About Me

Dee Ragin

Fitness isn’t just working and carving out the kinks in my body. It is a major movement in the symphony of my design. It is my calling. There’s no rhyme or reason why. I just have to do it. My road to self was not an easy path. There were bumps. There were grueling grinds. Yet, I wouldn’t trade my struggles for anything. This journey has made me the woman I am today. 45 years young at 125 pounds. Bold. Bad ass. Forever young at heart. I’ve reclaimed my power. And for the first time in my life, I’m in love with every piece of me.

From Corporate America to Full-Time Fitness Professional

It may surprise you looking at me now, but before I was bitten by the fitness bug, I was making waves in the corporate circuit. After obtaining my business degree, I went on to work for heavy hitters like Northrop Corporation and R.J. Reynolds Tobacco, but there was a gaping hole inside me that just wouldn’t quit. Exercise at the time was a part-time expedition; a major escape from the stressful confines of my everyday life. Corporate was weighing me down. Fitness, was inspiring me to soar. So I did what any
crazy person in their right mind would do. I defied high paying stability and surrendered to my one true passion, becoming certified as a personal trainer and nutritionist. And as with any relationship, in order for me to truly carve out my purpose, I had to overcome my own body and health demons.

 

Journey to Myself

I was a California kid. An obese one nonetheless, which absolutely did no wonders for my self-esteem living in a predominantly’ thin’ city. In my alien body, I never felt enough. By the time I was 18, I was severely overweight and depressed, so I turned to what I deemed to be the ultimate cure: dieting. In the name of losing weight, I had become addicted, falling into a downward spiral of diet pills and manic exercise. Several years later, real life kicked in. Literally. I got pregnant with my lovely daughter, and became a
walking blimp at 205 pounds. Once she was born, I was determined to lose weight the ‘right way’, and to serve as a bold beacon of strength and empowerment not just for me, but for her as well. I cut calories. I went to the gym 5 days a week. I even became a vegetarian. I was ‘by the book’ obsessed. And the universes’ response to my fitness and health campaign? Poor energy levels, major digestive and allergy issues, and a delicious diagnosis as pre-diabetic. It was clear my body was committing mutiny against me and I didn’t know why. Till I decided to forego the outside, and began looking in.