For a bit of background, I've always been fairly in shape and eat somewhat healthy. Of course, I'm human and don't eat perfectly all of the time but I would say my diet is balanced. But senior year, I wound up gaining a bit of weight and my clothes weren't fitting me the way I wanted them to. Definitely do not take this post as how to loose weight or anything like that as it's more important to have a well-balanced diet and lifestyle and focus on health.
So as I said I was working out regularly (I would go to around 4 barre classes a week at home) and eating fairly healthy so I was confused on how my clothes weren't fitting if I was "doing everything right". It took me really being honest with myself to realize what changes I need to make.
- Snacking- Snacks don't seem like a lot but they really add up. As embarrassing as this sounds, I would eat a snack when I got home from school, eat a few crackers while I was running out the door to go to work, and then eat another snack with the kids I nanny.
- Stressing Out Too Much/Getting too little Sleep- I'm pretty Type A so I've always been one to stress out about school. Combine that stress with a lot of homework and not enough sleep, it wasn't the best combination.
- Sweets- I've always had such a sweet tooth. Dessert has always been my favorite but I definitely would overdo it. I don't need a treat every night after dinner, which was not something I kept in mind senior year.
I honestly sat down over the summer and made a checklist of healthy habits that I wanted to include in my day-to-day life. I've honestly relaxed a bit in these since coming to Clemson but writing this post for y'all reminded me how much better I feel when I prioritize these habits so I am going to re-emphasize these going forward.
- 10,000 Fitbit steps every single day- This was more to ensure I was up and moving every single day. I've been a Fitbit fan for a few years now as they make it so easy to keep track of all of your stats.
- At least 7 hours of sleep- Sleep is easy to overlook as you often think of health as food and fitness but sleep is so important. I had to wake up at 5:30 every morning for work over the summer so I made sure that I was in bed by 9:30 every night to get my 7 hours in (I know that's 8 hours- but it always takes me forever to fall asleep!). Now that I'm in college, I don't have to wake up quite as early but it's still so important to get a good amount of sleep each night.
- No Sweets- I was fairly strict over the summer with this and it helped me so much. I tried to focus on no sweets at home but if I went out to dinner with friends, having something sweet after was totally fine. Now that I'm at school, I'm going to try to do one "sweet" a day (the ice cream in the dining hall is a killer).
- No Snacking- This totally stunk the first few days but it definitely helped with the mindless eating and is such a good habit to get into as well.
- Workout at least 4 times a week- My Pure Barre studio has a cardio class called Empower so I would do that once a week and regular class three times a week at the least. I found that this was a great way to be active and see results but my routine has switched up a bit since coming to Clemson.
- 100 fl. oz. of water a day- I haven't had soda since my freshman year of high school so I pretty much drink water, coffee, sweet tea, and La Croix (haha!). Getting enough water is so important and even though they recommend half your body weight, I found 100 fluid ounces was a good amount for me (which is definitely way more than half my body weight haha!).
Thanks for reading!
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