The Sweet Life’s Top 10 Posts of 2013

1. Crossfit Doesn’t Have a Dirty Little Secret — You’re Just Irresponsible
My only truly viral post ever. I wrote this post in 20 minutes on my lunch break one day. Next thing I knew it was trending on Reddit and picked up by Crossfit headquarters. After it was tweeted and shared on the CrossFit Facebook page, my numbers were soaring. Now, if I could only make that happen once a week!

2. Eating Disorder Prevention: 10 Things Moms Should Never Say to Their Daughters
I got the idea for this just because I know the ins and outs of the eating disorder world. This wasn’t to be a reflection of my own mom, but just things I’ve seen over the years and remember hearing from women in my life.

3. How To Get a Date Worth Keeping — & Marrying
After my wedding, I decided I need to tell others how I was able to meet the man of my dreams! There was one book in particular that was really helpful to me as I navigated the dating world. Most of you know, it can be frustrating and sometimes, not a lot of fun. The points I made in this post resonated with a lot of people. Hopefully more people can find some truth in it now.

4. Why I Don’t Want a Wedding
This post really sparked the curiosity of my readers. I always felt different from other girls because I wasn’t really that into having a huge, fancy wedding. After I got engaged, we had some decisions to make and this post was written in the midst of those. While we did actually have a wedding, it wasn’t the kind most people dream about. But, it was the kind we dreamed out and it was awesome.

5. Why I’m Not Dieting For My Wedding Day
I’ve always been struck by the fact that women lose a ton of weight just for their wedding day only to gain it all back right afterward. What is the point in that? I could have lost 10-15 pounds but I hate restriction and dieting. I have been the same weight now for years and I couldn’t imagine why I’d want to look any different than the woman I was every other day. So here’s my explanation on why I kept things the same.

6. How I Found Freedom From Binge Eating
I needed to share this experience with readers. Having dealt with binge eating for about a decade, I thought it would never go away. I’m happy to say today I cannot even remember the last time I used binge eating as a coping mechanism. Overeating does sometimes happen but binge eating is a whole different ball game — and I found freedom. You can too.

7. Lose Weight With CrossFit
When I learned that my friend from CrossFit, Mason, had lost 126 pounds through doing Crossfit, I was intrigued. So this was a way you could really change your life. Mason agreed to an interview and his story was inspiring. Many people loved it — and so will you!

8. What I Learned From a Strict Paleo Diet
Gabby is one of my favorite bloggers so I was really excited when she agreed to guest post for me about her strict paleo diet. There’s a lot to be learned from the experiments of others and my readers definitely took to this one. Considering a paleo challenge. Read this post!

9. CrossFit: What I’m Learning About Me
This year was most definitely the year of CrossFit. I feel in love with more than ever before and began to love and appreciate my body and my strength. I met some awesome people, accomplished some goals and fell in love with fitness more than ever before. Many of my posts made sense to fellow Crossfitters and this was one of them.

10. Lose 15 Pounds: How I Did It
Now this might seem contrary to my post about not losing weight for my wedding but…I was actually referring to a time earlier in my life. In college, I was a little overweight but over time, I was able to take 15 pounds off and keep it off. Some of that had to do with overcoming binge eating but also just by making healthier decisions each day.