Why Fitness? Why Feting?
Why I created the Stay Fit Stay Fêting Challenge…
So… we’re kicking off the inaugural “Stay Fit, Stay Feting” challenge January 5th. If you haven’t opted in yet, go SIGN UP here !!
Now, if you’re nosy like me you’re probably wondering - outside of my very basic/generic about me post. Who I am and how I got to be here saying that I want to be fit, fine, and feting. Well if you saw my “15 Facts About Me” series on IG (@jae.as) you’d know a little bit more but let me give you the HIGH LEVEL (that relates specifically to the topic at hand).
I WAS FOLLOWING MAN, so I moved to Atlanta, Georgia; got caught up and got my heart broken by someone who wasn’t ready to love in the first place let alone love me; and I took it out on myself and tried to cope in toxic ways. I think there are hundreds of thousands if not millions of people who could probably relate to this sad story. Two people meet and sometimes - more often than most would like to admit - only one party falls in love. And then the other party goes on this wild rampage (willingly, even if unconsciously) making sociopath-like decisions that ultimately end up hurting the other person. OK, maybe you think my definition/explanation is extreme BUT if you’ve been through this with significant others or friends or even family YOU KNOW WHAT I MEAN. These situations are TRAUMATIC, which by definition is something that is emotionally disturbing or distressing; or relating to or causing psychological trauma. So therefore, you end up with Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD).
How do I know this? Stay with me now… The symptoms of PTSD are as follows: agitation, irritability, hostility, hyper-vigilance, self-destructive behavior, or social isolation, flashback, fear, severe anxiety, or mistrust, loss of interest or pleasure in activities, guilt, or loneliness, insomnia or nightmares, emotional detachment or unwanted thoughts. I have bolded for you the symptoms I experienced and was told by those around me that I was portraying. So I was being a b!tc# to be honest with all of you, was severely emotional, was not concerned about doing anything social/being healthy/working out or anything really to get me out of the funk. I was just straight up depressed and wasn’t really doing anything about it.
It had gotten so bad that at my worst (when I checked) I was 198 lbs. I’m 5’ 2.5” ok guys… I have NO BUSINESS being 198 lbs. Especially considering I have been an athlete most of my life from playing soccer in high school, to playing club soccer in college, to participating in a bike marathon where I rode 98 miles. I knew better. I was always the slim/athletic girl and even when I got a little “fluffier” I would lose my mind and get the weight off. But here I was 73 lbs heavier than I was when I graduated HS, 48 lbs heavier than I was when I left grad school (which was still on the bigger side for me) and asking myself, “Janaee, how did you get so big??”.
Starting out at 198, I joined the HX Fitness community in October 2017 with the goal/plan in mind to look good and be ready for The Bahamas Carnival 2018. I had made a commitment to myself after pulling getting out of the deepest darkest parts of my funk to really get SERIOUS about losing this weight. And slowly but surely it started coming off little by little. I started by working out two times a week, the bare minimum consistent commitment I could muster with now excuses, and before I knew it I was up to working out six days a week sometimes doing two-a-days (meaning working out/going to the gym twice in one day). I had gotten a personal trainer and was taking classes upon classes upon classes and pouring hundreds of dollars and hours into my transformation. And I’m proud to say at this point that I’ve lost 38 lbs. I still have a goal of 25 lbs to work off between now and Carnival so I’m going to be in this with you guys being my own body goals and encouraging you to do the same!
Now if you’ve ever met a real gym rat like me, you will know what I mean when I say we GO HARD for our gym. There is no other gym or gym chain that can touch HX Fitness in my mind; which is a bit culty when you think about it BUT the culture and community at the gym is unlike any gym or group I’ve been a part of outside of my sports teams. It’s ALWAYS a party at HX, because of the music and the vibe. They treat you like family there and we endearingly call each other our “fit family”. As a Caribbean woman, this is especially important to me. Caribbean people are a people of love, friendship, and family. We’re welcoming and caring and I am beyond happy to have found a place like that to call my gym home.
So that’s why we’re here. I’m here to help make you a part of my fit family. I’m here to be your cheerleader and hype man, to support you and guide you to the best of my abilities through your fitness journey - no matter where you are in your fitness journey. So let’s have fun, lose fat or build muscle, get toned, and get READY FOR THE ROAD. Because, I don’t know about you but I plan on being ready for the road and LOVING every step of the journey and every part of my body along the way.
xoxo
Jae, The Last Mermaid