Fight Against the Freshman Fifteen WE CAN DO IT

FOCUS: study and exercise!!!!!

Although this blog is intended to avoid extra weight freshman year may add to our bodies, we are going to school primarily to learn, not to focus on becoming healthy. However, I know some small solutions to completing both studying and exercising all in one.  I like to call the combination of academics with athletics “exerstudying.”

For reading chapters in a book:

In between every page/chapter/section do one minute of an exercise. Any type of movement will work. If you are trying to flatten your stomach I suggest front and side planks. For arms I would do pushups or tricep dips. Lastly for cardio, jumping jacks, burpees, or mountain climbers will definitely get your heart rate soaring.

When you are on a computer for a long period of time:

You should not be sitting at your desk or lying on your bed on your computer for more than a half hour at a time. Get your heart rate going and give your eyes a break. Try to take a five to ten minute break to do a quick ab workout or if you have weights try some bicep curls or shoulder presses. While I do not encourage you to stop right in the middle of an online homework assignment or in the middle of writing a paper, when you are feeling drained from the tedius typing or have major writer’s block, it may be a good idea to take an exercise break, rather than going on Facebook or twitter.

While these tips are not going to make you drop any amount of weight immediately, they can help relieve you of the stress of elongated periods of school work as well as boost your metabolism with spurts of aerobic movement. The best part about these activites is that they can be done in a small space with little to no equiptment, which is perfect for the dorm room! I hope as you read this on your laptop you can use one of my exerstudying tips!

FOCUS: having patience and your metabolism

The blog you are reading should attract those who are desperately trying to avoid the freshman fifteen. So, basically, everyone should be reading this because who wants to gain all that extra weight? However, the life of a dedicated person who is toned and in shape is no day at the beach. The discipline and motivation it takes to get off the couch or resist a delicious warm cookie from West Halls is not easy for anyone.

Long-term benefits of healthy habits are hard to see, which is why people often give up after a week or two of trying. Whether you are interested in losing weight, increasing muscle mass, or just becoming a healthier individual you must practice patience. Eating one good meal will not make you skinny, and eating one unhealthy meal will not make you fat.

The human body can be slow at many tasks. A metabolism can be slow, recovery from injury can take awhile, and losing that last five pounds can also be a drag. However, the human body can be sped up in many ways, helping you become the healthy person you want to be. Eating fruits and vegetables and drinking water in small doses throughout the day boost metabolism in a healthy way. Eating anything boosts your metabolism, but if you overeat it is essentially defeating the purpose. Also, getting your heart rate up can sky rocket a metabolism for hours. Take the stairs up to your dorm on the seventh floor. We all know the elevators take forever. Also, when you run, you continue to burn calories anywhere between two to four hours after you are done!

What we need to keep in mind is that being healthy is a lifestyle and it is also a challenging one. Rewards are not handed out, they are felt internally and only you can decide how quickly you want results.