How a Simple sunday target tradition is helping us stay healthy

How a Target Tradition has become part of our fitness journey

If you see us at Target on a Sunday, you might spot us doing something that looks a little crazy: walking the fitness aisle with dumbbells. It’s a little tradition we’ve been doing the past few months as we’ve both been on a health journey in 2024–and we’ve both lost enough weight to wonder how we ever managed to carry the extra weight we did before this year.

Let me be clear: It’s never been about being a certain number or aesthetic. When we started 2024, we both decided that after years of not taking care of ourselves and of, quite frankly, being through years of hell with job losses and the loss of our mastiff and all sorts of other things, this would be our year. That at 36, we’d get it together. We’d take care of ourselves, and we’d start feeling better. We’d prioritize our health, together. 

Less than six months into the year, we’ve both accomplished so much. We’re down enough weight to carry around dumbbells in Target and really understand how far we’ve come together. 

Losing the weight is a product of quite a few things. We’ve been using Lose It (it’s a free app! and I'm not sponsored by them...just love it!) to understand what we actually eat in a day and our nutrition. I started doing ballet, which has completely transformed my body in all the best ways. And most of all, we’ve been committed to this journey together, which means we pick each other up when one of us is struggling.

I think, too, this year is a symbol of how much we’ve both changed. When Chad lost his job in 2019, the bottom really did fall out for us financially, emotionally, and, as a result, physically. We went through years of crazy work schedules, of loss after our mastiff died, of just sorting out who we were. And in 2024, I think we’ve both settled into a sense of where we belong, of who we are, and where we’re going. That definitely has made our health journey even more meaningful.

Getting healthy really is a lifestyle. I used to cringe when some fitness influencer would say that. But I understand now. It’s not about cutting calories or exercise alone.It’s not about starving yourself for a couple weeks. It’s about understanding that you deserve to feel your best, every single day. It’s about giving yourself grace when you mess up, and it’s about getting back up again and sticking with it. It’s about eating sometimes boring meals over and over and going for a walk when you’re tired. It’s about figuring out what foods make you feel the best. It’s about changing your relationship, not with food, but with yourself. It’s about fighting to feel like the best version of yourself.

It would be easy to be mad at those younger versions of ourselves who let things slide, who didn’t take care of themselves. Who counted eating dozens of chicken wings as a meal. Who drank iced coffees like they were water. Who napped instead of ever exercising. Who let their bodies ache instead of getting in shape. Who ignored the signs when their jeans were too tight. Who, in some ways, stopped trying.

 It would be easy to be embarrassed of how little we took care of ourselves or how much our weight went up. But honestly, I’m not. Because looking back, I think like so many of us, we were doing the best we could. And now, we’re doing the same…we’re doing the best we can. And we’re so proud that our efforts are working.

It isn’t about the number. It never was, truly. It’s about feeling good in your skin, about knowing you care enough about yourself to live healthy. It isn’t about being perfect, either, but it’s about being perfectly committed to doing your best. It’s about taking one small step at a time, making little changes, and tweaking your life until it really does become a better lifestyle.

So, on Sundays, we carry around weights in Target like crazy people…but we carry around weights to remember how far we’ve come. Together. We carry around pride in the fact it’s never too late to become the person you were meant to be. We carry around weights and understand that together, we are unstoppable.

And that’s something worth looking arguably a little crazy for. 

L.A. Detwiler is a USA Today Bestselling author of The Widow Next Door and The Diary of a Serial Killer's Daughter. Learn more about her and her fitness journey on Instagram.