“Wanna go to Baskin Robbins?” my roommate asked one late night. That initial question began frequent visits around 11:30 p.m. for my beloved Rocky Road ice cream plopped on a waffle cone. One time as we were pulling up, we saw a closed sign hanging mercilessly on the entrance doorway; somehow we sweet-talked (pardon the pun) the employees to open back up, only enabling this fattening obsession.

Then there was the time that I remember specifically medicating anxiety with a Sonic cheeseburger and fries. At the time my stress level was at its highest. I was taking 21 hours of classes and living alone.

The change of pace when entering college will also change your waistline if you allow it to. A once active person may find themselves drastically inactive, most nights studying on the couch. Home-cooked meals are no longer available and neither is a plethora of money.

I didn’t gain the dreaded “Freshman 15” but I did gain my junior year when transferring to a school a state away. I no longer had home-cooked meals. Believe it or not, I still exercised pretty regularly, but eating junk will still put the pounds on.

Recently, a friend posted a picture of me on Facebook. The time frame: the summer before my senior year of college. I thought for sure I was being sabotaged. I looked at the picture with awe, and my husband had to take a few looks before realizing it was me, twenty-five pounds heavier. I was so embarrassed that I untagged the picture immediately wishing that I could report it. Surely, the Facebook people would understand!

Even though the picture is embarrassing for me to see, I realized what a dramatic change I’ve made since then, but I’ve also found that once you’ve made that transition to a healthy lifestyle, it’s even harder to change to a healthy mindset. Obsessing about what you’re eating and when you’re going to work out can crowd your mind. Once you start seeing results, you want to keep them and improve upon them. It can be a vicious cycle in the mind. For the most part I have been able to maintain a healthy perspective. However, I have found myself shooing away that creeping obsession and unfortunately, I have seen it appear in some of my friends.

In order to stay healthy mentally, remember that it’s okay to skip a day at the gym if something comes up. Seven days a week is not necessary. You’ve got to have a life and allow your body to rest.

When it comes to food, eat healthy well-balanced meals. If you’re like me and have lost weight the healthy way, then you know that you can actually eat more than you may think.

Don’t freak out when you nibble the birthday cake at work. Of course, you want to maintain a healthy diet, but splurging once or twice a week will help you more than you think! It will allow you to enjoy the finer things in life and also encourage you to get back on track.

Stop writing it down. When you were first losing weight, you may have needed to keep a journal of everything you ate but no need to continue if you’ve truly changed your lifestyle. Stop counting the calories.

Pull out those before and after pictures frequently. They will remind you of how far you have come. Let’s be honest, no matter how thin and fit we may be, we’ll always see a need for improvement. Those pictures will remind you that you really do look great!

Being healthy physically is important for our lives. But being healthy mentally is too!

~ Brittany Trotman

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