Fit2BeMyself: Diary of a Woman Seeking Wellness

Here's my pandemic/over-the-road driver body that I acquired in 2020. A lot happened last year for everybody, but I had my share of personal victories. Unfortunately, the pandemic and the time I spent on the road took away a lot of time that I would've spent dancing and strength training.  The past few weeks I've been reacquainting myself with my yoga mat (I have a cuter one now) and I'm not quite as graceful as I once was. Anything that requires me to "ground" or "root" myself throws off my balance, which, I think, is one of the reasons such asanas exist. A reminder to steady yourself. It'll all come back together soon enough, my weight and athleticism, I have the gift of muscle memory on my side, but I must say that this is the best I have felt in a long time.

We all have our reasons for why we may fall off the exercise wagon. My reasons were the Covid-19 quarantine, a job as an over-the-road expediter, and most recently, taking a month to help care for my uncle who was battling cancer. Long story short, my yoga mat has been missing me, the weight has piled on, and now I have lower back pain.  The past year and a half has taken as much of an emotional toll on me as it has a physical toll. It has been killing me mentally to not be able to go to the dance studio as I was once able to because of everything that has gone on in my life. Although the job I had brought in a nice salary, it left absolutely no time for anything else, not even the ability to be a present parent. Now that most of the dust has settled, I am going to pick up where I left off in reclaiming my body and treating it well. I started by going back to the basics: a brief yoga video on YouTube that is led by yoga instructor Jessamyn Stanley. When I first saw her I immediatel...

At the time of this post, Covid-19 is still rampant and I'm trying to social distance as much as I can. I still go out for walks 2-3 times per week, but if you've read my other posts, then you know that yoga is my thing. Try this stretch with me. I'm in a shoebox-sized space with a five-year-old sleeping just a few feet away from me, but I told myself there would be no excuses. There's always room for a good stretch! View this post on Instagram It has been a while since I posted a video of myself. I'm currently in a shoebox-sized space, but I still make room to stretch as much as I can and keep my yoga muscles in shape. It also helps me sleep better. No excuses. #yoga #yogaeverydamnday #plussizefitness #plussizeyoga #stretching #stretch #treepose #warriorpose A post shared by LeTara Moore (@fit2bemyself) on May 5, 2020 at 7:19pm PDT

I recently published a new blog post on my other blog Life in a Few Words . I normally post poetry and book reviews there, but the topic of self-care is very important and it is worthy to be shared everywhere. Here's a link to the post. I hope you find it useful. Also, if you're into poetry and books, check out the rest of the blog. Staying Motivated When Life Gets Tough - https://letarawrites.wordpress.com/2019/08/25/staying-motivated-when-life-gets-tough/ If you enjoy this website and want to support, you can either  buy me coffee ,  buy my book , or  shop in my eBay store .

It doesn’t have to cost a fortune to start building your home gym or to start working out. My go-to store is Target, but there are certainly places where you can find cheaper workout equipment. Five Below The first time I visited Five Below, I was very impressed by how much fitness equipment they have. They have light dumbbells, light kettlebells, sandbags, foam rollers, and more. I was even more impressed that they have cute yoga mats for $5 and slightly saddened that I paid around $30 for my starter kit, although the mat that I have has alignment markers on it and the kit came with a yoga block and a strap, which I personally find very helpful as someone who is still somewhat early in my yoga practice. I also saw some fitness apparel and t-shirts, but none of them appeared to fit plus-sizes, so I just took mental note of those. I’m in the market for a new yoga mat and a deep tissue foam roller, so I’ll be going back there soon to collect those. If you have a Five...

It isn’t easy to stay motivated doing anything, much less sticking to a workout routine. In the spirit of keeping this short and simple today, I’ll just say that in order to keep going you must be committed, not necessarily motivated. Motivation is fleeting the same way that feelings of love and infatuation are. It is the same as any other type of relationship. If you want a really good relationship with another person, romantic or platonic, to last, you’ll have to be willing to humble yourself at times and do things you don’t necessarily want to do. You’ll have plenty of fun times, but there will also be times when you simply don’t want to be bothered. It takes effective communication. There’s some nurturing involved and ultimately you have to decide if a relationship with the other person is really what you want. The same applies to your health. Effective communication with yourself could be journaling, meditating, using a fitness or period tracking app—paying attention to yours...

It doesn't take much to start a yoga practice. All you really need is yourself and a good instructor or a good set of instructions. Don't worry about not being fit or flexible enough to give it a try. If you can breathe, you can practice. How I began yoga I had been wanting to try yoga since I was a teenager. On a few occasions I had checked out yoga DVDs from the library and I had even bought one.  It was difficult for me to stay dedicated to it. Looking back on it now, I think it was because it was difficult for me to relate to the instructor on the video. If I remember correctly, in one of the videos the instructor was Rodney Yee and in some of the others, it was thin women who looked nothing like me. Not saying that any of them are bad teachers. They were all obviously very well-versed in yoga and had been practicing for years, but as a beginner looking at these people, I don’t think I ever felt like I could move my body the way that they did when even at my smalles...

I feel like I've made progress with my Dolphin Pose. The top photo is from May 2018 and the bottom is from this September 25. It still takes my breath away, but my core has gotten stronger. I fell right after I took the pic lol but I'm still proud of myself. I feel like I've made some progress with my Pigeon Pose (Eka Pada Rajakapotasana) because I couldn't do it at all a few months ago. Now I'm just trying to transfer this same energy to other areas of my life. I began practicing because I wanted to be more flexible and I wanted to try something new. I had seen Jessamyn Stanley, a plus size yoga instructor, featured in an article online and I was so inspired. Not inspired enough to take action right away that day, but enough to continue following her on social media and YouTube. Eventually, I worked up the nerve to buy a yoga starter kit from Target and try one of the videos she has posted on YouTube. The firs...