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Wellness > Health

Lose the Freshman 15: Learning to take care of your new body

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

One thing that is really true about dieting—especially when following the Jump Start Diet plan—is that your0b35417f body is changing.

You think I would have learned when I had my slice of cake on my brother’s birthday that made me have the worst stomach in the world. And don’t get me wrong. I’m a firm believer in treating yourself to the finer things in life (I’m mean, what’s the point if you can’t be happy eating a piece of cake?) I’ll still eat a slice of cake every now and then.

But you have to be aware that you can’t eat like you used to anymore. Sometimes I forget this.

More out of town friends came this weekend and one of them, Laurel, had a single request: Boone Bagelry.

Definitely one of my favorite little restaurants in the high country, this place was founded by New Yorkers so the bagels are VERY legit.

So we all went for brunch and I tried to be very careful in picking something healthy. I got an egg beaters omelet with veggies and no cheese, but it also came with the star of the restaurant—a bagel.

I decided since I’ve been doing so well, and since this was both lunch and breakfast, I could afford to treat myself to my favorite bagel and cream cheese.

It was so good that it tasted like cake.

However, soon after, my body decided to attack me and tell me that all the sugar from my sweet specialty cream cheese (raisin walnut YUM). It was not a fun experience.

Sure, I don’t regret eating my bagel at all. It was fabulous and I think it was well deserved. But I can’t pretend like I can eat everything I was used to. My body is basically detoxing itself with the Jump Start Diet so it craves all the fresh foods I’ve been eating and doesn’t know what to do with the more processed stuff.

So what does this mean? Never eat awesome cakes and sweets again? Um. No. Life is meant to be enjoyed. Eat what you enjoy, just don’t eat in excess. I could have eaten half of my bagel and probably wouldn’t have experienced the stomachaches of later. Just like at my brother’s party, if I had a smaller piece of cake, then maybe I would have had a better reaction.

It’s all about making adjustments and going with the changes. Don’t deprive yourself, but don’t act like you can eat like an 8-year-old either. Your new body is fabulous, but just like you’ve worked hard to get where you are, you need to make sure you treat your body with respect and don’t shock it with the really bad foods that will make you sick.

Enjoy life in moderation.  And balance will be your best friend.

Email me at NikkiRoberti@HerCampus.com or tweet me anytime’s @Nikki_Roberti.

Nikki is a senior at Appalachian State University in Boone, NC majoring in journalism. Obsessed with all things magazines, she hopes to one day be a health editor for a publication in New York. She interned at Parents magazine through ASME and also reported on the hill in D.C. through the Scripps Howard Foundation Wire semester in Washington program. Currently, she is the Health Editor for Jaye Magazine and runs the health-meets-wedding planning blog, The Bloated Bride.