Story time, anyone?

This is my first ever post about fitness here in SS and I'm so stoked! For days I was thinking about what to write about. Should I start with a haul? Favorites? What's a good opener for this? Then it hit me: I should start with a little heart to heart.

Once upon a time, I was someone who avoided any kind of exercise like the plague. I’m not slim; I’m an overweight 20-something who stays overweight because of bad eating habits paired with the side effects of my current medications. Exercising should be part of my lifestyle but I just couldn’t do it. Until 2018. March 2018, to be exact.

            Health is wealth and sometimes you just can’t ignore what your body is telling you. Last February, I had to take additional medication (on top of my current ones for SLE) for my lungs. I guess a sedentary lifestyle plus bad eating habits plus a bucket of meds plus an SLE flare up just took a toll on my body. I felt more sluggish and heavier than usual and I was always bloated and out of breath. I didn’t like the feeling at all. So after days of feeling like shit, I just got up and did what was necessary. For the first time in almost a year, I woke up early and did a 15 minute work out in my own backyard. Just me, my iPad, a bottle of water, and my bodyweight. I think I did a HIIT that time, which, I’m not gonna lie, almost killed me but when I finished it, I felt freaking amazing. Then I just continued working out every day after that, in the hopes of lessening that bloated feeling.

Plot twist: apparently, my bloated feeling wasn’t because I was becoming extremely overweight; it was just a side effect of my lung medication! With that in mind, I had two choices: either I could go back to my sedentary lifestyle or I could continue to exercise every morning. Lo and behold, I picked the latter. I mean, I already started it. No point in quitting, am I right?

As I followed along video workouts and scattered sweat all over my backyard every day, working out felt less like a chore and more of something I genuinely enjoyed doing. I’d do whatever I feel like doing: HIIT, yoga, pilates, aerobics, all in the comfort of my own backyard. (Don’t get me wrong, I have nothing against going to the gym. I’m just anti-social, at least when it comes to working out. Or maybe that’s just in my nature.) I looked forward to working out in the morning, something I never did before. I can’t believe that something I started purely for health reasons back in March would turn out to be a source of happiness for my mind and body. Want to feel energized? Do HIIT. Stressed? Yoga, all the way, baby. Want a little variation? Barre workouts are great. See? There's a workout for every emotion and occasion.

 So why am I sharing fitness here? It’s not just to document my progress. I don’t workout just to lose weight and slim down because working out is so much more than that. Weight loss is a nice fat bonus but that isn’t really my own personal goal. I want to talk about anything fitness related here because I want to share my passion for it and how it affects my life, whether it be exercising at home, my insecurities and frustrations, my slightly unhealthy obsession with sports bras, or my never ending search for workout bottoms that doesn’t give me a raging camel toe.

 Yes, I’m a big and curvy girl who loves working out just as much as she loves food. Yes, all my flabs jiggle and bounce when I do high knees and squat jumps. Yes, I get frustrated when I can’t do full crunches because my flabs are on the way. Yes, my form isn't always perfect and my hamstrings are tight AF. But you know what, who cares? What's more important is that I try and push. I have a strong body and a more peaceful mind and that’s more important than striving to be in a size that’s acceptable to society or paying attention to what other people think and say about me. My thick strong body can handle a squat + squat pulse + squat jump superset. Can yours do the same?