“I want to live healthier — where do I begin?”
The question of how to start a fitness journey is a one that many collegiettes ask themselves at one time or another. With tons of fad diets, get-healthy-quick schemes and tips coming from every corner of the Internet, it is often difficult to sort fact from fiction. So if you’ve decided that you want to lose weight, to build muscle or to just adopt a healthier lifestyle, where should you begin?
First, you’re going to need some information. You need to know where you’re starting to know how to get to where your going, whether that means an initial weigh-in, taking your own measurements (with caution) or heading to a doctor to get [your bio stats] is up to you, the point is just to establish a baseline so that you can measure your progress as time goes by. Keep track of what you eat every day so that you can see what your general eating habits are and know where you are getting your nutrients and where you are wasting calories.
The next thing you’ll need to do is to set your goals and write them down. If you’re an outgoing sort of person who enjoys having a fitness buddy, tell your best friends and encourage them to join you! This is helpful in two ways: it creates a sense of accountability and if one of them wants to get involved, you’ll have a partner!
Regardless of what your aim is, there are three generally applicable truths to starting a fitness journey:
1. Your work will be 60% nutrition, 40% exercise.
Nutrition. Nutrition. Nutrition. Start to phase empty foods out of your meals. Empty foods are foods that are fried, sugary, salty or just calorically dense. The reason for this is when a food is very sugary (refined sugar is the worst) it causes your blood sugar to rise and then fall very dramatically, which can make you feel drowsy or sluggish throughout the day – and for a busy collegiette mid-day drowsiness is no fun! Examples of empty sugary foods include donuts, cookies, cakes and candy. Chocolate does not make the list because some kinds of chocolate have amazing health benefits. Excessive salt negatively impacts your blood pressure and it encourages water retention, which is both dangerous to your body, and makes you heavier as you carry excess ‘water weight’. Examples of salty foods include chips and preserved meats. As for what you should eat, whole grains, fruits, vegetables and smart protein. Examples of great grains include: oats, quinoa, bulgar wheat. Examples of smart proteins include grilled or baked chicken or fish – especially fish that are high in omega-3s. These foods will fill you up and keep you full (and energized) much longer than their empty counterparts. This does not mean that you will never have your favorite foods again – on the contrary, your favorite foods can be eaten, but sparingly and in moderation. Some people believe in having an ‘indulgence day’ once and a while, during which time they treat themselves to their favorite meal whatever it may be.
2. If you’re trying to lose weight (and this is a big ‘if’ — because there is more to being healthy than losing weight), the formula is simple: burn more calories than you consume.
If you cut back on the calories you consume, and the ones you do eat are whole, nutritious foods you will start to notice changes. Keep in mind that denying your body food entirely is a bad idea in a number of ways, and can often result in the opposite effect of what you’re looking to accomplish. If you couple your healthy eating habits with an exercise plan you will set yourself up for success. The types of exercise that you do are up to you: if you prefer group exercise, you might want to check out your campus gym(s) to see if any interesting group exercise classes are being offered. If you need an extra level of accountability, you might want to join a sport at some level (don’t forget about clubs/intramurals) or join a CrossFit gym.
3. Everybody (and every body) is different.
Don’t be discouraged if you don’t see celebrity-speed results. It’s easy to get down on yourself if you are constantly comparing your progress to other people — especially if those people appear in Star magazine. Remember that Beyoncé and Christina Aguiliera spend hours every day at the gym while you are in class. There’s a reason for the disclaimer “results are not typical”! Plus, you might also notice that celebrities go through some of the most dramatic fitness highs and lows you’ll ever see — this is not the way you should want to be. What’s right for someone else’s body might not be right for yours (and vice versa).
If you commit to eating right and exercising consistently, you will definitely see results – probably even sooner than you think!