Here is the final and long overdue post to my workout series. Here, I am finally going to talk about working out! Wooo-hoo!


Find a workout group or club
Changing Health Attitudes and Actions in Girls
Working out alone is not an easy thing to do. You need motivation to get out there and keep going. Finding a workout group or even a workout buddy holds you accountable for showing up for your workout. Universities across the country have hundreds of athletic rec sport clubs. There's running club, rowing club, Quidditch, frisbee golf and much more. I am in the CHAARG chapter at University of Cincinnati. It's al all girls group and it has been great! I've learned so many new types of workouts through it!

Plan your workouts into your schedule

Although college life is hectic, if you stop to think about it, you have a lot of idle time in your day that you waste. If you look at your class, homework, and work schedules, try to find an hour that you can squeeze into your day for your workout and getting cleaned up after. If you have it already planned into your schedule, it is harder to make excuses for skipping the gym or your run.

Take a Break
Take a break and take time for yourself to workout. Studies have also said that short high intensity sets are actually more effective workout sessions that are completed at long and moderate paces. Plus you can find all sorts of short workout ideas on Pinterest including abs, leg, and arm exercises. Taking a break also goes the other way too. You can't run yourself ragged trying to workout all the time. If you need rest day, take one!

Take your Vitamins
I try to take fish oil and multivitamins
Vitamins help give your body a little extra boost and help you make sure you are getting enough of what you need. They help your digestive health, immune system, and your mental health among other things!

Stretch
Stretching Videos from Fitness Magazine
Stretching can be meditative when you are doing yoga or help to lower your heart rate after a cardio workout. Stretching also improves flexibility. Most importantly, stretching can help prevent athletic injuries. Try to stretch and adequately warm up before your workout and give yourself a sufficient cool down and post-workout stretch.
Due to life and homework getting in the way, this post has been long overdue but alas, here is part four of the workout series! I'm just going to share some tips about food and weight loss here.

Part One: Five Tips for Losing Weight at School
Part Two: A Little Motivation
Part Three: Dining Hall Tips
Part Five: Working Out

Don't drink your progress away

 

Seriously! A week of hard work and healthy eating can be wasted on a night of drinking. Drinks have so many empty calories associated with them. Alcoholic beverages will make your weight loss journey more difficult so if you are planning to go and drink on your weekends, try to drink only one night. You also have to drink in moderation. The most important reason to drink in moderation is obviously for your safety but moderating your drinking will also save you hundreds of empty calories. Plus drinking makes you get the munchies and that too will lead to empty calories and fattening food choices.

Avoid the Ramen


Ramen contains just about everything that you don't need when you're trying to eat healthier and lose weight. Ramen is appealing to many college students because it's easy to prepare and it's incredibly cheap. Ramen is also full of preservatives, sodium, and bad carbs.


Eat Breakfast


Eating breakfast is a great way to jumpstart your metabolism. Breakfast gets your body working sooner and therefore burning more calories all day. Breakfast eaters tend to weigh less and have more energy than their nonbreakfast counterparts. More benefits of breakfast eaters can be found here.


Eat at Reasonable Times



Another part of losing weight is eating at the right times. You should eat smaller spaced out meals and snacks versus three big meals. You also shouldn't eat a few hours before you go to bed. If you do that you're taking in a lot of calories that will just waste and be stored for later because you won't be using them in your sleep. I found the above image here. 


Drink Milk



Studies have shown so many benefits to drinking milk. Especially for women. Milk gives you tons of great nutrients that help you build strong bones. Milk drinkers also tend to be thinner. There's a lot of ways to sneak milk into your daily diet; some of the more obvious include eating cereal or oatmeal with milk or mixing milk into your coffee. You can get milk benefits from other dairy products as well. I don't eat cheese or yogurt personally, but they are milk derived products.


Drink Plenty of Water


You can read all about the benefits of water here. Water drinkers tend to weigh less and drinking water can boost your mood too. I recommend investing in a reusable water bottle like the Camelbak. Buying a good water bottle will save you money from buying a bunch of plastic bottles but it will also help the environment. You can't beat losing weight and reducing your carbon footprint at the same time! You should be drinking at least 64 onces of water a day (the old 8 glasses of water 8 times a day rule.) But your water intake also depends on your activity level and the temperature, among other factors. If you drinking cold water, you will feel hydrated faster but drinking warm or room temperature water will make you fill fuller. Drinking a glass of water right before a meal will also make you fill up faster and therefore avoid eating more than you really need. 

Get Healthy Snacks

25 Snake Ideas from Heart Shaped Sweat

If you want to lose weight you got to eat healthy. It's a no brainer but snack time can be tricky. Above are 25 healthy snack ideas. You may like them all or only a few. Some may be completely foreign to you. If you are ever in doubt of a healthy snack, just got for an apple or some carrots and celery. You can never go wrong with fruits and veggies as a snack. Nuts and granola can make great ones as well!


Grab Salads


Salad are a great side to a meal but they can also make great meal! Instead of getting a chicken sandwich and eating it along side a salad, try the chicken on the salad. This will save you extra carbs and calories. Learn to love your greens. There are so many great salad recipes online. There are salads with fruit and others that are traditional vegetable ones. 

Eat your Fruits and Vegetables


Duh! Fruits and veggies are the best things for you. Eat and get your daily servings of them! To get the best ones, try to eat seasonal fruits and vegetables. Here is great poster of seasonal fruits and vegetables broken down by months from University of Missouri.

Plan a Spurge 


Losing weight does not come from just working out. A lot of people have the misconception that if they workout, then they can eat whatever they want and still lose weight. Sadly this isn't true. You need to workout to strengthen, tone, and work your muscles but you need a healthy diet to gain a lean stomach and lose the extra fat. Eating healthy gets easier the more you do it but you still gotta be human and reward your work. So this is where you need to plan a splurge once a week. This can be anything you want but you need to stay reasonable. Don't backtrack. A good splurge could be a drink from Starbucks, a milkshake you've been craving, a bottle of Coke, or some french fries. When you're dieting, you know what you are craving and satisfy one of those cravings during your splurge.

Limit your Carbs


You don't need a lot of carbs and it's really easy to eat way to many of them. Try to limit your carb intake, especially when eating "bad" carbs. Try to consume your carbs through fruits, veggies, and whole grains. Do more research so you can become more familiar with what is good and what is not so good for you. Here is some more information. 

Hope these tips help you lose a little extra!
Sometimes the only way to keep going is with a smile on your face. If you are losing motivation, these three pictures that I found on Pinterest may cheer you up! :)
Dining halls are intimidating. Having unlimited and mainly unhealthy food set in front of you all the time is very daunting and you need to be disciplined in order to prevent gaining the freshman fifteen. 

Part One: Five Tips for Losing Weight at School
Part Two: A Little Motivation
Part Four: Let's talk Food
Part Five: Working Out

Here's a few of the rules I try to follow when I walk into the dining hall:

1. Don't make the dining hall an all you can eat buffet!
Just because the dining hall is an all you can eat buffet doesn't mean you should make it that. Eat until you feel satisfied not stuffed. Stick to your fruits, veggies, dairy, and protein and try to limit carb intake!

2. Know your options.
Walk around the food court to see what's available before you grab a plate. This will help prevent you from grabbing multiple plates of food. Take in your options and then select the one or ones that are what you really want to eat.

3. Know your serving sizes and portions
Kohls Care Portion Sizing
Knowing how much of something you should eat and how often you should eat it can seriously help your body get the right stuff and eliminate the bad stuff from your diet.

4. No pop/soda or ice cream

This one is really hard. Our hall has multiple soft drink dispensers as well as multiple desserts available. This includes diet sodas. Drink water or milk at meals. Only drink juice at breakfast.

5. Don't eat pizza for every meal.
Seriously. Limit the pizza intake. I have only had one slice in the month I have been at school. Just because it may be one of the least gross items in the cafeteria, skip it! Go for a wrap, salad, or cereal instead.

1. Set realistic goals.


Start by setting small achievable goals. It can be very overwhelming if your only goal is to lose 50 pounds. This could be a great long term goal but you should start with a small, short term goal. It won't be discouraging this way. When setting goals you should also brainstorm on how you are going to work and make changes in your daily life to reach this goal. Losing 50 pounds won't happen automatically, so you need to plan on how you are going to make your goal a reality.

:)

2. Find motivational quotes.
I love this
Print them out, hang them up, set them as your desktop wallpaper or screensaver. Do what you gotta do! You can find my motivational running quotes that I posted earlier. I also posted a two part motivational quote series. Here is part one and part two.

3. Take a before picture.
This is pretty explanatory. Save this and when you reach your goal take an after picture and admire how all your hard work has paid off. This is also a great way to track progress if you want to take a picture every 30, 60, and 90 days or whatever. You can also get the free Pic Stitch app from iTunes that will allow you to set your before and after pics together side-by-side. Not only will you be proud of your obvious progress, but this is a great way to brag about it to others.

4. Buy a goal clothing item before you start your regiment.
Gap Jeans
Before I started my fitness kick, I purchased a few motivation clothing items from some local thrift shops. I LOVE THRIFTING OKAY?? Anyways I bought myself a pair of basically new Gap jeans, some vintage white Levis cutoffs, and a crop top from Urban Outfitters. I think that I should be able to fit into them all by Thanksgiving or Christmas. The jeans and shorts can be put on but not buttoned and the crop top fits but its just not very flattering with my current belly. Just remember when you're buying your goal item be practical, buy an item based on the goals you set up (see number 1.) If you are unsure what size you'll be, you could try just starting a fund for a new outfit (see number 6.)


5. Keep a workout log or a food journal. Or both!

This is a good way to remind yourself of where you started and how you've made progress. If you track all your workouts including the time on the machine or working out plus the distance if you have ran or biked, it's a great way to see how your splits and endurance have improved. Map My Run is a great free resource that allows you to map out your workout routes and it tells you the distance. You can then go back and select which route you did and how you did it (walking, running, biking, etc) and your time. Map My Run then gives you your split. You can also add notes and include how you felt and the weather. Map My Run also offers a food log. Finally they have a free app. You could also just write your food log and workouts in a journal but if you do it this way, you can't find out calories, distance, etc. 

6. Reward yourself with a new outfit when you reach your goal.

Is there a better way to reward yourself than buying a brand new outfit that works with your new body? I doubt it! You could try different ways of rewarding yourself. Some people add a quarter or a dollar to a jar for every workout they do and once the jar reaches X amount of dollars they buy themselves something new to reward their dedication. Others prefer to go and buy a new outfit once they reach their goal entirely. They don't buy their new clothes until them have reached whatever long term goal they set out for. I wouldn't suggest buying new clothes after reaching short term goals because then you are just buying something that you don't want to fit in down the line.
Well you're looking at part two of the motivational quote seriese. If you missed it, here is part one. I also have motivational running quotes that I have posted. I really hope that someone can use some of these quotes to get them inspire to go workout and be active and eat a little better along the way too!

You can do it!

See!

Sorry it's blurry but don't give up!







Go out there and get inspired.
Earlier I posted some of my favorite motivational running quotes. And later I plan to share round two of motivational workout quotes, but here's round one. If you find some you like, save them, print them out, use them as your computer or phone wallpaper. Put the quotes in places you'll see them often so you can get inspire! Check out motivational quotes (part 2)!

It will be! You'll feel so much more confident when you reach your goal!

This is one of my favorites!


Once you get a routine going, you'll be amazed how easy it is.

But really.

Go out and happen to things!
You aren't going to get in shape just sitting here.

And you'll feel so much more energetic for the rest of the day.

Your fitness kick may be just what a realative, friend,
 or coworker needs to get themselves back in shape.
Be an inspiration!



I hope that you found these motivating!
So I am a big quote junkie. I love the power of words and the feelings that they convey. As a result I gathered some motivational running quotes from Pinterest that inspire me. I want to print some out and hang them around as reminders. Hope the give you a little motivation to run as well! You can find my other workout motivation quotes part one and part two.


The fonts a little blurry but that's how I found it :(



What motivates you to run?