And ice cream, and cookie butter, and chocolate…
A few weeks ago, I went to a great running store in Fancytown to pick up some new kicks (Mizuno Wave Inspires, by the way, and they’re awesome). On my way back to my car, I stopped into a Crumbs cupcake shop for a coffee. While waiting for my drink, I saw 3 grown women sitting at a table around a single cupcake, forks in hand, going in for the kill.
3 women.
3 forks.
One poor, unsuspecting cupcake.
The women were slim and fit. Fashionably attired in Lululemon and Sweaty Betty. So I’m pretty sure that they weren’t splitting the cupcakes for economic reasons or because they were headed to a Biggest Loser weigh-in.
I know I shouldn’t judge. I don’t know their stories. Maybe they are all diabetic. Maybe they are prone to cavities. Or just weren’t hungry. Or it was the last cupcake in the case. Maybe they had each just finished a steak bomb and only had room for a bite of dessert. Who knows?
I don’t know any of that. But I do know that 3 grown women huddled around one measly cupcake is a sad sight, indeed.
Colby and I clearly think fitness is important. And we both eat pretty well (for the most part.). But at the end of the day, we believe that everything you do to stay fit should be rooted in honoring your body and loving yourself. Honor your body by taking care of it in the best way you can. And love yourself enough to indulge in a treat when that is what you crave.
It can’t be all chia seeds and kale, folks. It just can’t. Maybe cupcakes aren’t your thing. I for one, would rather sit down with a plate of nachos over a dessert any day. But everyone has a favorite food that wouldn’t show up on an ideal fitness plan. Don’t deny yourself. Eat it now and then. And no feeling guilty when you do, either – sometimes you feed the body, and sometimes you feed the soul. It’s all good.
Life is short. Eat the damn cupcake.
It's A Marathon AND A Sprint 
I agree completely. I eat pretty healthy for the most part, but when I have a craving, it’s for french fries!!! If there’s a food that makes you happy, I say enjoy it every once in awhile…and don’t feel bad or guilty about it!
Oh, French fries. Yum. Love French fries.
From the moment you texted me from that very Crumbs, I had been dying for you to put this out into the Blog-o-verse. And I’m so glad you did. You hit it out of the park on this one T. 3 Women hovering over a cupcake probably playing chicken as to who digs in first. (Ok. I judged.) One cupcake. Or better yet- ONE THIRD OF A CUPCAKE. There is something so very wrong with that. I hate to admit it, but I was almost that person. And I’ve come quite a long way. And I’ve also never been more fit or “petite” in my life. Of course I’d rather have a slab of good stinky cheese, a hunk of crusty bread and some olive oil with a nice glass of wine (or 4), but nevertheless I do indulge. Every now and again isn’t going to kill you. Or blow your “diet.” Truthfully? If you treat yourself, you’re probably LESS likely to binge on a palate of cupcakes should they be presented.
So seriously. Eat the fucking cupcake.
If that cupcake had been a cupcake from Sugar at one of your Oscar parties, it would have been inhaled before the second chick picked up her fork. How enjoyable is 1/3 of a cupcake anyway? I don’t even think you can get the right proportion of cake to frosting when you dig in that way (shakes head sadly).
With 33.3% of a cupcake, there is absolutely zero chance of a Perfect Bite.
Trust me. I’m a scientist. I’ve run the stats.
Besides. Sugar Bakery ROCKS.
Amen. Like I told my Doc recently, my diet it pretty good except for a few too many cookies and icecream. Then there is the beer and 4 slices of pizza at dinner.
It is about balance. I guess I indulge a little bit every day. I do my ab work but those cookies keep hiding my results. If I wanted it bad enough I’d stop eating those things.
But my body is strong, I’m healthy and I’m not miserable spending my time obesessing over a slice of pizza I’m denying myself.
Agreed! And I happen to like all of the things you listed. I know that my body could look better if I was stricter about what I ate. But I’m fit, and happily, looking perfect is not my job. Being a good mother, wife, lawyer, friend, sister….are my “jobs.” I need to be a reasonably happy person to do all of those jobs, and that is simply not possible if I can’t eat the things I like. The media is so destructive to eating and body image, because we are bombarded with images of people WHOSE JOB it is to look as perfect as possible (not to mention the photoshopping. Don’;t even get me started on the photoshopping.). I don’t have the time or inclination to do what it would take to look like the models I see in the media, and it ain’t my job. Thank God.
I think Tom Brady of the NE Patriots said that unless you are 24 or a pro athlete you’ll never see your 6-pack. Kinda deflating but also a dose of reality. I wonder if Tom can see his six pack?
Not sure about Tom, but I know many women who would like to see if he has a visible six pack. 😉
I agree. Eat the friggin’ cupcake. There’s no photoshop in real life.
Thank God there isn’t. There’s enough pressure out there as it is…
I will eat that damn YODEL and whatever else I want ! My motto is – “If I dont RUN, I will ROLL” because I absolutely suck as self control and I come from a lineage of Italian women who are as wide as they are tall (if you call 5foot zero tall!)
Eat the damn Yodel, Cindi. And you can also eat the damn burger, fries and milkshake at Johnny Rockets, too, now that I showed you where it is! 🙂
Shit. You guys had burgers, fries and MILKSHAKES?!?!? {Blacks out.}
Yep. Burgers, fries and a Black & White. Delicious.
Three women one cupcake sounds like this really awful video my college roommate conned me into watching years ago.
But anyway…
I couldn’t agree more with this post. Finding a balance, being able to feel “normal,” being able to indulge in food because it tastes good and you love it… Those are crucial to everyone’s sanity, dieter or not.
Ok, now I kinda want to see the video. What happened in it? Finding a balance – BINGO! You hit the nail on the head.
AMEN!!
I am so very relieved to find that we are not the only running nuts who have no problem doing a long run with beer & pizza as recovery fuel!
I thought this post was appropriate here: http://doctoratehousewife.com/2014/06/11/spring-cupcakes-and-yes-you-really-can-do-what-you-find-on-pinterest/#comment-3032
Now I want a cupcake!
I totally agree with you! I am the healthiest I have ever been and I feel the best about my body than I ever have before. I stopped depriving myself of foods that I love to eat simply because they are “unhealthy.” Don’t get me wrong, I still eat plenty of fruits and vegetables, but if there’s apple pie sitting in front of me I’m going to eat it and I’m going to enjoy it! Life is too short.
It sure is. And I bet you are healthy in part because you will eat all types of foods – cruciferous or not!
Ha, after a recent group run we went to get breakfast. The manager gave our table a complimentary homemade gooey cinnamon roll. It was kind of sad seeing a group of health conscience folks just barely pick at it. Between the 10 of us, the roll never got any where close to being finished. The other folks in the joint looked at us sideways.
I don’t like cinnamon rolls, so I would have been right there with you. I’d have taken a bite to be polite, but that would be it, Now if they had put a Chilly Willy-style stack of pancakes down in front of me? Back off and watch out!
I’ve had 2 cupcakes today… oops
No oops! Unless you attempted to split one with two of your BFFs.
Amen x 1,000! Off to go get a cookie. Nom nom nom
Nothing like a cookie break.
I’ve been in mizuno wave inspires for a loooong time and love them!
now I am craving cupcakes. multiple
As long as you don’t split one 3-ways! I am really digging my mizunos. Never ran in mizunos before and am very happy!
HERE HERE! Everything in moderation and one cupcake isn’t going to derail all your hard work. Personally I’m not a huge fan of baked goods, but I giggled at the image at the top of the post because WINE definitely tastes as good as skinny feels. I ❤ wine.
Not a baked good fan, either, but I’m with ya on the wine. I actually think wine tastes BETTER than skinny feels. And look! It’s 6 o’clock already. And Thursday. Off for a glass…
There is no way I could share my cupcake with two other people! Who would get to do that thing where you use the space between the fork teeth to pick up the stray crumbs that fell on the plate?
They obviously did not think the whole thing through beforehand, because that is a critical step. Their method also prevented them from doing that thing where you just eat the whole damn cupcake and get on with your day!
“Sometimes you feed the body, and sometimes you feed the soul”- I freaking love that.
I think everyone deserves a treat now & then, whether it’s cookies or a slice of pizza. I imagine all the food guilt would just disappear if we stopped comparing our diets to everyone else’s. Live & let live people 🙂
Thanks so much. And the comparisons have got to stop (unless you want to compare yourself to me. I love bacon, win and chocolate and you are bound to feel better about your eating habits). Live and let live. I agree completely!
you write “3 women huddled around a cupcake” and I’ll betcha every. single. one. of. your. readers. instantly had a memory of seeing that before. good post. and excellent point.
Oh, yes. We’ve all seen it before!! Thanks.
Well said!!
Thanks! Now go eat a cupcake. A whole one. And be proud of it. 🙂
Amen! I eat healthy 90% of the time and exercise (because it’s awesome) but I cannot live without my treats. I’d rather have a chocolate-brownie ice cream cone (just finished one literally a minute ago) than a six pack. Life is too short to share a cupcake.
The only six pack I’m ever going to have is a 6-pack of Shock Top. Or Blue Moon. Or Sam Adams. I have made my peace with it. Chocolate brownie ice cream is right up my alley. Yum!
The only way I could share one cupcake with two other people is if we were also sharing two other cupcakes that were different flavors. I couldn’t agree with you more!
Now you’re talkin’. I am not anti-sharing. For Colby’s annual Oscar party, she (or our favorite non-runner friend, Patty) picks up a box of cupcakes from Sugar, a local kick-ass cupcake bakery. We split those suckers in half and go to town. Splitting multiple cupcakes is genius because then you end up with a buffet.
I won’t even share my large tub of movie popcorn with my own child, so this cupcake splitting is totally foreign to me.
Oh. movie popcorn. The most disgusting delicious treat. There is a movie theater near my parents’ house that serves it with real butter. My kids an I humiliate ourselves by buying the sizes with unlimited refills and going for our first refill by the time the previews are over. I plead the fifth on the amount of times we head back during the movie. 🙂 And yes, of course I don’t share.
I’m so glad I’m not the only one! My family honks I’m weird and stingy about the popcorn.