It’s the start of a new year, and like most of America, I feel the need to atone. Seven glorious pounds later—earned through a relentless pursuit of everything I denied myself all year—I’ve maxed out my fat and sugar levels, often in the same package, and frequently throughout the day. So now the question is: Which diet should I try this year? I’ve chosen Intuitive Eating . Yes, Intuitive Eating.  The premise sounds dreamy: eat what you want, stop when you’re no longer hungry. No restrictions, no calorie counting—just listen to your “hunger cues.” Simple, right? Easy. Also wildly un-American. Practically Communis-tic.  (Is that a word? If not, it should be.) Here’s the problem: we’ve been conditioned since childhood to ignore hunger cues. Every meal is a Thanksgiving feast. We clean our plates, ask for seconds, and only stop when mashed potatoes threaten to overflow from stomach to esophagus. Satisfaction means rubbing a bloated belly—or, more realistically, wearing stretchy pants. And we don’t just eat; we refuel like elite athletes. Gatorade, energy bars, trail mix with candy—as if we’ve scaled Everest. In reality, the only thing we’ve scaled is into our SUV. (To be fair, have you seen some of those SUVs? The seats are so high they come with retractable steps.) Still, I’m going to try. I’ll attempt to silence the “food noise”—a phrase that perfectly captures the American brain. We’re surrounded by food, and it’s loud. Right now, a peanut butter jar is calling my name, and a lonely piece of cake is sobbing for attention. How can I ignore them? If I don’t eat them, who will? It feels like civic duty. After all, starving kids exist, and somehow my eating helps… right? Food has been my friend—comforting me, celebrating with me, bonding me to others over snacks and drinks. How do I ignore that? Honestly, I don’t even know what hunger is anymore. At this moment, I feel both full and empty. Empty because there’s still a tiny corner left to fill. How is that possible? Conditioning. So, can I un-train? Meanwhile, that cake is screaming. Hungry. No , full. No , hungry. Yes. No . Don’t know.

Anyone who knows me will tell you: I love coffee. I must love it—I drink it all day. I must love it—because in my office alone, I have five different ways to make it: Espresso machine. Drip machine. Instant coffee. And a French press. Just in case one—or all—decide to fail me. If you’re traveling to a coffee-producing country, you already know what souvenir to bring back. I drink coffee before I brush my teeth in the morning. I would never waste money whitening my teeth—what’s the point? They’d be stained again by noon. The one time I tried to quit, I threw up and shook in bed like a heroin addict in withdrawal— until I cracked open a Diet Coke. I am an unrepentant addict. Don’t waste your time on interventions. There is no recovery group that can fix me. So imagine my shock when I realized: Though I love coffee… I don’t actually like it. Strange? Not really. We all have relatives we love deeply but would gladly avoid if they weren’t family. Don’t tell me you’re not thinking of someone right now. But you love them, right? So it is with me and coffee. Looking back, the signs were there. I don’t like coffee-flavored anything. Not Kahlúa. Not coffee cake. Not coffee ice cream. And certainly not Espresso Martinis—an abomination, in my book. So how do I explain the Nespresso machine, the Coffee Mate brewer, the iced coffee on reserve in the fridge? Simple. I love my liquid “coffee candy.” I love coffee when it’s drowned in milk, French vanilla flavoring, and enough Splenda to give lab rats a terminal diagnosis. I love it light, sweet, and stripped of anything resembling actual coffee flavor. I have a friend—who shall remain unnamed, but let’s call her “Shervonne”— who takes her coffee with sweetened condensed milk, Tres Leches whipped cream, and sprinkles. And I want to say I haven’t gone that far… but I’m damn close, aren’t I? So back to that intervention you’re planning. No need. I’m not really a coffee addict. No rehab required. But I’m still not giving up my Nespresso machine.

Age and Category: 21 years old, Wellness competitor City/State: New Haven, CT Gym:  Montari Brothers Powerhouse My name is Alexa Boyle. I am a 21-year-old natural competitor in the Wellness category, and this is my story. Growing up, I was always the overweight kid who was bullied for my weight and struggled with low self-esteem and depression. When I reached 230 pounds in 8th grade, I decided to lose weight. However, at 14, I lacked an understanding of fitness and nutrition. I managed to lose a lot of weight, but my health suffered. Before my 16th birthday, I reached my lowest weight of 96 pounds. I had lost my period, my hair was falling out, and I was hospitalized due to fainting episodes and malnutrition. Yet, everyone saw my journey from “fat girl to skinny” as a success story. I was no longer bullied. Many even told me how beautiful I “became”. Yet in my mind, I still wasn’t skinny enough. I was trapped in a cycle of self-destructive behavior. I attempted to control my weight through excessive cardio and binge eating, but by 17, I had gained back most of the weight. I weighed 210 pounds and was once again being bullied. My binge-purge cycles and emotional distress were made worse by the loss of my mother the summer before I turned 18. I was going down a rabbit hole with no way to climb out. The month before I started college, I was the most depressed I had ever been. As I approached 19, with gyms again open after COVID, I prioritized my health and well-being. I began weightlifting and taught myself to cook, gradually embracing a healthier lifestyle. It wasn’t easy, and I sought professional help to address my eating disorders and mental health. Over time, my relationship with food improved. During this time, Wellness bodybuilding was being introduced and heavily talked about. I was just in awe, but I also knew I wasn’t ready. Over time, I found solace in fitness, and my relationship with food slowly improved. I will never forget the first day I had eaten three meals; I was so proud of myself. There was no binging and no skipping breakfast to stay skinny. I was able to eat for the first time ever. My shaky relationship with food made prepping for a show “high risk” for me. So I waited two and a half years, waiting for my mental health to improve. Finally, I was ready to say YES to a coach and embarked on my journey of physical transformation and self-discovery. While working 2 jobs and a full course load, I made my debut into the OCB Wellness category on April 7, 2024. Bodybuilding has become more than a sport to me; it’s a testament to my resilience and self-love. Through all the challenges life has thrown at me, I've emerged stronger and more confident. This is not the end of my journey; it's just the beginning. Coaches/Trainers: Taivar Pierce and my amazing Mother who coached me through three of my shows this season since my coach couldn’t make it.

I could have done all these exercises at home but today I need the gym. I slept horribly last night with the sheets wrapped around me like vines from a story by the Brothers Grimm. Strangling me and pulling me until I woke up. I threw them back off only to find they came back at me an hour later. And again the battle raged till dawn when I woke up exhausted. So today I needed the gym. Because I needed energy. And I found it in the form of a man a decade younger than me. Young and full of ***. He walked around buoyant on his feet like the gym owed him a membership.  His tight black shirt with hills and valleys of muscles on his back. His pants accentuated strong thighs and sculpted calves. He stunk of testosterone. Perfect. He was in the HIIT side of the gym. Perfect. He was doing bodyweight exercises. Perfect. His cadence was strong and angry. Perfect. I was the engine and he was my fuel. With every side glance I gave him, I sucked more power from him. Getting energized by him. Propelling my sleep-deprived weakened body to match his frenetic rhythm. My workout was just as fast and furious as his. He was being used. And he didn’t even know it. At the end, I left feeling alive and awakened. Floating with vigor. Sparked and ready. For I had been a vampire and he had been my prey.

Colleen DiVito Age and Category: 53 years old, Bikini Competitor City/State: Reading, Massachussetts Gym: Fitness Within, Reading, MA I am sure that when a younger Colleen was practicing the arabesque for her annual Nutcracker concert the thought of growing her lithe muscles as big as possible would have been foreign to her. But years had passed since her last dance and in the intervening years, Colleen had busied herself with work and the needs of her two boys, Dominic and Anthony, always putting them first. She realized that she was eating terribly, was out of shape, and felt awful. She reasoned she needed to take care of herself so she could take better care of everyone else. In 2020, she finally entered the gym she passed every day where they had a 6-week nutrition and fitness challenge. Shortly after joining, the gym closed down due to COVID, but when they reopened, they offered one-on-one personal training – and she found she loved it! It wasn’t long before one of her trainers told her she needed to compete and, with persistence, wore her down. She had no idea how restrictive a competition diet would be. Or how much of a challenge it was to meal prep and work out while doing full-time work and taking care of 2 kids involved in sports. Yet she knew all about rigor and discipline from her years of dance and she was amazed at the process of watching her body reshape itself. Her first competition was the Battle of the Godz in Rhode Island in November 2021 at the age of 51.  The months of anticipation had left her nervous and shaking and excited to be back on stage. She signed up for all possible divisions and felt more confident each time she stepped out in the lights. She placed fifth in the 40+ division, second in 50+, and first in Debut. She was hooked. With each subsequent competition, she loved seeing what she could do with her body. Can she better herself? Can she gain size? Can she place better? Even at times of defeat, she realized how much she loved the sport. So, she kept going. At the age of 53 and at her fifth competition, the 2023 Battle of the Godz, she placed 2nd in the Open division, first in the 50+, and first overall in the 35+ division to earn her pro card. Now she has set her sights on the Yorton Cup, the OCB’s premier all-pro competition to be held in September of 2024. What has she learned in her journey to become an OCB Pro? I’ll let Colleen tell you herself. “I still have a hard time believing I was able to accomplish what I did. And although many people say this, I truly believe (and share with anyone I can!) that you are NOT too old and it is NEVER too late!  I believe everyone has the ability to set and achieve any goals they set, especially the goals that feel so far-fetched!  I tell my kids to constantly take risks and set crazy, lofty goals.  You learn so much about yourself doing this and even though you may hit roadblocks, you can always figure out a way around them.  Hit another roadblock, create another path...and keep going until you reach your goal or, perhaps along the way you learn something new and set an even higher goal!” Whether performing or posing, Colleen was meant to be on stage. And as an OCB Pro Bikini competitor, she is sure to grace that stage for many years to come. Colleen’s Coaches/Trainers: Adam Blom of Fitness Within (Nutrition and competition prep) Domenic Prisco of Fitness Within (Owner, Nutrition and competition prep) Jenna George of JennaGFit (Posing) Kaitlyn McLaughlin of Fitness Within (Personal trainer) Andrew Brown of Fitness Within (Personal trainer)

It is not easy to explain to (ordinary) people why you would want to undergo a 3-4 month diet just for a T-shirt and a trophy. That’s a really long time to spend on physical fitness, and only a few individuals can understand and respect your decision. It is difficult for most people to imagine being involved in an endeavor that takes you away from food and often distances you from the company of friends. No one wants to eat with a person who is weighing their piece of chicken as they gorge on steak. (Though I can never understand why they even care.) I can’t speak for all, but I can tell you what is true for me. ​ During the life of a woman, we have so little control of our bodies. In adolescence, our body decides when we will start to bleed, for how long, and how strong. Years after those first drops, it finally gets a regular pattern, and we believe we have tamed it. The sudden crop of acne tells you it is weeks away. The unexpected rush of tearful emotion tells you it is days away. The fullness in your pelvis tells you it is hours away. We all know our patterns. We can predict it. Until the day we can’t. The day it comes two weeks early or one week late or lasts only for one day and then goes away. And that brings a disturbing feeling of unease. Is it pregnancy? Miscarriage? Nothing at all? During pregnancy, we give our body away to the process of creating a being. We learn to expect the unexpected. Nausea. The swollen ankles. That weird (and incredibly wonderful) feeling of an alien thing moving under our skin. And, of course, the physical shock of labor. After delivery, we delude ourselves to get back our bodies and regain at least some of the control. Instead, we get a body with a slower metabolism and a thicker waistline, and maybe even bigger shoe size. Unexpected changes to which we now have to become accustomed. And it happens with each and every pregnancy. ​ And then there’s menopause. Unpredictable and cruel, just like the rest. Throwing us back to adolescence when we didn’t know when the bleeding will start, for how long, or how strong. But during prep (the word we use for the months spent preparing for a competition), we gain back some of that control. For years we have toiled to build up muscle, but it is striking what can be found when the layers that obscure them have chipped away. It is as miraculous as seeing a stone of marble become the statue of David. We whittle away the waist, the shoulders and arms become defined, and the stomach flattens. Every week another positive body change to discover. Our personal work of art is created from sacrifice and sweat. This is what drives me each year through all the months of dieting, hour-long cardio, and saying no to social events.  That (temporary) control is amazing. And that (temporary) control is addictive. ​ Ask any bodybuilder why they do it, and their answer might be very different. But for me, this is it. I am a woman bodybuilder because I love to uncover the physique that is hidden the rest of the year. Because I get to be my own sculptor.  Because, for a little while, I get to control the uncontrollable. And that makes it so worth it.

We have a parakeet named Treetop (Don’t judge. I didn’t pick the name.) We have managed to keep it alive for now over five years. That is an accomplishment in a house that has had a menagerie of low-maintenance pets (non-tropical fish, dwarf hamsters, a turtle) that we could not keep alive. And Treetop is no pushover. In the past five years, he has had 2 prior roommates which tried their best to befriend him. You would them skootching closer to him on the pole they shared until Treetop chided them with a sudden flurry of feathers. It wasn’t long before each of them was found at the bottom of the cage - feet up. I was sure the first one was just a tragic accident. But the second one? That’s homicide. But that’s just my theory. After the death of his second roommate, I decided that maybe Treetop was meant to be a bachelor. You can put him in a cage, but he’ll be damned if you can make him share it. ​ So, it came as a surprise to me that this anti-social potentially homicidal sociopath of a bird would turn out to be so tame. Let me explain. At some point I heard the rumor that other people let their parakeets out of their cage. That they fly freely around the house and eventually return to their cage because that’s where the food is. (Again, don’t judge me. I didn’t know.) To me it was a revolutionary thought that had never occurred to me. It never would have. Let a bird free to fly? Can they be potty trained? Or will they just leave their birdie droppings wherever they wish? ​ So yesterday we decided to liberate that rugged individual bird of ours. (I know I have attributed way too many character traits to a supposedly small-brained creature, but I believe them all to be true.) We opened the door to his cage. But he didn’t move. So, we unroofed his entire cage, giving him an unimpeded skylight of the world. And we waited. And waited. He knew something wasn’t quite right. He clung to the vertical rails of his cage, hilariously sliding down to the bottom. He blew feather out of his cage with his constant ruffling. He moved from post to post. But not once did he leave his cage. Until finally it was night and his window of opportunity closed. We placed back his roof and covered him for the night. I know. The analogy of a bird in a cage is so overdone. But when you see it in real life it all seems so sad. Which bring me to my oh-so-very-obvious point. As I look at his cage I ponder: In which way have I remained in a cage of my own making? What have I not allowed myself to see? What unknown have I been too scared to explore? And how much more is there to experience? ​ Today, we will again unroof Treetop’s birdcage. And today I challenge myself (and you) to step out of any self-imposed imprisonment. To be brave. To venture out. To fly.

I am sure that there are many compelling reasons why someone decides to train for a bodybuilding competition. But I can only tell you what made me decide to return after a 19 years of absence from the sport. At that time, I was going through an exceedingly stressful time in my life. It was the recession and I was barely making payroll in my business.  My husband’s job ended when his boss filed for bankruptcy. I was eternally three months behind in the mortgage payments and in the office I dodged angry phone calls from the auto dealership. It was a rough time and I had the stress of small children and trying to keep a strained marriage from falling apart. I felt like everything was on my shoulders and the load was crushing. ​ And then one night, I jumped up from bed and took out the VHS video of my first competition when I was 26 years old. During the almost two decades of absence from the sport, I had done a lot of aerobics and just a spattering of lifting. I had had two children and my waist size was not what it was in my mid-20s. But I had a friend who had offered to train me, so I decided - why not? ​ Over the next twelve weeks, I put all my energy into training. During the hour I was in the gym, there were no bills and no creditors. It was just me and the weights. I lifted what my trainer told me to lift and I lifted it as many times as she told me to. I followed the diet she gave me to the law. During a workout, I didn’t have to think. I just had to do it. It was an emotional vacation that stopped me from feeling despair about my reality. And with each week, I saw my body change into something unrecognizably wonderful. ​ Years passed and in Summer 2020, I helped run a bodybuilding competition held under the strictest COVID restrictions. Everyone was awed by these athletes who had managed to continue training in the midst of a pandemic. But I understood why they continued to train and why they might have found solace in the midst of so much uncertainty. Here was something they could have dominion over. Something onto which they could direct their anxieties and effect actual change. They had discovered the same thing I had when I restarted competing. That lifting can drain you of all worry. It is meditative. It centers you. Rep one. Rep two. Set one. Set two. Push. Pull. Sweat. The world is chaotic but bodybuilding can be cathartic.

There are few more acceptable addictions in this world than to be addicted to coffee. The lines at any Starbucks attest to our desire to spend extravagant amounts on a cup of flavored water. And we have not a bit of embarrassment about it. In addition, we have made one of the few, cheap, no-calorie drinks into an expensive and calorie-laden daily extravagance. (I mean, Dunkin Donuts Brown Sugar Oat Iced Latte at 310 calories? Really?) ​ I refuse to spend Dunkin Donuts or Starbucks money but, I still spend way too much time in the pursuit of coffee. I make at least two pots of coffee at the office and one at home each day. I have four different methods of making coffee (espresso machine, French press, mini Keurig, and the lowly coffee machine) – both at home and in the office. There was once a time when I would drink a cup of coffee before even brushing my teeth. I have an auto-delivery of Skinny Syrups French Vanilla coffee flavoring delivered every month. My weekend purse always carries an envelope of instant coffee and Splenda (just in case). I once went on a fast with no coffee and by the second day, I was headachy and was throwing up. I thought I was pregnant. But no, it all went away when I drank a Diet Coke. ​ I am well trained in defining addiction. I know all the signs and all the ways to verify the diagnosis. So here we go . . . My name is Lorraine and I am a coffee addict. Now, where do I find a support group for that!

I’m a family practice doctor in solo practice. That means that I have the responsibilities of being a doctor and the responsibilities of being a business owner. And that can be stressful. Every medical magazine I get for the past few years have had at least one article about physician burnout. What it is. What causes it. How you can get past it. And I can’t say I haven’t been burnt out before. When my sympathy for my patients is overridden by irritation, I know I’m burning out. But as a solo doc I can decide to take a vacation. Or shorten my day. Or anything else I need to get my perspective back. But burnout is certainly not restricted to the medical field and I see it more in my female patients. They work at one job and go home to the second job – taking care of kids, cooking, cleaning and trying to please their spouse. It’s tiring. Especially when kids are small and dependent and you have parents and other family that are also dependent on you. These women come to the office depressed and anxious and all-around overwhelmed. So I ask them what their “pressure valve release” is. What do they do that is solely for them?  I am always surprised how few women have an outside interest beyond work and family. ​ Obviously, for me my “valve release” is all things bodybuilding. Lifting is akin to meditation for me. In the gym, I need only concentrate on the weight moving up and down, my breathing going in and out and my muscles flexing and relaxing. I am in my own space and in my own head. I like deciding what exercise to do next depending on what feels best with no real set plan. It’s me and my body and the music in my ears and nothing else. It relaxes me and sets me up for the rest of the day. ​ At a bodybuilding show, they call me “doc” but the work is as far from my IRL job as possible. It’s a long and tiring day regardless of whether I am promoter, judge or tabulator, but it is also infinitely satisfying. Again, it’s something just for me. Something that is not part of me being a doctor or a mother or a wife or even a daughter. Just me. ​ You may love your work (like I do) but it is still work. You may love being a mother (like I do) but children are also work. And this does not account for all the other people that women regularly care for. I know that going to a nail and hair salon are socially acceptable reasons for a woman to get out of the house but you can’t do hair and nails every week, can you? Which means a woman needs to think beyond the salon to find reasons to get out of the house, socially acceptable or not. Music lessons. Swimming. Adult education classes. Hiking. Book clubs. There is something for every woman. ​ You don’t need to be a family doctor to have burnout. In our society, you just have to be a woman. But finding something that helps release that pressure – whatever that something is – makes for an emotionally healthier person overall. It’s the mini vacation we all need. It’s what helps to get us through yet another demanding week of work, of kids, of family, of ...