I have realized throughout the past few years that everyone has their own story about staying healthy and managing their weight. After reading through the first three blogs of the girls who are apart of this Healthy Living blog, I can't believe how drastically different all of our stories are and there are only FIVE of us! I will continue on with my story....

Throughout my entire life up until freshman year of college, I did not have to worry about exercise or eating healthy. I didn't know it at the time but the high school dance team that I had been involved with for those four years was my unknown secret to keeping a healthy weight. Dance is something I have always LOVED to do and that took up the majority of my time outside of school back then. Practice took place for two hours each night all year long. Dancing is one of the best forms of cardio you can do so I maintained a weight between 115-120 lbs...and at that time in my life thought I was still bigger than the other girls in high school.

I was STUPID to ever consider myself bigger...I realize that today. When my freshman year of college rolled around I took up a couple of new hobbies which consisted of drinking, eating whatever I wanted (still), and never working out. Since I never stepped foot on a treadmill in high school why should I have considered trying to maintain a healthy weight in college if I was "naturally" thin? I found out I wasn't "naturally" thin when by the end of that first year I had gained 15 pounds. It's odd because I never noticed that I had gained weight until I went back home to my small town where EVERYONE knows you and will notice anything different about you. A lot of guys( never really girls) would say I sure had "filled out" since high school. Ouch.

I had never been told these hurtful things before so sophomore year of college I decided to work out...a lot. I worked out for almost two hours a day at least four times a week. I would do an hour of cardio followed by an hour of aerobics. I lost 10 pounds. It worked as long as I continued but of course when I stopped it came back. Junior year I joined the dance team here at UWO and managed to take the pounds off again by doing something I loved.

This year I have managed to find time at least three days out of the week to either go to a cycling class (they are great! Tell you more about that later) or running on the treadmills and light weight lifting. I have put a few pounds on over the summer so I would like to get back to a healthy weight by the end of the semester.

My tip to everyone is to find something you love to do and that you wouldn't normally consider to be a straining workout. Dance! Try aerobics at the wellness center. Run with a friend outside. Anything helps if you find at least three days of your week to dedicate to a half hour of cardio. Today, I can't eat what I want and not work out. It's all about portioning your food and EXERCISE.
Nothing comes easy!! Unfortunately we have to put the pizza slice down every now and then and hit the gym in order to maintain a healthy body weight...who would have thought?
That's all for now. I hope my story gives another point of view to how you can live healthy and also some hobbies to avoid while in college!

Have a great day everyone!

~Jenna~