Fit with Ruthie

Welcome to were it all started, this space I created in January of 2006 to help me navigate my journey to personal health and fitness. I have come a LONG way from that first post 18 years ago and I am so grateful for all I have learned along the way. I will be coming here a lot more often over the next weeks, months and years as I have decided to begin writing, journaling and sharing here again. I hope and pray you might find inspiration here to help you along your own path to health and fitness. Please note that this 18 year journey consisted of several things I learned that did not work for me, others programs, supplements and others ideas of nutrition, health and fitness. I am leaving all these as is, so you can see my journey. I will be talking more about the different things I tried thru the years and what I learned about myself and what works for me along the way. If anything this blog chronicles my story of starting over and making hard choices to be who I someday dreamed of ...

First, thank you for taking a moment to join me here, it is my prayer you will find hope and inspiration on these pages, as I share my journey in a bit more personal way. I have wrestled over the last year with success and failure and it has been eye opening for me in many ways. I have come to a few conclusions, and one is that my social media presence is in need of a change. That change has brought me back to blogging, back where it all began years ago. So, if you are wanting to follow me - this is where I will be for a while.  I have made a few self discoveries recently and I feel like I have been dragging myself around like Joy dragged sadness around on "inside out", trying to pull myself out of the fog that is the loss of my pre-cvid work life. I have struggled to figure out who I am without my almost 40 hour a week fitness job(s). [For those of you who don't know I work 3 part-time jobs which are all fitness related and all totaled almost 40 hours week - but more if ...

In all my work as a personal trainer the one thing that will lead to success for all my clients is to help them figure out what motivates them. Sometimes I am successful sometimes I am not. Being in the business of true change and not just another "program" means having to watch clients fail and begin again over and over, which of course is something I know about personally and is the only reason I am where I am today. True change doesn't happen overnight unless you have some very strong and impactful motivation that happens in your life. Some change because of a medical test result, or a heart attack, or other diagnoses which seems to "shock" them into action. Others find motivation because they are sick and tired of hurting or being out of breath from a simple walk or they have a big event in their life (wedding or class reunion) and they feel compelled to change. What I have learned is that motivation is a tricky beast. It seems that many find themselves ...

Recently I saw someone who I hadn't seen in a while (I was so excited to see her). She is younger than me. She is a nutritionist. It came up in our brief conversation that I has just turned 50 in September and she said "WOW! You look amazing! Is it because you workout so much?" My reply: "Well working out does have some to do with it... but I feel great and look the way I do, I believe because I am gluten free and vegan".  I have a long and frustrating story when it comes to eating well. My 20s and 30s were filled with a typical SAD diet which included sodas all day and Tylenol PM at night to help me sleep. Most people wouldn't have known but I was hiding the fact that I was struggling with extreme fatigue and oh boy was it depressing. When I restarted my journey in my late 30s I had a history of caloric restriction and working out like crazy to loose weight, only to gain it back. Over the last 10 years I have learned true health has a LOT more to do ...

I am back to blogging after no less than one thousand six hundred and fifty-one days, 4 years 6 months and 9 days to say it a different way.  Back to sharing my journey here instead of other social media. You might be wanting to ask me, "Why after all this time, are you wanting to share here again."? My answer,  because I have grown tired of how Facebook seems to have an ability to steal my joy in some ways, and how it feels like I am constantly having to protect myself from negativity there, and of course the constant advertisements. So, I have decided to get back to the basics, and begin again from where I started. My hope for a good long while been that sharing my struggles and my triumphs in person, on social media, or in the blogging world would help encourage others. But in the very beginning, this journal was all about me. I would come here to be held accountable, to find the courage to put on my shoes and get out the door or to resist the third bow...

I have dreaded halloween for quite a few years... That Halloween holiday candy seemed to always be the gateway to my season of gluttony. It seemed just as I gathered enough UMPH to throw out the left overs candy.. Or finally sit down and eat the whole bag so it would be gone... There came thanksgiving .... And oh the drama and misery of that holiday... by they time Christmas came around I had just given up... Just turned off the care button. What's it matter anyway.,, I will start over on jan 2... So pass the peppermints, cookies and texas trash and I mean NOW!!! Of course my life is different now but those feelings and love love love hate for food and what I let it do to me are still there.  The holidays make me sad in many ways, because I know there are people who are going thru what I went thru. When your a food addict, when your emotional well being is ruled by how long it takes to get that soda from sonic or how quickly that blue bell can get to your mouth, when your self es...

Its a thing. It's a thing that drives me a bit crazy. It's a thing that I believe shows us the symptom that many christian women in our society face. The search for WHO THEY ARE and how they fit in. I am talking about those surveys that tell you who are most like. You know the ones i am talking about .. and you have probably taken a few quizzes yourself, But just in case you are not aware. There are little quizzes out there to help you find out more about yourself. I just googled the following  "Which Star Wars Character are you" "Which Disney Princess are you" "Which 1940s actress are you" and (my favorite) "Which Nascar Driver are you"  (ha) I am sure you could find a quiz for just about anything, shoot, there are even ones for "Which Bible Character are you" and "Which Bible Verse are you" When I see quizzes like this posted to Facebook I wonder… why. I have never taken one of those quizzes, t...

Its been 8 months since my last post. I have become one of THOSE people. A few years ago i would find blogs I loved and was inspired by and I would follow them… only to find they would go months without posting. ….. Sorry… thats what I have become. I am at a point where my blog needs to be something more. I have been so busy doing what I love i haven't had time to sit and write. I dream of my own website, my own forums page, my own youtube channel to help coach and inspire people to be who they were created to be. The past 8 months have been amazing, stressful, exciting and mind blowing. I am in the best shape of my life but still struggle  to be healthier. Celiacs has taken many years to get accustomed too. I have had to conquer my food addiction, my sadness that I cannot be like everyone else and that some food is just poison to me. Thats my life… but even with the celiacs, i am thankful. I am thankful i finally feel GOOD… GREAT… I feel better than i did when I was 10 years old...

Years ago... I was one of those people who said "I cant zumba". I was out of shape, had never taken a dance lesson in my life, and I was so very far out of shape as I watch those infomercials on late night TV I remember thinking... wow... must be nice but I could never do that. Obviously I was wrong.  I invite people to my classes allll the time. Many of them say "OH I Can't Zumba" and sometimes it gets to me. Part of me wants to look at them and say "OK so what you are saying is I am not a good teacher" Because if I am the teacher and you come to my class and don't learn to zumba... then I have failed. They are judging my class before stepping into the studio.  Of course, I never say that... I mean.. I know their comment "Oh i cant zumba" is more about what their perception of Zumba is than it is about me.  What is fascinating to me is people automatically says "I Can't"  which in reality they should be say...

It's been MONTHS since my last run... it's been prob 9 months since I ran 2 miles. I cannot remember when my last run was.... I have been a heartbroken runner most of this year. I was angry first, then in denial, then depressed... I am soooo thankful for dancing and the fact that dancing didn't hurt these past months like running did. Running has hurt since December of last year... When I started having issues with my foot... Heal spur, and finally finding relief from my chiropractor who discovered the reason I could never stretch enough to fix my issue. ...... My tibia was out of place!  Anyway .. Back to today I RAN I RAN I RAN I RAN I RAN I AM SOOOOOOO HAPPY.  I  RAN.  2 miles on the treadmill AND NO PAIN.  NO PAIN.  NO PAIN. I am holding on to hope that tomorrow morning I will not wake up with foot pain... Tomorrow morning I will wake up pain free just like I am now....  Holding my breath that this is a new beginning for me.  I have missed run...

Yesterday morning was surreal. Yesterday morning I stood before 100 or so women from 15 years old to great grandmas, we danced, we punched, we clapped, we jumped for joy, then... I tried to tell my part of my story as well as I could.  Many many things were perfect about yesterday's event, but as I have had some time for all to sink in I keep feeling there were so many things I left unsaid that I wanted to say. This was my first time to be a key note speaker, my first time speaking at a church's event, and my first time using a power point presentation and wireless mic. I think for the first time I did pretty good. I prayed over n over that God would be heard and I wouldn't get in the way...hopefully the Spirit took over where I was lacking.  I have lots of thoughts I had to leave out, mostly because of time and partly because I left my notes in my bag and didn't want to leave the stage, so I just winged it. LOL.  WHAT I DO KNOW it's still strange to watch people wa...

Long time blogger confesses she feels like she has nothing else to write. Blogging for years she feels drained with no topics to write about. She is hoping joining the Josha in this daily blogging challenge will help her creative juices flow and once again have blogging abilities :) Stay Tuned As the Blog Turns... Will Ruthie overcome her writers block? Will she once again enjoy Blogging? Coming up: Madness Mondays Tabloid Tuesdays Whiney Wednesdays Thoughtful Thursdays Foto Fridays

I know, I know, I told you all I would post here more!  Good grief life is just busy these days and I need to just make the time to sit and blog at least a few times a week. This past week was filled with Halloween Zumba plus a TEEN party at my house :) Lots of fun! I am actually happy October is over.... was getting a bit tired of Thriller! Ha.. I am excited to get back to some Latin and other international moves for class. I am currently working on getting my thoughts laid out for a Womens Event I will be speaking at this next Saturday. I am so excited, as nervous at the same time! As I sit here preparing I simply cannot believe what God has done with my life. I flash back easily to my years of struggle and am so thankful I am where I am today. I am beyond blessed and soooo excited to do what I can to help others find health and fitness in their life. I have been teaching 6 times a week and doing Personal Training as well so my weeks are busy. Next semester I am looking to...

Yesterday was my 45th birthday. FOURTY FIVE I look at that number and simply cannot believe its true. Do I have issues about getting older? Well, most people i know would rather be younger... but whats a girl to do? I struggled to try to find a way to celebrate. The runner in me wants to get out there and run a half marathon, but reality is i simply cannot do that. Physically my weeks are packed and sometimes I do wonder about over training. I have to be conscious of not doing too much.... HA... thats funny. ... To think in 2006-2007 when I started blogging here the concept of over training wasnt even in my realm  of thinking. Most days I was exhausted.  I could barely get off the couch much less dance for an hour! ha! ... .... .. anyway.. So, running is out. (sorry for the ramble) I also seriously considered another ear piercing, and even a nose piercing.. (ha) .. but I couldn't bring myself to go thru the pain of it all.  So.. no fancy fun way to celebrate...

In this world we try to fit in .. We grow up with expectations to be unique but not too unique. The world expects us to not become too radical, the world whispers "oh u cant do this or that cause people would talk about you, look at u like your crazy." Everyone wants to fit it. Everyone wants to be excepted, it's not easy feeling uneasy in a group. I want to know how I got so stuck, in my 20s and 30s how did I get so lost, my uniqueness, my joy was fading away. Get married, get a job, have kids, get a car, get a house, go to girls night or ladies bible class and talk the hours away about our hopes and dreams... Or more than likely about how miserable we were.... work/sacrifice/put yourself last and complain the whole way. I was stressed to the hilt, worn out, exhausted...all I wanted was a trip to Olive Garden and a movie to check out of busy life. I was so tired of trying to fit in. I felt like something was wrong but I couldn't figure out what. I have always bee...

This whole health and fitness blogging thing started with the goal of making it through ONE DAY making healthy choices. Workout, Eat Right, Rest Right.... it all seemed so simple but so difficult. I havent had time for much of anything this summer. I have been very busy. GOOD Busy. A busy I never dreamed of. This summer has been filled with Personal Training sessions and Dancing for HOURS with kids, grownups and myself LOL. I have LOVED every minute. LOVED! The bad news is I have pretty much given up the running life. My life as a runner is on hold for a while, and thats ok. I have mourned my love of running, those quiet hours of the early morning when I was alone with God and the world. But you know whats cool? When we focus on making sure we combine mind, body, and soul in our health and fitness programs, GOD shows UP! What I missed desperately was my time with God. Music in my ears, blasting praises to him, refocusing my mind and soul and challenging me to be more, better, fa...

Pity party post Ok so first my detox went pretty well... Except for the fact I needed to plan ahead better to have more ripe fruit etc... Eating mostly raw vegan is nice... But it's difficult for me to stay that way... I think more than anything I have yet to fully work thru the emotions of being a celiac. Seriously... Sometimes it just sucks... I mean I am thankful I found an answer to my exhaustion, stomach aches, hair loss, painful other things (the list goes on and on) But somedays IT SUCKS everywhere I go ... Anything I eat I have to question what it will do to me... Not is is good for me or healthy or taste good or am I in the mood for it... But WILL THIS MAKE ME SICK imagine that... Food... Making you sick. Imagine 99% of items in the grocery store making you ill. THEN There are the moments when you just want a small taste of some thing because some e else is going on and on about how wonderful it tastes... And so you taste it .... Amd just the one tas...

I have had my share of food addictions over the past 40 years. Three Musketeers bars, crackers, Cheerios, Cokes... Just to name a few... I am here to fess up once again... I have a nagging addiction that I love and hate. (Ha that's addiction isn't it) It all started around Christmas time, holiday shopping, cold weather, and candy canes ...... Yep candy canes. The seemingly innocent cane of candy was peppermint heaven to me!!! Since realizing my relations to gluten laden foods I have pretty much stopped any and all candy eating. Gone are the days of grabbing whatever while I waiting in line at the check out. Now I realize that 99% of the foods on that display were making me sick. And so it was for peppermint candy canes....I was eating gluten free but I started feeling awful... Exhausted. It took a fees for me to figure out not all candy canes are created equal.. And yes the ones I was eating contained gluten. So then I found BOBS .. Bobs candy canes were gluten free and I...

What inspires me always and forever is the "looser", the one at the end who despite the odds never gives up. The ones who refuses to listen to the voices inside their own heads that they can't, won't, or shouldn't.. Ignoring that voice that tells them "why even try, I will probably fail again." What inspires me is the one who struggles for success everyday instead of quitting. What inspires me is the person who does things quietly, not wishing to draw attention but happily reaching day by day towards a goal. What inspires me is the person who works sooooooooo hard and gives their all but barely passes, and many times fails...only to try again. What inspires me are the people at the back of the room, the ones at the back of the pack...the ones who don't want to be noticed..because THOSE people overcame their fear and doubt and did it anyway. I LOVE the gentle giants, the grace-filled hopefuls, the ones who do things for t...

Ok so here were my thoughts during zumba tonight Wow look at all these people... Hope they have fun I love when they chat with each other during class! ( I really do!!!) Yeah... My pants are falling down again shoot I need new pants Ugh I need Gatorade Oh no.. How does this song go? ... Oh yeah... Now I remember What's next? Too loud Hope I dont fall off the stage My left is their right my left is their right Maybe I can touch the ceiling.. I never get to do that... Nope My feet feel great Not loud enough Man I should have eatin more today Good grief who made this playlist She's leaving early.. So glad she was able to come Oh no ..what's wrong with her.. Oh she is sneezing.. Ok good. Man I am tired... But I need this What's next? Oh I LOVE this song! Is everyone ok? Oh wow.. That's mc I thought she was a college girl! I am such a goof why did I just do that I hope they feel welcome here Man I hope it's not too hard.. I am tired ... Oop...