Skip to content

The writings of a former wine mom and sometime supermom maintaining weight loss, workouts, and wits. Proudly alcohol-free since July 5, 2018.

Home
About
Contact
Resources

Twitter
Facebook
Google+
GitHub
WordPress.com

Contact

Thank you so much for visiting my blog. I would love to hear your thoughts!

Name(required)

Email(required)

Website

Comment(required)

Hi, I’m Jen.

An occasional supermom of two aspiring superheroes, I have been known to polish off a jar of Nutella and/or a bottle of wine in one sitting.

But after six years of motherhood under my too-tight belt, I decided to cut the Nutella habit and invest in self-care. In 2017, I lost 25 pounds with Weight Watchers (now WW) and started exercising regularly again. In 2018, I maintained my weight loss, ramped up my workouts, and began to explore my dysfunctional relationship with wine.

Having completed Dry January and then another 76-day alcohol-free stint in the spring, I committed to One Year Alcohol-Free on July 5, 2018. July 4, 2019 was my Independence Day and I’m proud to be navigating #momlife without booze.

Find me on Instagram! @maintaining_mama

TODAY IT BEGINS.⁣ ⁣ Today I set myself free from three months of self-imposed dietary restrictions and a lifetime of mistrust around food. Today I accept that my life’s journey of emotional, mental, and physical wellness is a marathon, not a sprint. Today I recognize that my sobriety is a superpower that I created for myself and that I can apply to all areas of wellness. Today I challenge myself to believe in my capability.⁣ ⁣ Today I commit to learning to trust myself, no matter how many millions of baby steps it takes.⁣ ⁣ I’m done feeling deprived. I choose to feel FULL. To fill myself with all of the goodness that I can as my family navigates this unprecedented, bizarre, surreal time. In the quarantined days that continue to unfurl and wipe our family calendar clean before our eyes, I will fill my stomach with healthy food and delicious food and healthy, delicious food. I will fill my body with exercise-induced endorphins. I will fill my soul with snuggles and nature and books and writing and movies and TV. I will fill my brain with important, useful, and factual information and filter out the false or sensationalist crap. I will fill my heart with with my kids and my husband and my dogs as we, together, create this uniquely beautiful quarantined life.⁣ ⁣ New blog post (and the full story behind these pics) is up - link in bio 💪🙂❤️⁣ ⁣ #AFday634 #soberaf #jomo #ichoosenobooze #sober #soberlife #grayareadrinking #sobermovement #sobermom #sobermommovement #pelotonsobersquad #afsquad #alcoholfree

We are back in New Hampshire and New Hampshire’s stay-at-home order goes into effect tonight 😔 But we are in our stay-at-home zone now. This is our reality: distance learning, field frolicking, trail hiking, book devouring, headline filtering, meal cooking, coffee making, game playing, tea drinking, movie watching. Plus running and strength training for me. Anxiety has stayed at bay so far. We are just focusing on one day at a time. ⁣ ⁣ As I ran this morning, I noticed how the terrain changed drastically and frequently over just 4.5 miles. A few minutes of cruising cushy downhill asphalt, a few minutes of trodding through thick mud. Then more asphalt, then more mud, then home. ⁣ My running route is the hours that make up these isolated days in a nutshell. Some hours are easy and fly by; others are a gunky slog. ⁣ ⁣ But we persist. We practice resilience. We keep going. That’s all we have to do right now. Just keep going. And wash your hands. A lot 😉🧼⁣ ⁣ #AFday632 #soberaf #jomo #ichoosenobooze #sober #soberlife #grayareadrinking #sobermovement #sobermom #sobermommovement #pelotonsobersquad #afsquad #alcoholfree #running #motherrunner @inspiringwomenrunners

Two #Peloton milestones in one day: 25th bootcamp with @selenasamuela 💪 and 400th ride live with @tune2tunde 🚲 I’m just gonna go ahead and own my #bossstatus y’all. ⁣ ⁣ Today was my last chance to use my bike and tread for the next couple of weeks, as my family is leaving NY to head up to our 241-year-old farmhouse-turned-refuge in NH 🌲⁣ ⁣ It was important for me to make the time to clinch these milestones. Between packing, cleaning, getting my venom allergy shots, and #distancelearning with my kids, making the time took effort today. But it’s always worth it, to do something good for myself. To feel strong in the midst of the continued corona-chaos outside the confines of my basement gym. ⁣ ⁣ As we hightail it out of the viral hotbed that is NY, I am grateful for the two machines I’ve left sitting in my basement. I’m grateful for the incredible community that has grown out of cycling and running nowhere. I’m grateful to the absolute first-rate instructors who always challenge me both physically and mentally while supporting me emotionally. And I’m excited for many farmhouse workouts to keep me fit and sane over the next couple of weeks 💪⁣ ⁣ #AFday629 #soberaf #jomo #ichoosenobooze #winemom #sober #soberlife #grayareadrinking #sobermovement #sobermom #sobermommovement #pelotonsobersquad #afsquad #alcoholfree @onepeloton

I wasn’t sure how I would react to this corona-quarantine-craziness. Turns out I am in sponge mode 🧽 News, snuggles, books, nature, movement - I am absorbing it all. ⁣⁣ ⁣⁣ I’ve been writing a lot less because all this soaking-in is taking a lot of time. But it’s time I have now. And all this time spent navigating uncharted waters has turned me into an eagle-eyed silver lining-spotter. Behold:⁣⁣ ⁣⁣ At least it’s not the dead of winter. ⁣⁣ ⁣⁣ At least I am not still drinking. (Seriously I cannot even imagine the hot anxious mess I would be of wine still played any significant role in my life.)⁣⁣ ⁣⁣ I haven’t set an alarm for over a week, and I’ve even woken on my own, before my kids, a few times ☀️⁣ ⁣⁣ More cooking! We are eating healthy food, less takeout. Cooking what we buy and letting almost nothing go to waste is incredibly satisfying 🍳⁣ ⁣⁣ I am going to get to read a lot of books. This makes me very happy 📚🤗⁣ ⁣⁣ Most profoundly, for us, is that we are getting to spend so much time at our crumbling, 241-year-old farmhouse in NH. Life is a lot calmer there than in NY. It’s our happy place-turned-refuge and we are more grateful than ever for it 🌲⁣ ⁣⁣ Spotting silver linings in this unprecedented mess has helped me stay positive and calm. Continuing to hope for the best for all of us. Stay home, stay distanced, keep washing those hands. We are getting through. ⁣⁣ 🧼 ⁣⁣ #AFday627 #soberaf #jomo #ichoosenobooze #winemom #sober #soberlife #grayareadrinking #sobermovement #sobermom #sobermommovement #pelotonsobersquad #afsquad #alcoholfree #coronavirus #selfquarantine #stayhome

Yesterday we fled the tense energy of Westchester County to hunker down at our farmhouse in NH for some #socialdistancing and sanity preservation. ⁣ Today I ate two pieces of leftover birthday cake and I ran for 45 minutes. I read the headlines and I put my phone away to doodle with @mo.willems.studio and my kids. I cooked a lot of chicken and broccoli. I did 20 minutes of yoga. Kids, dogs, husband, and I hiked through the woods around our farmhouse for an hour. I drank a lot of tea. Unprecedented times have me reaching in many different directions to cope and steady myself as we head farther into the unknown. And that is ok. ⁣ ⁣ Along the course of my 45-minute run – the first outdoor run of this length I have done in months - was a huge, super-steep hill. Ugh, I thought. I’m not going to turn around, I thought. So I leaned in, slowed down, took my butt with me, and ran up as far as I could, which was about half-way. But I wanted to see the view from the top. I’d never been there before. I didn’t have it in me to run any further so I pumped my arms and flicked my heels and walked. I made it to the top, took a deep breath as I soaked in the gorgeous view, and kept running.⁣ ⁣ It’s ok to slow down, I thought. As long as you keep going, I thought. ⁣ ⁣ I did. And we will.⁣ 🌀⁣ #AFday622 #soberaf #jomo #ichoosenobooze #winemom #sober #soberlife #grayareadrinking #sobermovement #sobermom #sobermommovement #pelotonsobersquad #afsquad #alcoholfree #coronavirus

As my brain flits and flails like a clunky hummingbird between trying to wrap itself around what is happening in the world and trying to simply accomplish the next task in front of me, I return, as often as I can, to a place of gratitude. And when I come back to gratitude one of the things meeting me there is my sobriety. ⁣ ⁣ I heard @glennondoyle utter these soul-revving words while listening to the @goodlifeproject podcast the other day. In choosing to shed my #winemom shell, I chose me. The real me. And in choosing to stay alcohol-free these last 621 days, I have stuck by my own side. I have been through grief, heartbreak, the momentous, and the minutiae. And I have lived every minute of it in the vivid technicolor that is sobriety. ⁣ ⁣ Sobriety. To think I used to hesitate to use that word. I bought into the stigma: heavy, serious, dull, indicative of a serious Drinking Problem. It took time, and the giving of many fewer Fs, for me to feel comfortable with “sobriety” - but thanks to Glennon and others I have come to embrace it. ⁣ ⁣ Right now, the world is a chaotic hot mess of unprecedented magnitude. And I am more grateful than ever for the clarity and self-love that are the hallmarks of my cherished sobriety. ⁣ 🌀⁣ #AFday621 #soberaf #jomo #ichoosenobooze #winemom #sober #soberlife #grayareadrinking #sobermovement #sobermom #sobermommovement #pelotonsobersquad #afsquad #alcoholfree

Homebody. That’s me! (And most of us right now.) I am too exhausted from adjusting to my #bestlifereset to put too many words together and there is too damn much going on. I’m just trying my best to walk a tightrope of information without falling into an abyss of anxiety. So: I’m present. I’m hungry (body transformations are hard y’all). I’m grateful that my family and I are healthy so far. I’m determined to stick to my meal and workout plans. I’m curious how this is all going to go. And I’m kind of miserable but kind of in awe of the fact that I’m navigating all of this corona-craziness without the crutches of booze or junk food. If I had not started my #bestlifereset, I would be emotional-eating my way through these strange days and feeling guilt and shame on top of simmering anxiety. If I had not stopped drinking, I would be both drinking AND emotional-eating my way through, and feeling exponentially worse. It’s not easy but I’m doing it. We’ve got this 💪 (that’s a substitute elbow-bump emoji) 🌎 #AFday618 #soberaf #jomo #ichoosenobooze #winemom #sober #soberlife #grayareadrinking #sobermovement #sobermom #sobermommovement #pelotonsobersquad #afsquad #alcoholfree

Yesterday morning, in a daylight savings haze and fasted state, I took @robinnyc’s last live DJ ride in the soon-to-be-old #Peloton studio and she said these words: “Welcome to future you.” As I hit one week into my #bestlifereset - working with a nutritionist to revamp my eating and exercise - I feel like I am indeed starting to see future me:⁣ ⁣ I am lean, but more importantly I am strong💪⁣ I eat a ton of vegetables🥦⁣ I drink black coffee☕️⁣ I strength train multiple times a week🏋🏻‍♀️⁣ I drink over a gallon of water a day💦⁣ I exercise for sanity, strength, and stamina🥊⁣ I eat to fuel my body🍳⁣ ⁣ I have a long way to go. But I have already come far in seven days of locked down, super clean eating and purposely timed and programmed workouts. I have to remind myself of this, because yesterday once I got off the bike I felt like I was walking through mud. I moved in slow motion for the rest of the day. My energy was low. My food didn’t feel like enough. I couldn’t take in enough water. ⁣ ⁣ But this is exactly it. This is the moment where my body changes from operating on sugar to burning fat. Where I disembark from the sugar roller coaster and step through the open doors of a bullet train🚄 Fast, smooth, efficient, powerful. This is what I want. After years (read: a lifetime) of sugar dependence, this turnover is a slog. But if I can make it onto that train? It will be so worth it. ⁣ ⁣ So I keep going. One workout, one meal at a time. Trust the process. Keep future me in my sights. Ooh because she is FIERCE, y’all 💥⁣ #AFday614 #soberaf #jomo #ichoosenobooze #winemom #sober #soberlife #grayareadrinking #sobermovement #sobermom #sobermommovement #pelotonsobersquad #afsquad #alcoholfree

Mood: EMO. Today is the first Friday of March, which means a theme #kickboxing class for me. #Emo won the Instagram poll (thanks to all who voted!) so I donned the kilt I wore for my middle school uniform (yes it fits!!), a studded belt, and a handmade choker necklace I received from a friend in high school. Up went my hair into two poufs. In went six earrings into the six holes in my ears, four of which go unused most of the time. On went layers of eyeliner and mascara and voilà: a reminder that we’re allowed to have fun as we work hard, and that we’re allowed to laugh as we navigate these nerve-wracking days. The world ain’t pretty right now. But let’s not forget to sing and sweat and laugh and love 🎶🥊😆❤️ #AFday611 #soberaf #jomo #ichoosenobooze #winemom #sober #soberlife #grayareadrinking #sobermovement #sobermom #sobermommovement #pelotonsobersquad #afsquad #alcoholfree #tgif

Follow me on Facebook!

Follow me on Facebook!

Maintaining Mama Gear

Maintaining_Mama

Click the link above to visit my Zazzle store and get your #JOMO on!

My Drinking Non-Negotiables

I will not drink to relieve boredom.
I will not drink to relieve stress.
I will not be drunk in front of my children.
I will not drink when I am alone; or alone with my children during the witching hour or any hour.
I will not drink when I have to drive.
I will not drink when I am traveling alone.
I will always put my children, my husband and my safety before alcohol.

Maintain with Me via Email

Enter your email address to follow this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.

Follow Maintaining Mama on WordPress.com

Search for:

Home
About
Contact
Resources

Twitter
Facebook
Google+
GitHub
WordPress.com

Maintaining Mama Blog at WordPress.com.