Healthy Living
Over the past 8 months I have been on a total mind, body, and soul transformation. Last summer I was completely out of shape, had horrible acne, and suffered from self esteem issues. I was not happy with who I was at all. September 19th, 2016 I made the change. I started going to the gym and I started eating healthy. I was tired of who I was and I wasn’t going to let anyone or anything get in my way of reaching my goals.
Today I am 60 pounds lighter than I was at the beginning of the school year and I couldn’t be more happy. I had no idea that by changing my diet and working out my life would change so drastically…but it did. Now I am here with tips and tricks for other people looking to change their own lives.
Since I am a full time student at COD, a gym membership is included in the tuition and I definitely use this to my advantage. I started going to the gym every other day, just because I was super new to the different environment, but then when I got more comfortable I ended up going every single day. The gym turned into my happy place. If I was having a bad day I could jump on the treadmill and run it out to some Beyoncé. I was starting to see results and that made me super happy. I could see that I was headed in the right direction.
If I couldn’t go to the gym I would look up fun, short workouts I could do at home. You don’t always need a treadmill, stair-master, etc. to workout. Sometimes all you need is your body and a flat surface. I started to do these at home workouts and my mom actually caught on. Now she gets home from work, looks up her favorite YouTuber trainer and gets down right in the living room. I love that I can inspire people around me.
In this interview with two friends I convinced them to start coming to the gym with me. Now we’re regulars. It’s awesome to have a support system with you when you’re working out. It motivates you to go harder. I love seeing all of us grow and reaching our goals.
In this video, I show you how to turn one of favorite junk foods, cheese pizza, into a healthy snack. My secret? Gluten free cauliflower crust. That’s right! I used blended up cauliflower instead of pizza dough. It’s so much better for you and you can barely taste the difference. Losing weight and living a healthy lifestyle is all about finding new and fun ways to eat healthy.
As I stated in my podcast interview, losing weight is 10% in the gym, and 90% in the kitchen. That means you can work out all you want, but if you don’t change the way you eat, you aren’t going to see the results you want. Do not eliminate foods you love from your diet, or you will be craving them all the time. You can still eat the foods you love, but in moderation.
Above is a great explanation of what “crap” you shouldn’t be putting in your body, and what “food” you actually should be putting in your body. The one that I can relate to this most is the C in “crap” and the D in “food”. When I started my weight loss journey in September, I traded in my coca cola for a bottle of water. It has done wonders. Like I stated before I suffered from acne my entire high school career. Now that I am drinking a lot more water and a lot less sugary drinks, I rarely get pimples. It’s a miracle!
I am a huge fan of trying new and fun recipes I find on the internet. Youtube has a lot of great, healthy DIY recipe videos! One of my favorite healthy snacks are acai bowls. I used to eat them a lot when I lived in NYC, but they’re not exactly easy to find in the suburbs of Chicago, so that’s why I like to make my own! Just mix the ingredients below in a blender and sprinkle some fruits and nuts on top and you’re good to go!
I am a huge snacker. I always have to be munching on something or I get grumpy. The challenge is finding the right snacks to eat. Snacks that are going to fill me up, yet are still good for me and low in calories. I put together a slideshow comparing two snack foods to each other. One of them healthy, the other not healthy. I want this to encourage you to make the right decision next time you get the munchies.
If we don’t start worrying about what goes in our body right now…we are going to be in trouble later in life. I hope this inspires others to start looking at the big picture. I hope it inspires someone to order a water, instead of the Sprite. I hope it inspires someone to take the stairs instead of the elevator. We only get one body. That means we need to treat it with care and respect.
