victoria elizabeth

Hungry, Hungry Hippo!

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I am a junkie of the Huffington Post. I have a tendency to start my morning on a reading binge, going through about a dozen articles (via my cell phone) within the first thirty minutes of waking up. Half-asleep and attempting to brush my teeth, I scroll through the pages as quickly as my groggy eyes can read them.

While I’m often consuming articles on trending news or world wide events, most of my reading consists of the Healthy Living section: diets, workouts, and nutritional advice.

One article, specifically, caught my eye today:

9 Sneaky Reasons You’re Ravenously Hungry

Today’s article really struck home, as I struggle with the voracity of my appetite most days of the week.

Seriously, if I allowed myself, I could consume THOUSANDS of calories at every meal and still have room for more. Perhaps it’s the remnants of my bigger days, but I can put away food with the best of them.

My dream job... if calories didn't count.

My dream job… if calories didn’t count.

In reading these tips, I feel like I need to smack my forehead a few times. I know these rules, but I don’t adhere to them. I’m horrible about skipping breakfast (coffee counts, no?) and I’m horrible about mindless munching.

Take, for example, this morning:

Since it’s a Monday, I decided to start the day with a healthy breakfast – four turkey sausage patties.

220 calories, 26 grams of protein, and all natural ingredients. Good job, right?

Yeaaaaaah!

Then I got to work.

Four rice cakes (NOT PALEO!) topped with sunflower nut butter (yum!) and raw wildflower honey and I’ve consumed double the calories of my breakfast in just minutes. And it’s not even lunch time yet!

WHOOPS.

I guess I’m just a hungry, hungry hippo today.

I'm the pink one, of course.

I’m the pink one, of course.

Fortunately, it’s still early in the day, I have a healthy lunch packed, and I plan to hit the gym extra hard this evening – both to burn off stress and the excess calories. I’m glad I read this article this morning, as it brought me back to a point of awareness. Most of my dieting failures are the result of complacency – I stop paying attention. Being aware of what you point into your body is just as important as working out and far more important than the numbers on the scale.

So kudos to HuffPost for reminding me to be aware! I needed that today!

On that note, it’s time for this hungry, hungry hippo to get some work done. Bon appetit, my friends!

~ Tori

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Calf Machine: 400 pounds!

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OK, my shoes may look dorky as all get out, but these bulky little calves just did the MAXIMUM on the calf press EIGHT times!

Yes, you read that correctly: I just did eight calf raises of 400 pounds!

When I finished, utterly pooped, I got a high-five from a trainer that had been watching from across the gym.

Strength > skinny.

Hell yeah!

~ Tori

Halloween: Joy and Challenge

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Like many of you, Halloween is one of my favorite times of the year. It’s equally a child’s holiday as it is an adult’s, with only a small age range that chooses not to participate. I remember at 13 saying I was “too old to dress up.”

Man, was I missing out on a lot of fun.

I’d like to go back and slap 13-year-old-self in the face! You get to eat copious amounts of candy without judgement, attend parties, and dress up like anything you want! Come on, young-Tori, don’t be an idiot.

I’m pretty sure the costume stores have double the adult options as they do kiddie choices, and they’re not all “sexy cops” and “sexy nurses,” either. This year, since I’m attending multiple parties, I stocked up on props (fake blood, fake battle wounds, etc) and splurged on a secret costume that I’m going to unveil at a party next weekend.

Last night, I attended an OUTBREAK Survivor Party, so the majority of our costumes were zombie themed. I had fun with the makeup and shirt-decoration last night:

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So, what’s the downside to all of this partying and costume menagerie?

THE FOOD.

At the beginning of last week, I had gotten down to my all-time low of 130.6. I’ve never seen the scale dip that close to the blessed 120s and I was ecstatic.  As usual, I took a picture because I could hardly believe it:

scale

As you can imagine, though, I’m no where near that number today.

After almost two weeks of snacking on candy at work and then attending a few parties consisting of fried foods, chips, and lots of frothy beverages, my weight this morning is back up to 134.

SIGH.

It’s just a never-ending cycle. With holidays always a part of life – and the desire to splurge when around friends – it makes it really hard to come to an equilibrium with my body. I’m regimented for weeks, then destroy my efforts in a few days of all-out eating.  I’m not going to cut my friends out of my life. I’m not going to convert to Jehovah’s Witness to avoid the celebration of holidays. So what’s a yo-yo to do?

Well, I can tell you what this yo-yo is going to do today:

  • Have a cup of coffee to shake off the remaining effects of yesterday’s party.
  • Search for my make-up remover, as the good ol’ soap and water used on my face doesn’t seem to have gotten off all of the blood. I look rabid at the moment.
  • Hit the gym.
  • Eat as healthy as I can while recognizing that it’s the month of candy and I’m not going to escape it.
  • Enjoy a beautiful Florida day.

Halloween is both my joy and my challenge and I’ve decided I’m just going to roll with it today and not let a slight increase on the scale bring me down.

Bon appetit, my friends!

~ Tori

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Busy Weekend: Making Strides Against Breast Cancer & The Neon Run!

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Whew!

It’s Sunday night and I’m just catching my breath from a fun (and fitness) filled weekend!

On Saturday morning, I had the opportunity to attend the Making Strides Against Breast Cancer Walk in Downtown Orlando! A member of my staff at work is currently battling Double-Negative Metastic Breast Cancer, a very rare and aggressive form of the cancer, and so we organized a team to walk in her honor. It was a beautiful event, with nearly 15 direct colleagues in attendance and over 30 volunteers from our student body helping to keep the event running smoothly.

photo 1

Full Sail University, my alma mater, sponsored a tent at the event! They let us crash and stay cool in their shade before and after the race.

There were so many incredible sponsors at the event and more adorable pink accessories than I could wrap my little head around.

LOVE, LOVE, LOVE!

 

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The beautiful Marilyn Usher (left), the strong, FABULOUS woman our team walked in support of at the event!

 

With a crowd of over 50,000 attendees, it was a very crowded race, yet a few of my friends and I decided to break from the pack and attempt to run the full 5k. Other than a few traffic jams that forced us to slow our gait, we managed to run pretty much the entire 5k!

 

We were a bit sweaty, but quite happy to make it to the finish line!

We were a bit sweaty, but quite happy to make it to the finish line!

 

If that wasn’t enough, my husband and I decided to hit the gym that afternoon and I tore up the elliptical trainer, mainly in an effort to loosen up my tight muscles. We had done an intense leg workout two days prior and I was still so sore, I wasn’t sure how I was going to make it through the day.

But wait! I’m not done!

Yes, despite the run in the morning and the mid-day workout, I wasn’t ready to call it a day and take a nap just yet.

That evening, I participated in The Neon Run, a glow-in-the-dark 5k hosted at the Central Florida Fairgrounds. I won’t go into too many details about the organization of the event (they ran out of glow sticks, for Pete’s sake!), but I can say that I loved running at night and to the hypnotic beat of EDM!

Before the race. I've got my highlighter yellow shirt and glasses on and I'm READY to party!

Before the race. I’ve got my highlighter yellow shirt and glasses on and I’m READY to party!

I will admit that running in the DARK on a grass track is a bit of a challenge, as you can’t really see holes until you step in one, which made for a very paranoid run. Every 1/4 mile or so, we entered a “glow tent,” which basically consisted of us being DOUSED in glow-in-the-dark paint (hopefully nontoxic) and then running through a makeshift tent filled with strobing black lights.

Look at me! I'm phosphorescent!

Look at me! I’m phosphorescent!

All in all, it was a very athletic day and I feel good knowing that I didn’t fall into my normal weekend trap of eating badly, drinking heavily (calories, not binge-drinking), and vegetating in front of the TV.

And, even more exciting, several of my friends that attended the morning event now want to attend future races and charity events with me! Since we’re finally in “running season” in the south, there’s a new 5k, 10k, or half-marathon practically every weekend! So this could turn out to be the fittest autumn I’ve ever had!

On that note, it’s time to get some grub in my belly! After Saturday, I definitely think I earned it. Bon appetit, my friends!

~ Tori

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NEW ADDICTION: Coffee Mate Pumpkin Spice Creamer!

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NEW ADDICTION: Coffee Mate Pumpkin Spice Creamer!

OK, OK. I know it’s not Paleo. The ingredients list contains more words I don’t recognize than I do, but this creamer is my new addiction.

While picking up my organic almond milk (good girl, I know), I spotted a display of this creamer from the corner of my eye.

As with nearly everyone in the U.S. this time of year, I’m obsessed with pumpkin. I find myself seduced by any dessert, beverage, spice, or condiment that claims to be infused with that beautiful orange squash that is rarely eaten in its natural form.

My weight has been hovering between 131.4 and 132.8 for the past week, a sustained all-time low.

Yeah, I know. I’m doing well right now!

I stood in the grocery store for several minutes, ogling this creamer, trying to determine if it was really a good choice to introduce yet another cheat into my Paleo-diet.

As you can tell, I succumbed to the peer pressure of my eyes, taste buds, and stomach – and I’m now sipping a steaming mug of French-pressed coffee with two tablespoons of this decadent creamer (just 15 calories per serving!), a splash of sugar free salted caramel syrup (also pure chemicals, I’m sure), and a sprinkling of organic pumpkin spice seasoning.

WORTH IT.

I’ll make sure to have a green smoothie to flush out as many chemicals as possible… after I have a second mug of this crack.

Bon appetit, my friends!

 

~ Tori

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Graduation Day: The Dream Dress!

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Graduation Day: The Dream Dress!

As promised to those who have followed the blog for several weeks, here is the photo of me in my size four graduation dress.

I worked hard to get into this sucker.

  • Hitting the gym 5-6 days per week,
  • Sticking to my Paleo diet, and
  • Not letting my stress trigger a binge as it so frequently can when it compounds.

When I started the program (my second Bachelors degree) in March 2011, I was a wearing a size ten.

In many ways, I am a completely transformed person as a result of my college experience. An instructor in my junior year encouraged me to start this blog and create my documentary (in which I  admitted to my bulimia) and that transparency with the world has helped me to gain better control of my eating disorder. Knowing that all of you, now thousands of readers, are sharing in my world and are aware of my struggles, I’ve found a greater strength inside me that helps me generate will power when I need it the most.

I am wiser, I am more passionate and creative, and I am physically half the woman I used to be.

I’ll take it.

Bon appetit, my friends!

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