Author: Anna Reynolds

With summer right around the corner everyone, including me, are franticly trying to lose belly fat. There are two ways you can tackle your dilemma with body fat. First, you can be completely irrational by trying to do 1,000 push ups a day or fasting on some weird detox. Second, you can be rational and follow a few of these tips.

1. Swap Your Cup (or in my case cups) of Coffee with Green Tea: I know with finals coming up you think I am crazy, I kinda of am, but we are too young to be downing cups of coffee like our grandmothers anyway. Green tea is a great alternative to coffee and it has caffeine. Green tea has compounds called catechins, that blast adipose tissue by accelerating the metabolism, this increases the release of fat from fat cells and then speeds up the liver’s fat burning capacity.
2. Weight Training: When it comes to wanting to lose belly fat people think they need to jump on the treadmill and start running but that isn;t going to work. Sure we will lose a couple pounds but your metabolism will adjust and you can end up plateauing. In which case you will gain some weight. Weight training is constant movement that burns tons of calories and helps you lose belly fat and tone.
3. Five or six meals a day: You have probably heard this a thousand times but I am still going to throw this earn here to reiterate how important it is to be eating properly. Eating five to six meals a day, like the first two tips, helps boost metabolism. Faster metabolism helps you process nutrients and have a strong body.
4. Pack your diet with protein: This is something I am sure you have also heard a lot, that’s because it is necessary for a fit and healthy life! Protein is required if you want to be lean. If you are having trouble getting protein in your diet invest in protein powder. I recently bought protein powder for the first time and I love it, it helps so much!
5. Indulge in Dark Chocolate: Okay when I read this I was just surprised as you probably are. I mean we all dark chocolate is better than milk chocolate but who knew it could help you lose belly fat. According to an article on HuffingtonPost.com it has to do with the flavonoids, heart-healthy compounds in chocolate that have important antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties. So, you’re welcome indulge in some dark chocolate.
6. Don’t Judge Your Health By A Number On A Scale: This is very important for the success of any weight loss journey. Sometimes the number on the scale or a reflection of water weight or what time of the day it is. Also, muscle weighs more than fat, so if you are training really hard you can actually gain weight. There is no reason to obsess over number on the scales, if you feel good and look good who cares about the numbers.

Tip of The Week: Do some yoga to relax before finals week. Check out classes at the ARC! 

Song of The Week: Bright by Echosmith

With spring break behind us some people maybe struggling to get back in to their gym routine or with summer fast approaching people are look to start a gym routine. One of the main things you can gain from a healthy and fit lifestyle is confidence, you begin to look good and feel good about yourself. There doesn’t need to be drastic results for you to start feeling better Your body will appreciate all the good you are doing and it will be reflected with confidence. So before you start going on a crazy diet or begin an intense workout regiment work on your confidence level.

Here are some tips on how to feel better about yourself:

1. Eat a big healthy breakfast: Before your day even begins you can get that confidence level up with the right breakfast. Skip the Starbucks breakfast sandwich and make yourself a hearty breakfast. I enjoy scrambled eggs, wheat toast, and some fruit. Some other good breakfast foods are oatmeal and turkey sausage. You want something that is satisfying, filling, and gives you that boost you need in the morning. After a healthy breakfast you can leave the house feeling good about yourself.
2. Workout in the morning: I understand a lot of people have class in the morning or hate waking up early but a morning workout leaves you feeling confident and energized the rest of the day. If you don’t have time to make it to the gym do some at home workouts. You can do a quick jog around the block, yoga, Pilates, or workouts that don’t involve weights like push ups and crunches. Starting the morning with a little sweating leaves you feeling great the rest of the day!
3. Dress up every once in a while: I know a lot of people, myself include, much rather wear yoga pants and flip flops everyday but it can really change how you feel about yourself if you spend sometime getting ready in the morning. This doesn’t mean you need to treat everyday like New York Fashion Week but maybe once a week throw on a cute blouse or nice summer dress. A little makeup and a cute outfit can go long way and will make you feel as good as you look!
4. Compliment others: You may be thinking how does this help your confidence? Well making other people feel better about themselves makes you feel better about yourself. Most the time when you compliment someone they return the favor. Telling someone that you like their outfit may result in them admiring your hair and you both end felling good. You never know your little compliment can make someone’s day 10x better and how can that not make you feel good about yourself?

My final piece of advice is love yourself! If you don’t love yourself how can others? Love yourself exactly the way you are, don’t compare yourself to others. We are all different and beautiful in our own ways. So own who you are!

Tip of The Day: Walk tall and hold your head high!

Song of The Day: Shut up and Dance by Walk The Moon 

I started this semester wanting to amp up my workout routine and I certainly found out how. A typical workout for me is usual a 45 to 50 minute circuit of lifting, isolating certain muscle groups on certain days, and 30 minutes of cardio  (stair master and spinning). This semester I wanted to add something else to my routine and try something new. If you didn’t know SDSU has a variety of physical fitness classes you can take for credit and that is how I found Self Defense for Women. Initially I was thinking of taking a beginning judo class or maybe kickboxing. I thought I would start with self defense and work my way up to judo.

The class has ended up being so much more than I expected. I thought we would learn some simple techniques to get away from an attacker, but we are actually learning how to take on an attacker from every angel and every position. We’ve learned proper falling techniques, how to prevent and escape being choked, and how to escape hand grabs and hair pulls. That was all apart of the first few weeks of classes. Now we are actually being attacked by judo assistants, these guys are trained fighters and wear fully protective body gear. When we are doing the attacks we wear a mouth piece and head gear. Some days the attacks start on the floor and other days we get taken to the floor.

The class’s main goal is to teach you how to keep distance from your attacker and top prepare you for any kind of assault. With all the attacking and falling the class seems scary but it isn’t. You are learning valuable skills and its empowering. With it being an all women class you get to bound with other girls and help each other do better in the course.

I highly recommend this class to any women looking for something to empower you and teach you how to defend yourself. It doesn’t matter if you are fit, weak, small or big this class is built for every woman. This class is beneficial to all, even for someone like me who does weight training. This class doesn’t only build skills but it also builds confidence!

Tip of the Week: Never be scared to leave your comfort zone!

Song of the Week: Hey Mama ft. Nicki Minaj & Afrojack 

People who have dedicated themselves to a specific sport or the sport of being fit and healthy live a different lives than the normal person. They have different needs and follow different rules. Which can make them difficult to be in a romantic relationship with. As someone who is dating a serious athlete and is a fitness enthusiast themselves, I know first hand about the struggles this lifestyle can cause in a relationship. I’ve learned to manage and understand how to date an athlete and have come up with some tips to help other people understand.

How to date an athlete/fitness enthusiast:

1. Understand they’re hungry all the time: Athletes and people who workout burn a ton of calories and require a lot of food to refuel themselves. Without the proper amount of food and protein the’ll become what is know as “hangry” (hungry and angry), this could lead to fighting. I’ve learned to always have snacks in my purse or backpack to hold my athlete over till the next meal.
2. They don’t have a lot of time: Between workouts, competitions, traveling, school/work, eating, and sleeping athletes don’t have a lot of down time. When they do have down time they just want to relax. This makes it difficult to plan much and puts requirements on what you can do. You have to understand their tired and date night might have to be a night in watching a movie. After a long week of training their not going to want to go on a bike ride around the bay.
3. They require a good nights sleep: In the college lifestyle people are used to staying up late partying and studying. An athlete can’t afford staying up till 2 a.m. drinking or staying up all night cramming for an exam. As a significant other you should help your partner get sleep not take sleep away. Going to bed before 10 p.m. might be unusual for some but that’s late for a serious athlete.
4. Be supportive but don’t lie: After a bad performance an athlete will probably hear how awful they did by their coach, so they don’t need to hear it from you too. Be their number one fan but don’t over do it. You don’t have to lie to them about how great they were if that’s not the case. The best thing to do after an athlete has a bad performance is to let them come to you if they want to talk about it, don’t force anything just be there for them.
5. All the sacrifices come with reward: Dating an athlete is tough and does require sacrifices but there is so many good things about dating an athlete. For one, you are dating someone who knows all about commitment, dedication, and hard work. They can also be a source of inspiration for you. Another plus is that they usually don’t like to party that often which can help you cut back on nights out drinking. The type of mind set and work ethic that comes with being an athlete can also help build a strong relationship.

Tip of The Week: Tell someone that you love how much you appreciate them, it’ll make them happy and you’ll good! 

Song of The Week: Love Me Like You Do by Ellie Goulding