Dieting never works. Dieting always fails. Yada yada yada.
I know we’ve all heard it. I sure did. But in college, there was one thing I knew to be true, even if I blocked out all the buzz about trendy dieting. The truth was, I needed to lose weight.
It wasn’t a vanity thing (well, not entirely), but I was primarily concerned with how my health would progress, especially post-graduation. After all, obesity is on the rise in America and with obesity comes illness, disease, and even death.
Death. That jumbo-sized fast food combo I was so accustomed to ordering in college with everyone else could one day cost me my life!
So in 2011 I applied to be a Her Campus blogger for the Lose the Freshman 15 program, partnered with SELF magazine and based on SELF’s Jump Start Diet. I was thrilled to be accepted and even more thrilled to find out that Jillian Michaels had designed the plan that year.
I didn’t hesitate to immerse myself in the program. I made the recipes, I did the workouts, and as a result, I lost the 15 lbs. But something else happened to me during the course of that time. I became self-aware about how I was treating my body. I was conscious of what I was or wasn’t putting in my mouth, and I was continually learning new things about health I never knew before. Too much tuna is bad? Almond butter is better than peanut butter? A little caffeine can rev up your metabolism to get you through a plateau? Who knew!
After graduation, it took me a little while to find my way with health in relation to the real world now that the blogging series was over. And with a death in the family before my wedding, I’d be lying if I said I was 100 percent thinking about my health or how to achieve that perfect bridal weight. In fact, it would have been very easy to be completely derailed health-wise and sit back with a pint of Chunky Monkey.
But I didn’t. The day after I got back from the funeral, I bought some kickboxing DVDs because I learned how great exercise could be in relieving stress (and believe me. There was stress.).
And while I wouldn’t say I was my ideal weight at my wedding, I did achieve the goal I wrote about constantly during the blog series: to look good sideways (you know, because wearing a white dress in front of a ton of people while standing sideways at the altar can be mondo intimidating). And actually, a picture of me standing by myself on a bridge in my wedding dress looking off into the distance actually went semi-viral online and was posted on multiple wedding dress/engagement magazine Facebook walls. Even the Facebook page for the designer of my dress, Maggie Sottero, posted the photo. Some of the commenters apparently thought I was a model. It was so surreal.
Now a newlywed, I’ve been told that it’s common to gain weight the first year of marriage. To keep me accountable with my battle against the bulge post-wedding, I created a blog called Mrs. Healthy Ever After, which documents our crazy newlywed lives, my healthy recipes, and other ways we’re trying to live a happy, healthy and well-balanced life. After we finally got settled in our new life together, the husband and I decided to buckle down in January and start making healthy decisions—a lot of the same healthy decisions I learned to make during my time blogging with Her Campus.
My husband has lost nearly 20 lb. just by doing his normal routine and eating my healthy meals. I’m also nearing the 20 lb. mark myself since January with the help of a more plant-based diet and exercise. I feel FANTASTIC. Now, I look forward to working out after I get home from the office (something I never DREAMED of actually enjoying) and I’ve been working toward eating a more clean-eating/whole foods lifestyle. I’ve even gotten handy at making my own wheat bread, and we’re juicing vegetables now to increase our plant intake (which is actually tastier than you would think).
The Lose the Freshman 15 blogging experience didn’t teach me to diet. It taught me to live. Now I’m making healthy choices, staying in-the-know regarding new health research and logging my food and exercise on MyFitnessPal where I’ve built a great virtual support system for myself. Everyday, I’m still learning about how to live a happy and healthy life, but the steps I’ve made personally in becoming a healthy individual have improved my life dramatically.
And the best part? I’m not dieting. I’m just living.
Whether you gained the Freshman 15 or College 50, it’s never too late to start making better choices for a healthy future. After all, you deserve it. And following the Her Campus Lose the Freshman 15 program with SELF magazine can definitely help you with the encouragement and information you need to start your personal journey off right.
Check out Nikki’s “Lose the Freshman 15” blog posts on Her Campus from spring 2011 here.
*Photography courtesy of Christi Falls photography