We are swingers.

I hate that word. It has seedy connotations that make me think of rumors of "key parties" from the 70's. We use the term Consensually Non-Monogamous or CNM.  It means that if we so choose, my husband and I can have sexual relations with another person(s).  We don't identify with any religion so we aren't governed by the religiously imposed laws that say marriage is A) only between a man and a woman and B) must be monogamous.  In fact, marriage as an institution is, in my opinion, a failure.

If you split the U.S. by region, the Bible belt has the highest divorce rate, and this has been the case for over a decade. I was not surprised by that.  I can walk into my kids high school football game and watch the other parents interact or should I say "not" interact with each other.  Yet religion has told them "till death do they part". To be honest, many of them look like their souls have been dead for years.

I was in their shoes. For...

I was 11 years old the first time an adult pointed out a dimple on my leg. I could feel the heat of embarrassment flush my cheeks as I tried to melt into the floor. Something was wrong with me. Up until that point I had never given my body much thought. I loved my body, it served a purpose. I grew up with 4 brothers.  I was an athlete and a tomboy.  I could keep up with any boy in the neighborhood in a pick up game of basketball or baseball and I had always felt strong.  I ate what I wanted with little thought. 

That one thoughtless comment by an adult at the age of eleven led me down a long journey of battling eating disorders, body dysmorphia and low self-esteem.

My belief that there was something wrong with me was solidified a few months later while at a slumber party with friends. The girls decided to weigh themselves. I had never given much thought about what I weighed. The only time I had been on a scale was at a doctors office. When my turn came, I stepped...

Let me start by saying we are 100% aware that you don't get a vaccine in the ass. They put it in your arm. However, if we titled this "Take It In The Arm" you probably wouldn't be reading right now.  

Since you're here. You might as well keep reading. I actually started writing this post weeks ago and everyday I've had to go back and edit it.

“I can’t breathe….I don’t want to die.”

This was a message I received from my mother 35 days ago. 

My mother was admitted to the hospital with COVID-19 on August 25th. 

She was 72 years old. She lived a sedentary life, had severe seasonal allergies and asthma.  No other medical issues.

My step-father is 63 years old. He works at a steel mill, is in pretty good shape, and has no underlying health conditions.

He was admitted to the hospital on August 30th with COVID-19, 5 days after my mother.

Both of them presented with COVID viral pneumonia and extremely high fevers. 

I won't...

Recently we were “outed”. Even though we took every precaution we knew to take, hiding our faces, geoblocking our location and blocking everyone in our personal lives from our social media accounts, it still got out.

We were prepared for it, we knew it would eventually happen and we were ready to have those tough conversations.  What we weren’t ready for or didn’t expect, was the loving and kind way that our family and friends, real friends, would respond to it.

Our family didn’t bat an eye and continued to love us, no questions asked. They didn’t chastise us or lecture us. In fact my 74yr old Mother-in-law was unphased. A true expression of unconditional love. Our friends, our TRUE friends supported us and told us basically to tell everyone else to go fuck themselves. They had our backs and could care less.

What we’re “doing”, providing health and fitness to a demographic who want and need it, isn’t wrong. Nor does it...

I just finished the book “The Power of Habits” by Charles Duhigg it got me thinking about the things we do everyday. Our days are filled with things that we do out of ‘habit’; from the time we wake up and check our phones to the time we go to sleep at night. Some of them productive and others not exactly conducive to meeting our goals. In his book, Charles Duhigg says “What you do everyday matters more than what you do every once in a while”.

How many of us have tried to establish healthy habits only to give up on them after a few days?

“What you do every day matters more than what you do every once in a while”

Charles Duhigg

We all know that we should eat healthy and exercise regularly and yet the majority of people don’t. Why? Habits.

I’m going to share with you a few tips that I have used to not only establish healthy habits in my daily life but also, maintain them.

1. Find someone to hold you accountable

A major reason...