School sucks because despite us having a schedule, our days are quite varied, and it can be difficult to get into a routine. Here are my suggestions:
Diet
- try to start eating smaller meals throughout the day, as opposed to just 3 meals a day
- eat your "fuller" meal during the day instead of at night. at night our body will begin to settle, it doesn't make sense for us to eat the heaviest at this time and give our body more food to digest. eat the larger meal during the day when your body is metabolizing and burning calories more actively. so, for one of your "smaller meals" during the day you can have that small bowl of spaghetti, and for your meal at night, you can have a sandwich. see what i mean?
- try to rid of processed foods. incorporate more raw fruits and veggies into your diet. for example, instead of crisps or something, eat carrot sticks.
- make sure you are getting enough protein during the day as well. healthy sources of protein are beans, nuts, grains, etc. i carry around a small bag of almonds for a protein snack. you can also put almond butter on carrots or celery or something.
- that reminds me, peanut butter sucks. it is super fattening. try a healthy alternative like almond butter.
- if you cook, try cooking with coconut oil instead of veggie or canola oil. it's much healthier!
- cut out fast food and fizzy drinks. def stay away from diet drinks. aspartame is an asshole.
- try to cut down on portions. when i remember, i try to have fist-size portions of whatever i'm eating, and i limit it to 3 fists.
- definitely drink more water! when i'm on a health/diet kick, i usually carry a sports bottle of water with me everywhere i go. most of us are dehydrated anyway, so that helps. but being full on more water also helps fight cravings, and we will eat less.
- take a multivitamin to ensure you are getting as much of the nutrition recommendations as possible.
exercise
- try to come up with a routine, but maintain some sort of variation. ie, treadmill one day, weights another, swim another, etc.
- last year i was pretty fit, and worked out for 45 minutes 2x a day. i had to work my way up to that, though. i started just working out 1 time a day, 3 times a week, and built up from there.
- when running on a treadmill, try to vary the workout. i found doing intervals was pretty effective. running at a fast pace for 3 minutes, then walk fast for 3 minutes, and back and forth like that.
- don't work out on an empty stomach, you'll only burn protein. if you're going to the gym in the morning, try eating a banana before you work out. then follow up your workout with a protein source, like hardboiled eggs or something.
sleeping doesn't necessarily help lose or gain weight, but a regular sleeping schedule is important for maintaining balance and energy levels. definitely don't eat past 10pm, that way your body can work on detoxing, etc instead of having to digest more stuff.
thanks so much for posting this. i have been meaning to lose weight all freaking summer. i get into a routine, then i'm slammed with a week of exams or something, and i gain everything i lost. it's really hard. but your post has motivated me to try again. i hope this helps! we should like, keep each other on tabs or something. i used to have friends text me and tell me to "get you ass to the gym!" as a reminder. that helped a lot, especially when i was lying in bed making excuses not to go. i always find it helps me to maintain my routine when someone else is on one too.
good luck!