You Spent HOW Long in the Gym!?

Fitness is an important part of my life.

No, I'm not training for a competition. No, I'm not a college athlete. No, I'm not a personal trainer or exercise-science major or WHATEVER.

I'm a REGULAR PERSON. I go to the gym to feel good, to keep in good health, and to have fun.

Today I'm going to rawly ramble about how aggravated I get when I see so many girls and guys on Instagram forget that they're REGULAR PEOPLE.

When I was trapped in my eating disorder, I was also orthorexic. I was addicted to exercise and believed that the longer I spent at the gym, the "healthier" I was. Other people would admire my drive, my dedication, my FITNESS. Yeah right. I was severely underweight, had no fuel or strength. The "muscles" I was adamant I had were simply my skeletal make up being exposed by a lack of body fat. I thought I was "vascular" because I was strong, when in reality it was because my skin had become pale and paper thin, a clear sheet to expose them.

Yet, if my workout was any shorter than X amount of time (here X is an extremely absurd amount of time), then I was weak. I had given up, I'd lose my "muscles" and "strength". And I could NOT let that happen. Everybody looked up to me! I was on top! I WAS THE ONE WHO SPENT MY ENTIRE NIGHT AT THE GYM, NOT THEM.

Get the point?

Deep into a healthful and thriving lifestyle, I'm constantly amazing myself by effortlessly making changes in my mindset that I would have never dreamed possible years ago. One of my favorite aspects of my new, healthy life is the release I've taken off of exercise. I spent my whole disorder believing that I had to train at every second of the day. But why!? Who was I? I was, and still am, a regular person. I have many, MANY other concerns and goals in my life besides from the gym. It was not my job, it was not the focus of my career, it was not a determining factor in where my life was going.

Today, I realize that. I understand that the gym is simply a pleasure in my life. I prioritize it because I lead a health-conscious lifestyle, and it goes without saying that the gym is a big part of that. I love pushing myself, I love challenging my limits, I love knowing that I'm improving my body, inside and out.

The message I want to drive home to you is this; if you're not a competitor, if it's not your career...then WHY DO YOU PUT SO MUCH STRESS ON YOURSELF? I see so many people out there judge their worth based on the amount of time they worked out that day.

Read that out loud. Doesn't that sound outright ABSURD!?

That's because it is! Lately I've been shortening my training sessions to break free of this attachment to more time=more respect. My training sessions are always under an hour, and I always stop sooner if my body is telling me to. Quality over quantity, always. Three hours at the gym is first of all destructive, second of all TIME-CONSUMING, but lastly, simply useless. What's the point? So you can go around and flaunt your feat? Workout because you love it, because it's good for you. If right now, it's NOT good for you, DON'T do it. It's that simple. And believe me, it will be obvious which category you fall into, even if you're in denial about it.

I want you to see this post at a discussion starter. I feel like this is a topic that can be expanded upon deeply, but I'm super curious to what you have to say. If this concept resonates with you, tell me about it! Reach out via email, Instagram DM, etc.

I tend not to share my workouts on Instagram because I worry for my more fragile followers, and their health and happiness matters to me more than getting likes on a selfie. However, if you do have workout questions, I'd be happy to answer privately :)

As always, thanks for following along with my rants...sending love!