My Journey to Health and Wellness

Health and wellness was an almost nonexistent concept to me when I was younger, with the exception of organized sports—and I didn’t really view that as a healthy activity, but a bonus or side-effect of playing sports.

When I was growing up, I ate as much as I could as often as I wanted. I used to think it didn’t matter what or how much I ate as long as I was working out, which I usually was regularly because of basketball or volleyball. But that kind of thinking caught up with me quickly when I was no longer in high school sports—and an adult instead of a growing teenager.

It wasn’t until I attended college at UW-La Crosse—a university well-known for its active and fitness-focused students—that I finally started to realize the importance of health and wellness, or that other people even cared about working out and eating healthy.

We had a beautiful fitness center at UW-Lax, and I remember early in the year my new friends went to go check it out. I remember being surprised and confused when they asked me if I wanted to go along and workout with them. Working out outside of playing a sports was a foreign concept to me. It was not a pleasant thing, why would anyone want to work out voluntarily?

I attribute this thinking to my association of exercise with sprinting for punishment, and the negative environment surrounding me in high school. Talking about accomplishments (like good grades) or trying to do something to better yourself personally, like eating healthy or exercising, was often met with sarcasm, jeering, and eye rolling, as if it were being done to make the others around you feel bad about themselves instead of trying to improve yourself. Making fun of yourself and your body was the norm and we spent the most of our day complaining and hating a lot of things.

Looking back, this makes me really sad. Not only did this environment discourage healthy living, but it was awful for my mental health (a vital part of health and wellness for me). I didn’t realize how negative I was until I went to college. The people in my life made a huge difference in my outlook. Accomplishments were celebrated, not belittled. Goals were encouraged and supported. I’m so thankful for my Lax Ladies and the positive influence they had on me <3 But even though the first year of college got the ball rolling, it still took me a few years to figure it out.

Why I Choose Health and Wellness Over Weight Loss

I want to have healthy habits without obsessing. I want weight loss to be a side effect of living of healthier lifestyle, both physically and mentally. I learned this about myself through personal experience.

After my first year of college, I realized that I had gained some weight since high school and was determined to get rid of it over the summer. I did start developing some better habits, but also some not-so-good habits. I was working out hard doing double workouts almost every day, counting calories, and weighing myself frequently. While I did lose weight, and did gain some confidence in myself because of it, in my opinion the mental stress wasn't worth it. I had become obsessed—and that's not to say I was starving myself, because that was definitely not the case. It was just constantly on my mind, and led to a lot of binge eating and guilt.

Maybe counting calories helps the numbers go down sometimes, but it doesn't necessarily mean you are being healthy. That method also made me crash in the end, and as a result I dropped a lot of those habits when I finally went back to the school in the fall. Having that on my mind, plus school work and a trying to have a social life, was too much for me. I had learned to associate exercise and healthy eating with mental stress—not a conducive way to form lasting, healthy habits.

Living a Healthy Lifestyle

In the last couple years I've tried to refocus my brain on how good exercise makes you feel when you are done with it.I try to workout 4-5 days a week and it doesn’t matter what it is or how long I exercise for. Because even yoga and pilates, although I might not work up a big sweat, it makes my body feel amazing when I'm done. Something is always better than nothing at all:)

Along those same lines, I try to remember how good my body feels when I fuel it with healthy, clean food instead of junk (easier said than done…I really like cheese #Wisconsingirl). This is a big focus for me this year and also a huge challenge. But I can tell it’s getting easier—and that’s progress! These days I eat way more fruits and veggies, whole grains and healthy fats than ever before!

Maybe these healthy habits don’t happen 100% of the time, or even 90% of the time, but I’m still proud of how far I’ve come since high school. Being proud of my accomplishments is major progress in itself!

#Health #Wellness