Cuz Fit Girls is a lifestyle. “Oh you’re on that diet?” sayeth a friend. “Um no, I’m on this lifestyle,” sayeth you back. Fit Girls is about building fitter eating, exercising, and living habits so you never have to “go on a diet” ever again. It’s also about caring as much as what’s going on inside as outside. It’s about having a positive relationship with food, exercise, and your body. It’s not about “omg I looked so fantastic this one week when I was miserable and eating only spinach and chicken and then I came to my senses and became a real human again and gained it all back.” You can be a real human and be a Fit Girl. It’s not a choice between “spinach and chicken 24/7” or “YOLO 24/7.” There is a middle swimming pool full of much merriment and it has all the cool novelty floaties.

Embrace that everything isn’t going to go “perfectly” no matter how motivated you are. Really, truly, embrace it. It’s amazingly freeing to let go of perfectionism. This isn’t so you have an excuse to not work your butt off. This is so you don’t have an excuse to quit the second things don’t go “perfectly.” A lot of people go into a fitness plan with a euphoric “Imma do this like whoa. Watch me dominate this perfectly!! Look out world!!!!!” attitude. Sounds empowering, right? Here’s the problem. The second something doesn’t go perfectly you get so devastated and hard on yourself that you quit. “Well, I messed up Day 6. I’ll just start from the beginning another time when I can do it PERFECT perfect.” (Insert weeks of watching Fit Girl goals slip further away waiting for a “PERFECT perfect” moment that’s never coming.)

Like we said, your Fit Girl life won’t go “perfectly” just like life doesn't go perfectly. But if you don’t quit you will make progress. So no matter what happens, do not quit. “Quitting” for one day doesn’t mean you quit being a Fit Girl. You’re only a quitter if you stop coming back. So never stop coming back. You will have the Fit Girl lifestyle you want to have. You will succeed at this. All you have to do is not quit. That’s the real empowerment to embrace. Fit Girls Don’t Quit. They just don’t.

Fitness doesn’t have to be all serious and pressure-y. And you don’t have to give up carbs. (Seriously, where did that madness start?) Getting fit and staying fit is about moderation. It’s about portions. That’s the short and sweet of it. You don’t have to give up favorite foods or food groups. You just need to be smarter about how you eat them. Oh, and as for the fun part — your Fit Girl journey just might be the most fun you’ve ever had. Why? See the last and final step of Fit Girldom.

Go into the Challenge hashtags on Insta and start following Fit Girls. Do the Fit Girl Photo Challenge that pops up once a month. Do the Fit Girls Virtual 5k every week on Thursdays. Keep an eye out for all the other fun activities girls are coming up with and posting about within the Fit Girl community. Book clubs, style challenges, coloring clubs — the works. Meet these ridiculously fab women. They will inspire you. They will fitspire you. They will help you unleash your glorious you-ness in a way you never have. They will, truly, change your life. Fit Girls isn’t a diet. And it’s more than a lifestyle — it’s a community, a group hug, a female empowerment revolution. Come sit with us!