocery shop today: 
And my favorite new snack find: 
Can you say yum?!?!

So that's about all I have for now, I'll be back again posting regularly- but I will be in Canada from the 17-26th, so I will probably be doing a big recap post when I come home- I'll let you know if I'll be posting when it's a bit sooner. 

I'm also toying with the idea of changing the blog format, because I'll be doing BFL in September, some of my meals may be a little repetitive and boring- are any of you interested in more of a hilights/recipes/articles format instead of a 3-meals-a day setup?? I'd love to hear your opinion!

It feels so great to be back!! 

xo

6 comments:

itsawrap said...

Welcome back! Hope you had a good time!

LizNoVeggieGirl said...

WELCOME BACK!!!

Good luck with the challenge!!

Unknown said...

Don't worry, I'm turning 28 and I'd love to have a Hello Kitty cake, lol.

Anon said...

welcome back, we missed you here :) glad camp was fun, don't fret about 7lbs that will be a breeze to lose.. the challenge sounds great. just try not to restrict or focus on your body too much (i do this myself) and they will peel off before you know it.

Janetha @ meals + moves said...

YAY! so glad you are posting again, i missed you like caraaazy. camp looks like it was a blast, a delicious one at that. super sweet of the boyf to visit from canada. HAPPY LATE BDAY! hooray for the twenties.

so on the weight gain, 7 lbs is not bad for a summer of rough camp eats. i am actually impressed, i would have been way worse off. for real. i def have binging habits of my own, and it is so much harder when put in a situation where everyone is eating everything. that is why i enjoy my full time work schedule where i can eat what i want when i want. i need order in my life or i can go crazy on the eats.

i love the vow you made to yourself. i had the same vow/clothes not fitting experience the other day, as you know. ok, i LOVE that you AND you mom are going to do BFL!! doing it with my mom made it so much fun. and easier. and the message boards made it easier on me, if you want to know more about that let me know. i am actually on a "team" online the body for life message boards.

have fun in canada and i look forward to doing BFL with you! xoxo

BalanceMyCake said...

Welcome back my dear! :)

I'm glad to hear that you had a fun summer! I'm right there with ya on the weight gain though...I'm trying too! After seeing Janetha's results, I think BFL is a great choice, I hope it works for you and your Mom! Have a fabulous time in Canada with Nick, and I'm definitely looking forward to a re-cap soon! :)