Moving out and living on my own in 2017 I was faced with all the challenges of how to live a healthy lifestyle. After my first semester I think I have figured out what works for me and how I can feel my best. These are just a few things I do to ward off the daunting freshman 15 and commit to my health in the long run.

1. Regulating my sleep schedule. I really try to keep myself on the same sleep schedule every night. This helps me to not feel groggy during the day, which used to be a huge issue for me. I use the clock app on the Iphone. This is a super easy and helpful tool that is already built into your phone. In the “Bedtime” tab of the app you can set when you want to be asleep each night and when you want to wake up. I have mine on for Sunday through Thursday. I set my bedtime for 11:30 pm and to wake up at 7:30, a solid 8 hours. My favorite feature of this app is that it notifies you 30 minutes before your bedtime, this lets me know when to start my bedtime routine, turn off the electronics, and chill out before I’m ready to sleep.
2. My Camelbak water bottle. It is so so important to get enough water throughout the day. I found that owning the perfect water bottle is what motivates me to get all the water I need. The bottle holds 750ml of water and I go through as many as I can throughout the day, minimum of 8. Drinking a lot of water helps to clear your skin, flush out toxins, promotes weight loss, and boosts the immune system.
3. Clean eating. I am a huge fan of going out to eat but the food I keep in my home is completely clean. I grocery shop for lots of fruits and veggies along with lean meats and proteins. I love green peppers. I buy so many green peppers every time I make a grocery run. I use them for basically every meal, cooked with scrambled eggs, as a side with grilled chicken, in salads, or even just cut up and eaten raw. Finding healthy foods that you can do a lot with is so important in healthy cooking. A few other things I always pick up at the store are raspberries, bananas, strawberries, oranges, peaches, sweet potatoes, carrots, green beans, eggs, salmon, chicken, soups and salads, avocado (I put it on everything), coconut oil (for universal use), and anything that is in season.
4. Exercise. I love to exercise and it is usually easy for me to make time every day for a work out. I eat dinner between 6 and 7 pm and head to the gym at 8 pm. This way I can spend a good amount of time focusing on what I am doing and not have to worry about anything I have to do afterwards. Then I can just get straight in the shower and chill out for the night. Working out is something I look forward to in my day because it is a time to focus on myself, destress, and sweat out anything negative from the day. I also try and get up at 7am to walk for 30 minutes at least 2 days a week.
5. I don’t own a scale. Living a healthy lifestyle is not about weight loss for me. In the past I did have a scale and it completely twisted the meaning of being healthy for me. I was obsessed with weight loss and it was the only thing I focused on. Now I choose to be healthy to better my overall quality of life. A healthy lifestyle leads to so many benefits in your day to day life, more energy, motivation, confidence, positive thinking, better sleep quality, and less threat of long term illness.

I would like to add that I definitely try and stick to these things but I love McDonalds french fries just as much as the next girl. All of the guilty pleasures in life are completely ok in moderation.