inspiration

Working on my Fitness

/ Ronni Jean / Leave a comment

So somewhere between October of last year and March, maybe April of this year I went from being a couch potato to this crazy person who got up at 4:30am to go workout, then back to couch potato… well maybe not actually a couch potato but something similar… lazy, lump always on her laptop probably sums it up better.

Last year I put on a significant amount of weight I would tell you the number if I knew it but I don’t, so I won’t.

I just know dresses and skirts started to be my everyday attire because the thought of trying to squeeze into my jeans was much too much to even think about let alone do. So sometime maybe the middle of last year my good friend Groupon had a deal for a local bootcamp, I had been really wanting to get back into a workout routine and figured group exercise might be it for me so I bought it. I bought the Groupon for this bootcamp and decided that I would start the next camp session after I came home from Italy; so October.

I loved slash hated it I loved working out and getting my body moving but getting up t 4:30 am sucked and going to bed early sucked even more. I did bootcamp for awhile, then things with my migraines started getting worse and then I hurt my achilles tendon, as if all the physical things weren’t enough I started to get really frustrated with the bootcamp and the ethics and dynamics of it (I won’t even go there). So I stopped going to bootcamp and started going to the gym. Then I stopped going to the gym regularly even, then I just stopped. I got back into my ways of non-movement and bad eating and I gained about 14 pounds.

I am writing this because awhile back I read a blog post (which for reference sake I cannot find right now) about a girl who blogged her weight loss journey and it helped to keep her accountable. I am hoping that writing this will help to keep me in check. I promise to not be that annoying person who only talks about losing weight and eating salads. I don’t feel like what I am doing is any sort of journey,  but maybe somewhere along the line I will help to inspire or someone will help me to be inspired.

I am not yet prepared (mostly mentally) to put a number out there for the world to read and for the internet to keep forever but I can promise you that losing and gaining weight is something that I have struggled with for a good portion of my adult life. I yo-yo like no other; up, down, up down.. it is a vicious cycle. Right now I am up. And right now is the time I feel like I need to do something about it. June is halfway through the year, I tried and failed the first half of the year, why not come back and follow through with the things that I started.

Everyone falls off the wagon, but what you do after that is what matters; will you get back on or stay off?

I am choosing to get back on. I started working out again last week; I also have a workout buddy which makes working out early much easier. I find that working out in a group or with someone else makes the workouts easier to do and it helps to push me when I don’t want to keep going. I invested some money into workout books that help to make muscles and strength make more sense. The one that I just finished reading, is “A Woman’s Guide to Muscle and Strength” by Irene Lewis-McCormick. This book is amazing, she breaks down how strength training works for a female’s body, myths on using weights, using proper form, and there are even several different workout programs that you can follow. Since I have been out of my gym routine for a while I am using the beginner workouts. I followed the program 5 days last week; strength and cardio; it was pretty much amazing, I still feel that great sore feeling after you’ve worked your body. One thing I wish that this book did discuss is nutrition, if it is one place that I fall short it is in nourishing my body.

I can gladly eat the same meals a hundred times over as long as no one around me has anything that might be remotely tempting. I am a huge sucker for crunchy things; chips mostly. I never was a soda drinker until Marlboro Man, which is weird because he always drinks diet and I like the real thing; Coke not Pepsi and NEVER diet. I love ice cream, I am not proud to admit this but I can eat a pint of Ben & Jerry’s in a single sitting, ice cream is my happy place. I need to find a book that discusses nutrition on a level that I can comprehend and that will teach me the proper way to eat. If you know of a book that does this please let me know, I will be forever grateful.

So I guess that is it for now, I am not sure that I really said much of anything; maybe this was a post for myself? Like I said to keep me accountable for me; at some point I will put that number down which will make me even more accountable.. soon.

 

r

6/9/14

 

 

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Committing Internet Suicide

/ Ronni Jean / Leave a comment

So I did it, Finally… I deleted my Facebook account.

It has been about a week and a half since I made the decision to rid myself of Facebook, and I have to admit that I surprised I was worried that I might possibly miss it.

I had been toying with the idea for a couple of weeks; should I delete it or deactivate it or possibly just delete the app from my phone so that I can only check it out when I am on the computer, but then if I only have access to it while I am on the computer I know I will get distracted when I am supposed to be blogging, or job hunting or whatever else it is I am supposed to be doing.

After I decided it was the right thing to do I kind of started to make excuses, like oh my gosh how will so and so contact me, or how will I get my news or current events… stupid stuff really that was keeping me from committing to the decision.

Last Monday I posted my last post letting friends and family know that I was done and that if they wanted to contact me there are surely a million other ways to do so. During the day, for people who reached out, I gave my phone number and email. I also spent more time than I should probably admit deleting pictures and personal information because I am not entirely convinced that when you delete your Facebook that all of your images and content are gone. I wanted to make sure that content that mattered to me wasn’t going to somehow end up as part of Facebook’s property or something of the sort.

When I got home on Monday right before I deleted my Facebook I got an inbox message from a PR friend who I admire, they were concerned that  getting rid of my Facebook could potentially be very damaging to my career; employers won’t be able to “stalk me” find out who I am. I had to explain to this person that Facebook was no longer a necessary tool in my life or my job career; yes it is a good means to stay in contact with friends that are on my outer circle but the people that really mattered were ones that I talked to every day via text or phone call; I did not need Facebook to validate my friendships.

Facebook was actually becoming more of a problem, I never tracked it but I am sure I spent hours a week if not hours  A DAY scrolling and scrolling the crap that is communication between friends, business partners, etc. When I was bored, I scrolled. When I couldn’t fall asleep, I scrolled. When I had extra time in the morning; I scrolled. When I was out with friends, I scrolled. Facebook started to take up my time and I let it. But the question is why? Maybe it was that little part of me that was curious as to what others were doing? But I feel like that wasn’t it because Facebook really just became a constant feed of chain letter type posts and photoshopped images and quite honestly a feed of crap I didn’t care about anymore. Sure I could ‘hide’ posts that I didn’t want to see, but by the time I was done doing that my feed would have been without any activity, so getting rid of it was the next best thing.

Now that I am Facebook-less I do find myself actually having to read more so I can get my currents and news I can’t just look on my favorite sources news feed and go from there, but it is nice I find myself in a spiral of information one thing leads me to looking up another and another and.. well you get the idea. I no longer spend hours scrolling, I am not longer that jerk that is out with friends that is on Facebook instead of being in the present. I am now fully in every moment I live, are you?

Whether I will go back to Facebook or not is up in the air maybe I will, maybe I won’t for the time being I feel liberated and satisfied. Do I feel that I committed internet suicide? Not in the slightest.

I dare you to deactivate your Facebook account, even if it is only for the weekend, spend some time with reality, with your family, friends, disconnect; it may be weird at first but I promise you will love it once you get past the awkward stage and learn how to use your words with humanity again.

xoxo

r

4/30/14