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Wellness > Health

Lose the Freshman 15: Overcoming My Sweet Tooth

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Hey collegiettes™!

For 21 years, I’ve been dealing with a serious problem: my sweet tooth. You do too? No, please don’t be fooled, because it’s nothing like how you may think you have. It’s totally different.
 
Before this week, when I started on SELF’s Jump Start Diet, I would start off each morning with a Starbucks hot chocolate with whatever slice of marble cake or chocolate chip muffin that is available that morning. At work, my bottom desk drawer is filled with those super addictive mini muffins and tons of Hershey kisses, and if anyone were to rummage through my tote bag between all those textbooks you would find every kind of candy bar imaginable. I have a double chocolate chip frappachino at least every day, and you’ll always see my freezer filled with chocolate chip waffles, cookies and cream ice cream, and ice cream sandwiches. 012
 
In fact, I honestly didn’t realize how bad it was until I wrote it out. It’s been like this for as long as I can remember. Cookies, cupcakes, ice cream, muffins, candy, cake, cookie dough, icing, you name it, I love it.
 
To add to my love for all things sweet (and preferably chocolate), it doesn’t stop just there. I may not be able to cook but I can whip up the best, or so I’ve been told, cupcakes and baked goods. It’s my thing. I bake for my little brother’s bake sales, for family dinners, for parties that my girlfriends throw, for my boyfriend, and even more often, for me.
 
Some time last year, I decided to combine that love for baking and my passion for writing into a baking blog. I joined a handful of baking blogger groups and would write about my experiences—good and bad—and posted pictures of my creations as seen here. Don’t they look delish? They were.
 
For the Jump Start Diet, I know it’s completely unrealistic to just cut out sweets completely. I see now that it’s best to have it in moderation, and when I do, it needs to be as low-calorie as possible. And some of the Jump Start Diet suggests some yummy sounding 200-calories delights such as a baked apple, a banana pop, a ½ cup of vanilla bean ice cream, fondue, and much more! I’ll be sure to try each of these out and let you know how it goes, and more importantly tastes! 018

If you’d like to join me in my healthy, happy weight loss (and please do), go register for the Jump Start Diet on SELF.com and use the SELF logs to keep track of your diet! If you have any suggestions for low-calorie (and super yummy) desserts or sweet snack, leave a comment, e-mail me at allylopez@hercampus.com or send me a tweet (@allylopez)!

Love,

Ally

To keep up with latest ups and downs of Ally’s journey with the Jump Start Diet, be sure to follow her on twitter (@allylopez), and while you’re at it, follow the latest news from SELF (@SELFmagazine) and Her Campus (@HerCampus)!

Ally is a senior print journalism major at the University of Maryland, College Park with a concentration in magazine journalism. In addition to blogging for the Her Campus and SELF magazine “Lose the Freshman 15” program, she writes for the sex & dating section of College Magazine. Her previous internships include being a UMD “style guru” for the Web site CollegeFashionista, an editorial intern for ARCHITECT and eco-structure magazines, as well as a copy editing intern for The Working Press, a daily tabloid that covered the Society of Professional Journalists’ 2010 national convention. Additionally, she has contributed to the USA TODAY College blog. When she isn’t in her bubble of journalism, Ally enjoys spending time with her family and friends, spending insane amounts of money at the mall, and watching every flavor of the Real Housewives.