Your hotel room is booked, the condo deposits has been put down and all that’s left before Spring Break is a tighter budget accompanied by excessive excitement. Cell phones and Facebook blow up with group messages created solely for organizing this epic, once a year excursion that makes spring a more bearable semester. With each rapidly approaching day the sun shines a little warmer on the beaches that wait patiently for your arrival and all of your buried summer bathing suits are itching to be thrown into the nearest suitcase.
It’s at this part of the daydream that things get a little dicey, because those summer bathing suits might be fitting a little tighter than they were a few months ago. Before, you spent every single Saturday enjoying the game day delicacies of beer and burgers. Then it was Thanksgiving, winter break (cookie break) and now the present day shenanigans chock full of drunken pokey sticks and late night Dominos phone calls.
Dieting, however, is a nightmare. It’s a dangerous mind game that leaves one with a twisted, unhealthy body image and in some cases, even more pounds than before. Instead of suddenly snapping your fingers and deciding to eat straight vegetables and work out twice a day, consider these lifestyle changes that will get the job done faster than obsessively counting calories. You might not necessarily need a drastic change, but chances are you just need to remind yourself of the simple ways to be healthy.
Sleep Well
Making sure you get a good night sleep is a great way to boost your metabolism. According to a study in the American Journal of Epidemiology, sleeping five hours or fewer per night increases your chance of weight gain by 32%. Too little resting time stops your metabolism from functioning properly, and as a result it begins to slow down. Also, the later you stay up means the longer it’s been since dinner, and before you know it everyone’s in the car on the way to Steak ‘n Shake.
Hydrate
Wake up and immediately drink a bottle of water. And keep drinking. A recent study showed that participants who drank a healthy amount of water while dieting lost an average of 15.5 pounds compared to the measly 11 pound control group. Hunger is easily mistaken for dehydration, so before you choose to snack on a post dinner bag of chips, guzzle some water to make sure you’re truly hungry.
Via: pastortimclark.com
Don’t Skip Meals
Although avoiding food sounds like a quick way to drop pounds, it actually just makes the situation worse. Your body has no nutrients to break down, resulting in a slowed metabolism that will store your food as fat once you do get around to eating. Your blood sugar also drastically drops, leaving you to feel sluggish and fatigued. Don’t let yourself get too busy to eat!
De-Stress
With the influx of assignments, exams and extra curricular activities, the mounting pressure can often feel unbearable. A common stress outlet is viewing food as a comfort, rather than a source of nourishment. The more you indulge in unhealthy foods to distract yourself from the looming tasks at hand, the more likely you are to continue to use food as a buffer. Find other ways to relax and remember to tell yourself to be proud of what you have accomplished, even after a rough day.
Via: someecards.com
Don’t glue your feet to the scale or punish yourself when you have trouble sticking to a diet. The more you battle with a skewed body image, the worse it becomes. Remind yourself to relax, because a healthy mind will get you much farther than obsessively focusing on healthy eating. Rest, drink water, be active, be happy and before you know it, the spring break pounds will have taken care of themselves.
Featured photo courtesy of: Washouse
