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Wellness > Health

Lose the Freshman 15: Clean Up to Shape Up

This is a sponsored feature. All opinions are 100% from Her Campus.

Hi collegiettes™!

I’m starting to get an overwhelming feeling of laziness when it comes to my Jump Start Diet and fitness, and I know exactly why. It feels like much more of a chore especially when my workout clothes are sitting in a laundry pile, next to another laundry pile, that’s next to a clean laundry pile adjacent toa pile of textbooks and notebooks.

Even with my recent addition of adding jump roping intervals to my daily cardio routine, I’ve been feeling a bit lethargic since it’s hard to find the energy and patience to search for the jump rope I’ve thrown in my tornado mess of a room!

The solution for my diet and fitness lethargy: clean up! According to my SELF Jump Start Diet tip-a-day email, alloting 20 minutes a day to clean up your clutter will clear your mind to make it easier for you to focus on your goals.
CleaningLady2
Hey, I may not be able to clean up my entire room and clear all my laundry piles in 20 minutes, but SELF assures me that “clearing one tiny area of clutter can deliver the same sense of satisfaction and spike in happiness as a bigger clean-up.” You could even turn boring old chores like vacuuming, sweeping, mopping, or scrubbing the shower walls into a mini-workout with the calories you’ll be burning.

So collegiettes,™ take a little bit of time between your work and play to tidy up your half of the dorm, clear up you and your roomates’ dishes, or even organize the mess on your desk! Not only will you feel that tiny sense of accomplishment, but you’ll also have more space to work on something bigger and better: you.

How do you clear your mind and space? Let me know! Leave a comment below, e-mail me at allylopez@hercampus.com or  Tweet  me (@allylopez).

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 be sure to use the SELF logs to keep track of your daily workout and meals, which is an awesome way to keep track of your calorie intake and how much you’re burning off!

Love,
Ally

To follow Ally’s journey on the Jump Start Diet, check out her out 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.