Now GO!!!!!!!!!

You've been on the starting block for a while.  And you've been working on getting your head together.

You've tweeted every quote from Oprah's Life Class.  You've cried with the best of them while watching Iyanla's Fix My Life.  You've found yourself hugging your knees when Jillian hit one of your sensitive spots while watching The Biggest Loser.  It all makes sense.  You've signed up for ten races, liked five hundred health and wellness pages on Facebook, save the all of the pictures that inspire you from Instagram (are we connected on Instagram? Click here.) and rotate them out as screen savers on your phone, have read every Deepak Chopra book under the sun, attend both Sunday services at your church and can break down the calorie count of every single food in the world without looking at the label.

But you haven't taken off yet.  You're willing to think differently or have someone inspire a new thought in you but you aren't willing to DO differently.  That's why you're stuck.

Me too.

My pastor (Hey, Pastor Huey!) did a sermon yesterday and the subtitle was "From Revelation to Revolution." And I knew when I started feeling uncomfortable (for a multitude of reasons), it was about to get good up in there. The truth is I've been hanging out on that starting block for a while.  I'm looking real good with my matching shoes and tank tops.  And I have been thinking deeply lately about why I have not made the gains in my fitness like I want.  My food too.  And, honestly, I have the answers.  But you know what I am waiting for?  More answers?  Why?

Fear.

Because I know that where I need to go is uncharted territory.  And THAT'S where the revolution starts.

Have you ever wondered why there are some people who seem to work out ALL THE TIME but they

NEVER lose weight?  They have looked the EXACT SAME WAY for YEARS????? It's because they have the "thoughts" of wanting to exercise and live a healthy life but they aren't willing to revolutionize what they are doing to get to another level.   They are o.k. with being on the starting block, thinking about their race strategy.  Me?  I'm ready to run!  And wherever that runs takes me, I am ready to go. 

Deep, philosophical thought is a beautiful thing.  So are downloads of workouts, Pinterest challenges (I have some great ones here), cute Nike pants, banging playlists and Super Soul Sunday.  But, until you are willing to put your thoughts into action, you are just another thinker.  And thinking doesn't burn enough calories to get me where I need to go.

What's one thing you can do this week to get off the starting block into action?

You've been ready. And you've been set.  Let's GOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!

Guess What? I Don't Want To Work Out Either. But....

I swear to tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth. I'm not perfect. I have my moments. But are my "moments" me?

Metamorphosis: Under Armour and What's Beautiful

Beautiful is defined as "having beauty; having qualities that give great pleasure or satisfaction to see, hear, think about, etc.; delighting the senses or mind, wonderful, very pleasing or satisfying."

And that's YOU.  Even when you feel like it isn't.

We constantly hide behind the stories we've been told and the stories we tell ourselves.  The story I've always believed is that I am no athlete.  My sister, who is 5 ft. 10 inches, had all the skills I wanted.  She was the basketball player and the swimmer.  Me?  I was never "aggressive" or "competitive" enough to be an athlete.  The most I ever did was jump some double dutch.  I did play a mean game of kickball and run one heck of a fifty yard dash but my track career was short-lived.  I was a dancer.  All I wanted to do was dance.  When, as a teenager, I complained to my dad about not getting any of his athletic genes, he tried to assure me that dancers were athletes.  I promptly reminded him that dancers didn't get letterman's jackets.

Well, my dad was right. :)

I am an athlete.  And it's a beautiful thing.

I bet you are too.

But sometimes we don't know it.  Or we don't believe it.  It's old conditioning that keeps up wrapped in our cocoon. But it's time for us to fly.

I am part of a sponsored campaign for the What's Beautiful program created by Under Armour.  It is all

about redefining the female athlete.  What goals do YOU want to reach? What fitness and health milestones do you see in YOUR future?  And how fabulous would it be to be supported by others who understand what it's like to have never considered themselves athletes but have athletic ability pouring from their bodies?

Let's rock this!!!



I have created Team Metamorphosis, a place where we can gather and challenge each other to go to that next level.  I want you to join me.  (And by "join" I mean I am in this with you.) Team work makes the dream work! And check out the other teams!  There are many of my Fit Fluential buddies who have made teams specific to certain goals that may be extremely helpful to you.  It's not about cliques.  It's about changing!

I can't wait to get more fit with you, you beautiful athlete!

F7 Top 7 Music List (May Edition)

Here's what we are working out to this month?  What's on your playlist?

• "So What" by Pink
• "Weight Music" by KB
• "Proud" by Heather Small
• "I Don't Feel Like Dancing" by Scissor Sisters
• "It's a Long Way To The Top If Ya Wanna Rock and Roll" by AC/DC
• "Work" by Lil Jon

I Am Strong NOW......An IntenSati Moment

I'm also a believer.  And that's HUGE for a skeptic like me.

The first time I ever heard of IntenSati was back in January, 2010.  I received the DVD as part of my welcoming package for enrolling at the Institute of Integrative Nutrition (which you should totally consider).  Now, I am all for positive affirmations and exercise but together?  Lady, are you serious?  I thought the instructor, Patricia Moreno, was the cutest thing ever but, well, I'm a skeptic. I was only a few months out of knee surgery and it looked like they were working harder than I wanted to for it to be a "mind body workout." They were sweating.  I was depressed.  It just wasn't a great combination.  I put the DVD away.  But the thought of the class kept swirling through my head. 

I checked to see if anyone around me was teaching it.
Yeah, I know.  I live in Alabama. :)

I met another girl who was a graduate of IIN who was an instructor and she said she loved it.  I looked into the certification. At the time, I just couldn't afford it. I was drowning in debt from chasing dreams.  I had to surrender something.  And, if it were meant for me to cross paths with toning my thoughts and my thighs simultaneously then, so be it.

And then I went to New York in March.

I chose not to check out the speaker's list for the IIN conference on purpose.  I wanted to be amazed. I had already heard Deepak Chopra, Mark Hyman, Geneen Roth, David Wolfe.  I mean, really?  Could it have gotten any better? And then I heard them say, "Patricia Moreno." I was pretty much in an open space all weekend so I was willing to try to say these affirmations. Out loud.  Next to people I knew.  Who could judge me. While I was going through something.  Some real stuff.  Patricia came out like a big burst of sunshine and, until even now, I SWEAR she was staring directly at me the entire time. I don't know if this is ego or if I really felt a connection with her.  Either way, it led me to track (the politically correct term for "stalk") her in the hallway.  I think I gave her my entire resume.  I told her I HAD to teach IntenSati.  She told me to get in contact with her.  She gave me a wrist band.  When I got home, I sent her an inbox message, like I have done with so many other "fitness gurus." 

She actually messaged me back.

And because she cared, I took a dare and got myself to Philadelphia on GRACE and MERCY (I won't disclose the details but it was truly an act of God that got me connected to this program). I spent two days fighting the urge to want to make IntenSati something it wasn't.  I had to face my deepest fears of feeling
inadequate and overweight and unprepared and not in in the clique and basically all of the things I have used in the past to separate me when I am just plain scared.  My mind was trying to handle other challenges in my life.  My body LITERALLY shut down from lack of proper food and sleep for several days.  And, yet, I found the strength to make it through pieces I didn't think I could do. I thought I was going to die Sunday because I felt so horribly ill but I was going to go out like a warrior.  I am NOT suggesting that you ignore when your body is saying STOP (and I had to honor that) but what I am saying is that, at my weakness point, mentally AND physically, I had to dig for something greater.  It wasn't going to come when I was a size 2.  It wasn't going to come when I had more certifications.  It wasn't going to come when my choreography was perfect, when more people liked me, when I was over my drama.  I was strong RIGHT IN THAT MOMENT.  I always have been. 

When I think about this past weekend and being a part of "Team Fearless", I will always think of one of our affirmations from the Warrior Series, "I AM STRONG NOW!"

It comes the minute you acknowledge it.

Look for classes soon.  There were no classes in Alabama but there will be now.  :)

Why I REALLY Work Out

O.K., let me go ahead and say at the beginning, people thinking my teenage son and I are brother and sister is a
pretty cool (and egotistical) reason to pump some weights.  But, hey, it has kept me in the gym many of days.

Remembering the days when I was out of breath, dragging him and a car seat and my book bag and a purse and grocery up a flight of stairs while not being able to breathe has done the same.

Remembering the vision of seeing my father unconscious with tubes up his nose and tape all across his chest after a triple bypass has done it.  Listening to the medications my mother has to take has done it.




Glancing across the table at a family dinner (bodies and food) has done it.


My children wanting to jump on my back and have me carry them through the house (yes, my children are fifteen and nine, 6 ft. and almost 5ft. and I am 5ft. 5 inches and yes, my son is heavier than me) has done it.

Wanting to be able to do what I have been called to do....that's why I work out.

I work out because eating disorders, depression and anti-depressants, pain killers, bad relationships, co-dependency and careless behavior could have killed me.  And those are just a few.  I realized that
working out for "me", when I began to view not as a "chore" nor an "obsession" became a place where I could indeed surrender the thought that I wasn't powerful enough to take control of my own life.  Every struggle I had was I was blaming someone else.  For EVERYTHING.  Let me be clear.  My life has NOT be easy.  I have had more than my share of struggles.  And I am sure you have too.  We all have.  But I had to decide if I was willing to step out of those spaces and see my part in my own oppression.  The drama was more appealing than the healing so I stayed there, powerless.  I taught fitness to "other people" and didn't take in the benefits because it was what I did "for a living."

Now I do it to LIVE.  I want to LIVE.

Piloxing is what I love.  Zumba is what I love.  Yoga is what I love.  Those are things I do.  Those are the things I teach.  Lifting weights is what I love.  And because I love it so much, there is a natural energy that comes along with it.  I told my class yesterday that I didn't need a pre-workout supplement.  My pre-workout supplement was water and a leg workout. :)  My energy was there because I know what will happen if I don't put it there.

I have my days. But, as my dad says, if I wake up breathing, then I can take it from there. :) Sharing love and hope through fitness is my life's mission.  Even when I don't want to, I roll out of bed and hit the door.  That mission is bigger than my resistance or desire to sleep late. :)

Why do you work out?

I Bid Good-Bye

I have had a lot of bad nights.
And then there was last night.

I am sure those couple of shots of espresso AND the large coffee blend given to me by the wonderful young
ladies at Starbucks (thank you!) didn't help but I was in Starbucks to begin with because my mind was busy.  I handled a little business, came home and felt like I was going to fall over with the thoughts.  The television was on the news (well, capturing a terrorist is MAJOR news) and I tend to absorb too many emotions from the news so I don't watch it but I was too preoccupied to get up and turn it off.  I was playing Ruzzle, texting my friend and doing push-ups all at the same time.  After getting beat, telling my friend I loved her and a hundred push-ups and hundred crunches later, I was still wide awake.

Me and my fear.

The other night in my Spring Slim Down group, I told them I wasn't afraid of failing as much as I was afraid of dying in my mediocrity.  That word, MEDIOCRITY, has followed me since the fourth grade when my teacher called me mediocre in front of my entire class.  I was having problems unknown to her at home and my work had begun to slip.  At age nine, a name is a name (even if I did think she was calling me "mediOKRA and I loved okra but oh well.) But something changed in me that year.  My normal getting straight "A's" eventually turned into C's and I got my first "F" the next year.  I sort of gave up trying.  Who cares about being the smart kid when you go to a magnet school and EVERYONE is smart?

Is that who I've become?

If you ask me to describe myself or tell you anything about me, here's what I'll probably say: I love peanut butter, music, dance, books and sleep.  I love helping people.  I hate it when people are in pain.  I'm not the revenge type nor am I competitive.....

SSSSSSSSSSSSSCRRRRRRRRRRRREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEAAAAAAAAACCCHHHHHHHHH!!!

So, I'm not really a liar.  I've just changed over the years. 
I AM competitive.  In a way that has made me uncomfortable.  And it's keeping me in my mediocrity.

I have a tendency NOT to do anything I won't excel in immediately. I am not the LEAST bit concerned about any type of dance ANYTHING because, well, God just gave me an overflow.  But when it comes to running, I'll run as long as I know no one I know is running and has a chance to beat me.  When I know someone I know has beaten me then I lose my mojo and I don't want to try.  It keeps me from reaching for all of those new things I could be doing.

Did you know my Facebook timeline, Twitter feed and Instagram are FULL of people BETTER than me? 
And some days it's motivating.  Other days, I feel so far behind, like I did in the fourth grade that I find myself comfortable at my own little level of fitness and I smile, do my same little stuff and I'm done with it.

And I'm done doing that. 

I don't (honestly) care about being "better" than anyone.  I just want to be better than myself.  I want to GET OVER MYSELF.  I do not want to shortchange how far I've come because of how much farther others have went. I have had a pretty rock star journey.  And I am thankful for it.  And I want to go farther BECAUSE of it because I CAN.  Because I KNOW it's in me. It's the same thing in me that let me lose 90

lbs. (and other weight OVER AND OVER again).  It's the same thing that drove me, a non runner to not only do the Warrior Dash but two other mud run AND a half marathon in less than three months.  It's the same thing that let a once shy child get up in front of hundreds and teach classes doing the same things others wouldn't let her do when she was younger.  Mediocrity wasn't born in me.  I grabbed as a crutch and held on to it.

Good-Bye.  I shall never grab on to you again.  And unless I die before I press publish, I will die in greatness, not in mediocrity.

Today, I walk on my own.  I might even run.
What about you?  What crutch are you holding on to that keeps you from running for what you REALLY want?