Exercising is a goal that requires consistency, dedication and, a lot of the times, self control.
Being able to motivate yourself to go to the gym everyday doesn’t cover it all.
You have to be able to give up some foods if you really want to see effective results.
There are plenty of foods that you can still eat when looking to lose weight, but you should also be aware of the kinds of foods that you should stay away from.
One of the biggest sources of fat, especially for college students, is alcohol.
Alcohol is very rich in calories, oftentimes causes the munchies, it slows down your metabolism and it makes you sleepy, which doesn’t exactly lead to calorie burn.
When alcohol enters your system, your body works to burn the alcohol calories first before anything else, leaving behind the fat calories, causing you to gain weight.
Ever heard of a beer belly or gut?
Well that’s a real thing.
I’m not saying to cut alcohol out altogether, but watch your portions and stick to your exercise routine.
Another really common drink that almost everyone drinks is whole milk.
You may think, it’s milk, it’s supposed to make my bones stronger.
However, whole milk is loaded with extra fat and cholesterol.
There are great alternatives to whole milk like almond milk and skimmed milk.
If you’re not interested in those, try getting two percent or one percent milk with less fat.
Another common drink is fruit juice. Juice from a bottle or carton has a lot of sugar and is most of the time just floating calories.
You’re better off just eating the real fruit over drinking the juice.
Fruits are often a great alternative to sugary sweets. They are just as good but ten times healthier. However, fruits aren’t always good and can actually carry a lot of natural sugars.
Tropical fruits have a lot of natural sugars in them, especially ripe pineapple and mangos. You can still eat them but try to only consume small proportions of them.
Try to stay away from grapes as well, since they also contain a lot of sugar and can trigger cravings for sweet treats that aren’t necessarily healthy.
Apples are great, as well as berries, oranges and bananas. Try to always choose fruit over fattening sweets.
A food that can really get you is multi-grain bread. All the pretty seeds on the top of the bread look very inviting and especially healthy, that’s why so many people choose to eat it.
In reality multi-grain doesn’t mean whole grain, so what you may think is healthy might actually be very unhealthy.
Bread especially has a lot of carbs, so why not just read the label and make sure you’re choosing the healthier type.
There are always going to be foods to look out for, but if you start little by little it’ll be much easier to give up unhealthy choices in the future.
Caroline Perry can be contacted at cperry@kscequinox.com
