Courtney
Writer, mom, and licensed therapist exploring what it means to heal, unlearn, and rewrite your story.
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Learning Balance, Finding a Healthy Relationship with Food, and Loving My Body
As you all know, I’m a big dreamer. I love to set big goals. For the longest time my main goals have been either weight loss or body image related. Lose XX number of pounds, fit in a size 12, be “normal” on the BMI Scale. Even though my goals have gone from get skinny to get healthy and from “weight 175” to “be strong” – It still all relates back to my personal body image. Almost everything I have done for the past 4+ years has somehow been related to these goals. Heck, I even turned it from a hobby into a full blow job! I guess what I’ve really been…
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Hello Monday
Hello Monday, you really snuck up on me. Why does the weekend go so fast?! I’ve made it a point recently to really try to slow down and enjoy the moments as they come, but it seems like the more I try to slow down and enjoy them the faster they go! I got to spend some quality time with my favorite people and get a lot of things done. Productivity for the win! Saturday was a fun day of Oly Lifting. I <3 Snatches. Love getting to train with my best friend! @chrisnorm and I after our Oly session this morning @crossfit70 #crossfit #swolemates A photo posted by Courtney Norman…
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Ch-Ch-Changes!
Hey there! Have you noticed the new look around here? After nearly 3 years I decided it was time for a little facelift… What do you think? The next week or so I’ll be doing some more house cleaning around the blog. I want to make it easier to navigate around here and keep all the categorized posts together. I love the way everything is coming together so far though! It’s a bit cleaner and easier to read. It’s hard to believe I’ve been blogging off and on nearly 5 years come January. I’ve grown a lot both as a person and a blogger. When I started blogging in January…
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Abdominoplasty Update: 4 Months PO & Dog Ear Revision
4 Months. What?! It has been nearly 4 months since my Abdominoplasty already? I was afraid time would crawl through recovery but it actually has gone so fast! I have been absolutely in love with my results so far, but I did notice pretty early on that I had what is commonly referred to as a “dog ear” on the incision at my right hip. Here is a picture several months later, after the incision had healed. I still had some major swelling going on, and that dog ear is far more noticeable. At my 3 month follow up I talked it over with my plastic surgeon and we decided…
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My Favorite Cyber Monday Deals
In the past I’ve gone out on Black Friday and fought my way through the crowds for some crazy deal. But now, ain’t nobody got time for that! I have become a total internet deal stalker. I’m all about the online deals! I’ve found them to be even better deals than you get in store… plus you don’t have to wonder if they will have what you want in stock (for the most part). I’m going to share some of my favorite Cyber Monday deals with you, hopefully you can save a few bucks on things for those on your list or for yourself! Reebok – 40% off Sitewide use…
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Disney World 2014 – Epcot & Animal Kingdom
Isn’t funny how you look forward to something like vacation for so long and then BAM it’s over. Coming home on a Tuesday means hitting the ground running trying to catch up after being gone for a week. I wanted to try to write a recap with some Disney tips before I forget. We packed so much into just a week. Traveling and vacations are some of my favorite things, but after day 6 or so I usually start to crave the comfort of structure. I’m looking forward to getting back to my bed, my food, and my gym. But we had a really great time. This past week we spent…
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Trust The Process
When I think about things to share on my blog I often think about things I want other people to hear. Other times, like today, it’s more of a reminder to myself to practice what I preach. All too often I forget where I was when I first started on this journey. Chronically tired, out of shape, embarrassed, overwhelmed. I’ve come so far in the last 4 1/2 years. But I obviously didn’t start where I am today. It has been a process, a journey. I started walking. Then walking alternated with running. When I started I could barely run 30 seconds at a time. Then I got the crazy…
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I’m Done Coasting
Today is 12 weeks, or 3 months, since my Abdominoplasty/Skin Removal. I knew going into it that I wanted to take it easy for the first 3 months. Like I said in my last post, I just wanted to coast through recovery to give my body time to heal. I had to prepare myself mentally to scale back on workouts and I wanted to give my mind a break when it came to eating. The first 6 weeks were hard, I hated not working out. Then when I got back in the gym it was tough to get my head in the game because I felt so weak when I…
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This is Not What I expected
When I went in for surgery I knew my recovery would take about 3 months, minimum. My plan was to just take it easy, mentally and physically. Obviously I would be out of the gym completely for 6 weeks, but even when I got released to workout I knew I wanted to take it easy and let my body fully recover. I didn’t want to stress out over workouts or food choices for those first 3 months. Basically, I just wanted to coast through recovery. Next monday I’ll hit that 3 month mark. It’s weird now, though. When I first started losing weight I was so focused on the number…
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Abdominoplasty Update: 10 Weeks Post Op
I remember when I was 10 weeks away from my abdominoplasty thinking it seemed so far away. Now I can’t believe it has already been 10 weeks since my surgery It seems like so long ago when I was trying to imagine what it would be like to have my hanging skin gone, smooshing and folding it while standing in front of the mirror. These past 10 weeks I’ve had to relearn my body. I still am caught off guard when I catch a glimpse of myself in a picture or a mirror as I walk by. Other times I feel like this is how my body has been forever. Mostly I feel like…