Calories on Campus: Beyond the all-or-nothing diet

I’m back to give you another workout that can be done in the comfort in your own home, so now you really have no excuses as to why you can’t workout. This is personally one of my favorite (and hardest) workouts. It is only 25 minutes long, so it can be done at any point of the day. It is called the HIT challenge, and here’s what you do:

30 seconds on, 30 seconds off…

High Knees,

Mountain Climbers,

Squat Jumps,

Burpees,

Jumping Jacks

Repeat for 4 more rounds.

That is how simple it is. The HIT challenge is another interval workout, you know how much I love those, and it picks up your heart rate very quickly. I really like this workout because all the moves are simple, you don’t need to look up how to do them. I will warn you though, just by looking at this workout, it seems extremely easy, but it definitely is not. By about the third round, you are dripping in sweat, and wishing it would be over.

The HIT challenge is also easily interchangeable. For example, if you’ve got bad knees and can’t do burpees you can replace that move with something that is easier for you. It is also interchangeable in the fact that you can make the workout longer or shorter. I don’t advice making it shorter, because then you won’t have the best results. But let’s say five rounds seems too easy for you, you could bump it up to seven rounds, or even more if you’re feeling really energetic. Whatever way you cut it, this workout will definitely help you burn a large amount of calories in a short amount of time. Good luck!

Happy Eating,

Anne

Brussels sprouts are one of the most hated vegetables known to man. However, today I am going to (hopefully) change your mind. I am convinced that people hate brussels sprouts so much because they just don’t know how to cook them the right way. Today, I am here to give you a quick and easy recipe for how to make this veggie taste amazing. Here’s what you’ll need:

• Brussels Sprouts
• Kosher Salt
• Pepper
• Olive Oil

Here’s what you’ve got to do:

1. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees

2. Cut brussels sprouts in half (as many as you like)

3. Put in bowl, and mix with about 1-2 teaspoons of olive oil

4. Season with salt and pepper to taste

5. Toss so all brussels sprouts are covered

6. Place in pan and cook for about 30 minutes

7. Serve with desired meal

This extremely simple recipe will make anyone like this vegetable. After cooking in the oven they get pretty crispy and burnt, and eventually you forget you’re even eating something healthy. I really enjoy this recipe because it really is so simple, it does not consume a lot of time, and it doesn’t require a great deal of ingredients. You can serve this side with pretty much anything you’d like, I usually serve it with a chicken breast, or a piece of salmon. But it can really be paired with anything.

So, if you’re brave enough to try this hated vegetable, I promise you, you will not be disappointed. You, and your taste buds will definitely be thanking me.

Happy Eating,

Anne

New year, New me… We’ve all been there. Today I am addressing new years resolutions, and how to stick to them when it comes to staying in shape.

When New Years rolls around, it’s very common for people to set goals about how they are going to lose weight or just stay in shape in general, and let me tell you, these goals are usually completely unrealistic. “I’m not going to eat any junk food, ever.””I’m going to work out seven days a week.””I’m cutting carbs out of my diet completely.” I’ve seen them all. When you create goals like these, you’re setting yourself up for failure. Maybe you really enjoy working out, and going to the gym seven days a week isn’t a challenge for you, then that’s fine, that goal is something you could probably achieve. But for the rest of us, that realistically won’t happen.

Creating New Years resolutions should be about something that you can actually achieve so that when you do, you feel accomplished. Instead of trying to juggle ten different goals, try only setting one or two for yourself. Trying to accomplish too many things feels like a full time job, and is most likely going to end with you throwing in the towel a week into the new year. Another good way to make sure you stick to these goals is to make sure you set goals that you can actually accomplish. Maybe you’d like to workout more so you set a goal to go to the gym at least two or three times a week. That way if you miss a day or two, you aren’t drowning in guilt. And that way if you end up going to the gym five times that week, you feel on top of the world. Or maybe you eat junk food like it’s going out of style, so you set a goal that you are only going to eat it once a week, or only on the weekends. Whatever it may be, the goals should be fitting to you, and be things that you can actually accomplish. And once you accomplish those, you can keep adding more.

So, take baby steps, start small, and work your way up until you are feeling like the best version of yourself.

Happy Eating,

Anne

One of the biggest struggles for college students is that they can’t always afford a gym membership. However, working out on your own, and trying to make up your own workouts can be extremely challenging as well. If you’re looking for a quick and convenient workout to do right in the comfort of your own home, you’ve come to the right place.

The Sworkit app has pretty much saved my life during my college years. This app is very helpful because it sets up a workout for you, all you do is follow along. It also allows you to pick what you want to workout, whether it be strength, cardio, yoga, or stretching, there’s something for everyone. In the strength category, you can pick between full body, upper body, core, or lower body which makes it very easy to focus on one area at a time. One of my favorite things about this app is that you can pick how long you want your workout to be, ranging anywhere from 5-60 minutes. So even if you only have a few minutes between work and class, you can still get a quick workout in.

This app is very helpful for people who struggle with making up their own workouts because it tells you exactly what you’re doing, for how long, and what is coming next. Not only does it tell you what you’re doing, but it also shows you an example of how to do the move, just in case you’ve never seen it before. Sworkit also sets up the workouts to be in interval form, which gets your heart rate up quick, and can help you burn a major amount of calories in a short amount of time.

So whether it be you’re pinching pennies, and can’t buy a membership, or you’re just feeling too lazy to go all the way to the gym (it happens to the best of us) Sworkit can help you release the guilt you may feel when you’re eating that extra cookie later.

Happy Eating,

Anne

I won’t lie to you, late night snacking is one of my all time favorite things. Cuddled in bed, watching netflix, and just snacking… sign me up. However, this can be a very dangerous game. If you’re sitting there with a bag of skittles, it’s very easy to get carried away and eat the entire bag, (oh wait, or is that just me??) I know that when I am laying in bed, I am always craving chocolate. And like I’ve said before, I can’t just cut chocolate out of my diet, it’s just not possible. So, I’ve found a healthy solution to these late night cravings.

The solution is simple, dark chocolate covered bananas. This snack is almost too easy, it just doesn’t even seem real. All you have to do is buy some bananas, cut them into slices, and freeze them for about 30 minutes. Next, you melt a bar of dark chocolate, and dip the bananas in the melted chocolate, and stick them back in the freezer for another 5 minutes. So easy!

This snack really is so helpful to those cravings because you get so much chocolate in each bite, and you really don’t need to eat an entire handful because the dark chocolate is so rich. These are also one of my favorite snacks because you can put them in a container and keep them in the freezer, so anytime you just NEED some chocolate in your life, you can pop one in your mouth and it does the trick.

Cheap, Easy, and Healthy… Can’t get any better than that.

Happy Eating,

Anne

One simple way to reduce the amount of calories you’re consuming is to count calories. There has been research done that has shown that one way to lose weight easily is to record everything you eat, this idea goes hand-in-hand with calorie counting.

One of the best apps for this, and the one that I have used since high school, is called “My Fitness Pal.” This app is extremely helpful because it allows you to set a goal of how much weight you want to lose, or if you just want to avoid gaining weight, and it calculates how many calories you should be eating every day. They also make it very easy because you can use the bar code on the back of a lot of food products to scan it directly into your account. If there’s no bar code, you can just search the food, and it should appear in the search results. You are also able to record your workouts and how many calories you burned, which helps you track your progress.

The reason this method is so effective is because it allows people to actually see what they are putting in their bodies. Before I started calorie counting, I had no idea how many calories were in certain foods. Don’t get me wrong, this didn’t stop me from eating ice cream, m&ms, etc., but it definitely forced me to eat them in moderation.

The research that has been done on calorie counting and recording your food intake, has found that people will avoid binge eating just for the sole fact that they don’t want that binge recorded for them to see at a later time. This is something that never occured to me when I first started counting my calories, however, I can see how this can help change someones mind when they are feeling like they want to binge eat.

The app is free, the solution is easy, and it’s really quite interesting. So, I suggest you check it out, just to get an idea of how many calories you eat on a daily basis.

Happy Eating,

Anne

I’m back again with “cooking for one” to share more of the easy, cheap, and healthy recipes I have discovered during my college years. The one I am going to share with you is one of my favorites because it really is so simple. Today’s recipe is Fajita Chicken. Here’s what you need:

• One Chicken Breast
• 1 Bell Pepper, cut into strips
• 1 Small Onion, cut into strips
• Salt and Pepper
• Olive Oil
• Fajita Seasoning
• Foil

Here’s the steps you’ll need to take:

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees

2. Place chicken breast on piece of foil

3. Season chicken with salt and pepper

4. Place strips of bell pepper and onion on top of chicken breast

5. Sprinkle fajita seasoning over top

6. Drizzle with olive oil

7. Wrap the foil around chicken, cook for 25-30 minutes

Total Calories: 299

Again, this is a recipe I make often because most of the ingredients are already laying around my house, or can be used in another recipe. I really try to find recipes that have simple ingredients because that saves a lot at the grocery store. I originally found this recipe on a website designed for family cooking and the ingredients were just complex, and the cost of it was just out of my budget. So, I decided to modify that recipe so that I could cook this simple dinner any night of the week. I also cut out some ingredients that were high in calories. This is a recipe that is healthy but much more exciting than just a simple chicken breast and side. My favorite side to serve with this dinner is just a simple side salad or rice, but you can really serve with whatever you prefer.

Happy Eating,

Anne