Anyone who's been to college knows how easy it is to slip into a pattern of eating junk food. They call it the Freshman 15, but I'm pretty sure it should just be called the Bachelor's Degree 60. If you're a college student I'm sure you know the struggle that is trying to keep a balance between eating healthy and eating 10 hot pockets in one day. At least for me, I'm always bouncing between eating too much or not eating enough. I'll splurge on food at the beginning of the month, living large, eating bagel bites and ordering dominos every day. And then by the end of the month I'm eating ramen noodles and oatmeal once a day for a week straight. This leads to a fluctuation of my weight and my mood. As someone who loves food (especially pizza), not eating much definitely leads to a decline in my mood. 

I don't know about you, but while I enjoy eating dominos every other day and always snacking on junk food, it makes me feel guilty about the fact that I literally never go to the gym. We all set New Years resolutions to eat healthy and actually use our gym memberships, but who really follows through with that kind of thing? I always find myself giving up by January 7th at the latest. So while I wouldn't call this a New Years resolution, it is a goal of mine to start eating healthy and start going to the gym (yuck). 

Eating healthy has a stigma of being expensive, and if you don't know what you're doing you can end up wasting a lot of food and money. With this in mind I am always wary of buying things that expire quickly. Sometimes I'll get busy and forget that the salad in the fridge goes back today, and then I'll end up having to throw it out. I don't know about you, but throwing away food stresses me out. This is something that has always turned me off from eating healthy. But for the sake of this article, and my own health, I was willing to try it out. 

I set out with a plan, starting at the beginning of the week with a fresh grocery shopping trip. I avoided the things that I usually liked to buy, bagel bites, hot pockets, oreos, all the junk food stayed out of my basket. Instead I bought things to make actual meals. Here's the shopping list I used for my first week of healthy eating. My budget was about 50 dollars a week and I found it easy to get the things listed below while staying in that range. 

• Eggs
• Bacon
• Spaghetti 
• Meatballs
• Turkey
• Cheese
• Bread (wheat) 
• English muffins
• Salad (the bagged kind, because let's face it, I'm pretty lazy) 
• Yogurt 
• Fruit (apples, strawberries, bananas) 
• Pre-cooked Chicken 
• Granola Bars 
• Oatmeal
• Milk
• Lemonade 

I stuck with staples, and told myself I was going to have a few different meals to choose from that I would be able to eat frequently during the week. This included things like sandwiches, spaghetti and meatballs, meatball subs, breakfast sandwiches and salads. I also tried my best to get healthier snacks, like fruit, granola and yogurt. Since I had previously cleaned out all the junk food from my kitchen, I was now faced with a clean slate. 

This new diet came with a few rules. I wasn't allowed any junk food, no cookies, chips or sugary fruit snacks. I also restricted myself from drinking soda. This was probably the hardest thing for me to cut out. One two liter of soda is only a dollar but a gallon of orange juice is three or four dollars. Before this diet I always looked into cost efficiency over health. I switched out my sodas for things like lemonade, orange juice or milk. This was probably the hardest swap to make. 

For the first few days I found some struggle, I worried about expiration dates and the balance between over and under eating. Sometimes I would find myself too lazy or too tired from class or work to actually make a meal for myself. This usually came around dinner time and I would have a few snacks for a meal instead of putting the effort into actually making something for myself. 

This was an easy fix, at the advice of my mom I wrote myself a schedule for the rest of the week, what I would eat for each meal. I found this to be incredibly helpful as checking things off a to do list has always been incredibly satisfying to me. The schedule I wrote went something like this: 

Tuesday - 

• Lunch: turkey&cheese sandwich 
• Snack: apple 
• Dinner: eggs and bacon 

Wednesday: 

• Lunch: salad with chicken
• Snack: yogurt 
• Dinner: meatball sub 

Scheduling what I was going to eat on specific days made it much easier to follow. This also helped to cut back on my fear of having to throw away wasted food. This way, I could plan meals and make sure that I used everything before the expiration date. Another way to make sure you're not wasting food is to not over-buy. I only cook for one person, so buying an entire loaf of bread for the week, or an entire gallon of milk would be a little ridiculous. It's easier to start somewhere, buying half a gallon or a half a loaf of bread and then go back to the store when you need more. For me, the grocery store is right across the street so going often isn't a problem. I find that going multiple times is key to not wasting food. 

Alright so we've talked about food, now let's talk about the part I was really dreading. The gym. I'm not the weightlifting type so I stick to the cardio side of the gym. I don't pay for a membership because there's a gym attached to my apartment building, but often you can find a membership for 10 dollars a month, which is worth the investment if you're actually willing to go. Everyone has different gym needs so your gym schedule will probably be different than mine depending on what it is that you're looking for. But for me, I focus mostly on cardio, I want to get to a point in my life where I don't get out of breath for climbing a few flights of stairs. Now, for reference, I'm twenty years old and female, of average height and weight. I wanted to find something that would improve my endurance and something that would be relatively easy at the same time. 

I did some research, looked at different workouts and tried to decide what would be best for me. I knew I wanted to do cardio but the idea of going to the gym and running for an hour straight sounded like torture. I finally decided that I would go to the gym five times a week, spaced out however I wanted. This hour would consist of a warm up, time on the treadmill, elliptical and bicycle.  I also wanted to try yoga, and figured if I gave myself the weekend off from the gym, maybe I would be inclined to do yoga on Sunday mornings. 

The gym came with it's on set of struggles. I'm a very motivated person when it comes to school and work because those are things that I have to do. The gym is more of an option, a choice. For me, this mindset makes it easy to pass on a workout. Though skipping one day almost always leads to skipping a few days, a week and then a month. So, to keep on schedule I went five days a week and tried my hardest not to skip any of my days. I found that once I got into a rhythm it was easy to keep going, it became a part of my day that I didn't want to miss out on. 

So now that I've told you what I do you're probably thinking, when do you have the time? I'm a full time student and a part time employee. I know a lot of you probably are also in a similar boat. It's hard to find the time to work out or hit the grocery store. It's easier to take a nap or cook a cup of noodles. Again, the thing that motivates me is scheduling. I keep all my classes and all my work shifts on my calendar. I added things like gym workouts and grocery trips and found that I was much more inclined to complete my tasks. 

Though of course, homework comes first. I tend to get home from class at around 1pm. I have class three times a week and often work on the opposite days. I complete my homework as soon as I get home and then go to the gym afterwards. 

This was a hard change for me but I've found that eating healthy and taking care of yourself can lead to increased motivation and a better attitude. It's only been two weeks for me, but I'm already beginning to feel much better. The "I just ate an entire bag of chips in one sitting" guilt has finally gone away and I can spend more time enjoying my free time than worrying about whether or not I'm ever going to start a diet or if I'm ever go to the gym again. 

So, if you're a college student looking to eat healthier, or work out more, here are some tips for you. 

1. Make a schedule of the meals you want to eat. You can look on pinterest or google to find some good meals. If you're picky (like me) stick to basics that you can eat throughout the weak. 
2. Buy in small quantities if you're worried about wasting food. 
3. Set goals for yourself. Go a month without drinking soda, go a month without eating junk food, go to the gym five times a week for three weeks straight. Set goals and follow through with them. 
4. Schedule everything and actually follow through, you'll be proud of yourself for not breaking those plans you had to go to the gym. 
5. Find a gym schedule/workout that works for you. Do your research and change it up if it isn't working for you. 
6. Be proud of yourself for trying to better yourself. Motivation is hard to come by, especially if you're dealing with depression or anxiety. Forget that it's easier to stay in bed. Go out there and actually do something. And be proud of yourself for doing it. Remember that feeling the next time you don't want to go to the gym. 
7. Work at your own pace. If working on your diet and going to the gym is too much for you, focus on one before adding the other into the mix. Do whatever you're comfortable with. Do whatever makes you feel better.