After my first few weeks of college as a pre-med student, I looked myself in the mirror and realized I had gained the typical “freshman fifteen”. I was increasingly becoming more stressed as the assignments seemed to never end, I was always studying and my self-esteem was at its lowest. I was drinking too many energy drinks to get through the day and I realized this was not the way I wanted to spend the rest of my college career and change had to occur as soon as possible. But in a time of despair, I did not understand what I could do to develop into a better individual. It wasn’t until a residence assistant gave me information regarding boot camps and other lessons that are offered at Jefferson, that I decided to give the gym a try.
My goals for getting healthier are to lose weight by working out, eat healthier foods, and most of all raise my self-esteem. The reason I am doing this is because I believe that if I can change my unhealthy habits, I will also be able to positively impact the rest of my life activities.
I used to be athletic considering I ran cross-country, indoor track and outdoor track before my senior year, however I had to stop because of an injury. I was afraid to go back to the gym after 1 ½ years and I cringed at the thought of weighing myself while my low self-esteem did not allow myself to do such a thing. I was also unsure of what workouts I should do and how to properly do them, but I managed to make it to the gym regardless of the voices in my head telling me to wait another day, because I mean, the gym is still going to be there the next day, right?
I entered the gym, and upon weighing myself, I was unhappy with the result. A total of 155 lbs, considered overweight for my height. I was also the most I had ever weighed in my lifetime. And with that, I continued to walk towards the treadmill, the only machine I knew how to use. I ran, or more like speed walked, but managed to complete a mile. To be completely honest, I felt amazing the rest of that day, more energized and happy. I also began to eat healthier, my diet consisting of mostly fruits in the morning, salads for lunch and carbohydrates for dinner.
It has now been two weeks of working out and I feel motivated every day to get through all the tasks I set myself to do. I highly recommend going to the gym at least for 30 minutes a day, it truly is rewarding in the long run. I am still going to the gym six times a week, but waiting to weigh myself after a month of hard work. One of my struggles so far however, has been reminding myself to eat healthy, but I am progressively becoming more skilled in choosing my food options in a smart manner.
My workouts mostly consist of cardio but I do weight-lifting as well to tone my arms. When I first started to work out, I could barely jog a mile at 5 mph. Now, I am pleased to say that after 2 weeks of working out, I can now RUN a mile at 6.5 mph and still feel great.
PC: Jessica