The Doughnut Diaries by Rachel Lavin

How many times throughout your life have you looked at your body in the mirror and thought,

“Why me? Why do I have a body that won’t stay small? 
I do everything right, but the weight never seems to stay off.” 

I remember feeling so alone. From the age of eleven, well into my forties, I dieted, binged, restricted, gained, and lost weight hundreds of times. 

The concept of writing my book has been a part of my consciousness since I was a teenager. I would start and stop countless times. Now that The Doughnut Diaries, A Personal Trainer's Tale of Being Every Size from 12-0 is out in the world, I realized I didn’t have the whole story until now. I know now that only writing about my wins in life wasn’t sharing my truth with my readers; I also had to be vulnerable enough to share all of my failures with them. Bringing people together with my story seemed like the logical and loving thing to do. 

I decided to invest in myself and put a down payment on the process of creating and writing my book for the simple reason that other people would know that they were not alone. I loved writing it– that wasn’t the hard part. I was ready to share my story truthfully and candidly. I had done a lot of work on myself prior to sitting down to write my book, so the only time I shed any tears was the day I knew that I had finished and it was ready to be sent to my editor. 

The process of writing my book took a year from concept to cover. I learned that I could actually finish something!!! I’m a Sagittarius through and through. I love to start anything and everything, yet completing anything is rare. I used to really beat myself up about that, but now I accept it as part of me. This book is even more special because of that. 

My book is for you. By sharing my story of struggle and living in a world where we as women are taught to hate our bodies and go to extremes to change the size of our bodies and the way we look, I hope you’ll learn to love yourself. My book is for you who realized that you didn't want to be stuck in that shameful place anymore and are learning to take care of the body you have and love it unconditionally. My book is for you who are finally understanding that there are no overnight fixes and learning to be ok with that. Loving your body and taking care of your body is a lifelong responsibility, but the beauty is there, and so are many of us– you don’t have to do it alone. 

About Rachel:

Rachel Lavin was born and raised in Northern California until the age of eighteen. Upon graduating high school, she wanted to experience more of the country. She left California and never looked back! She has lived in Maui, Hawaii; Portland, Oregon; and New York City and currently resides in Greenville, South Carolina.
Rachel has had a wonderful 25-year career in Fitness & Wellness. She holds an Associate of Applied Sciences degree from Portland Community College and is currently certified as an ACE Personal Trainer & Health Coach.  Rachel is also the author of The Doughnut Diaries, A Personal Trainer’s Tale of Being Every Size from 12-0.
Rachel has recently added home organizing to her wellness services.
While living in NYC, she met her forever person and has been in a loving relationship with her partner, Stephen, for the past eleven years. They don’t feel the need to get married but know that their relationship continues to be nurtured through love, laughter, and the promise to kiss each other every morning and every night.

Connect with Rachel:

Website: Rachel Lavin Wellness
Instagram: Organized by Rachel
The Doughnut Diaries on Amazon