I have always been one to despise exercise and love junk food. This was never a problem until I realized that my childhood baby fat wasn’t disappearing the same way my older brother’s had. I was not as thin as he was, and I was okay with that. Yes, I have had body image problems, but who hasn’t? Going into the summer of 2017, I had accepted my body for what is was, and didn’t make any attempts to change it (on purpose at least).

Last summer, I spent four weeks at Mo-Ranch, a Presbyterian retreat center. I attended a week long church camp, then returned for a three-week long leadership development program. Mo-Ranch and exercise are synonymous. You walk up and down hills all day, carry snack to groups across the ranch and participate in normal camp activities. Unless you bring your own, there is no access to soda or junk/ snack food. Because campers and staff are in the sun all day, the kitchen provides the camp with healthy snack, meal and drink choices.  So naturally, coming back from Mo-Ranch, I had shed a few pounds.

However, going to camp did not inspire me to lose weight. I did not come home and decide to start living a healthier lifestyle. However, when I came home, people noticed that I had lost a few pounds. Of course that made me feel good. I didn’t want to gain anything back, even if it was just a few pounds. I thought about my time at camp and talked to my mom and realized that I didn’t drink any Dr. Pepper for the month that I was gone. Bingo! I made the decision to stop drinking soda in late June, and haven’t had any since. Looking back, I didn’t know exactly what was so bad about soda, but an article from Psychology Today revealed that the average can of soda has thirty-nine grams of sugar in it. If you’re like me, I had two or three every single time I would go out to eat. That adds up!

I soon realized that just giving up sugary drinks would not be enough. My next thought- food. Don’t be misguided, giving up food is not healthy. However, cutting out the foods with MSG or unnecessary unhealthy snacks in between meals can be. The best rule of thumb is to eat when you’re hungry and stop when you aren’t. My problem was eating when I wasn’t hungry. I used to get home from school and eat until my stomach couldn’t take anymore, and then eat a full meal at dinner, which I realized was not good for me considering that my after school snacks mainly consisted of chips or other unhealthy food. I also used to eat based on my emotions. Stress is as common to me as breathing, so I could always find myself stress-eating. Taking all of this into consideration, I understood it would be beneficial to keeping my weight down if I monitored what I was consuming. Now, I don’t eat salads all the time, and I love hamburgers, but I just made sure that I wasn’t over-eating or taking in too many unhealthy things at once.

The final stretch of my health kick was exercise. I can’t say this enough, but I do not like exercising! At least, I didn’t use to. In August of 2017, I went to Colorado on my family’s yearly summer vacation. My aunt would invite me to work out with her everyday. I went with her everyday and ran at least a mile then would try to work with a few other machines, too. The biggest perk was going to the hot tub afterwards. (This was probably the only reason I agreed to go in the first place if I’m being honest.) I also really enjoy hiking, so everyday I would hike and then work out in the hotel gym. My aunt would always tell me how great it is to work out and tried to convince me to keep up the daily exercise when I got home. I hesitantly agreed, but doubted I would follow through with this. The drive from my house to Telluride, Colorado is roughly seventeen hours. After over a week of non-stop moving, I was dying to get out and move my legs when I got home. So, I ran a mile. Then, the next day I ran a mile. I made it a point to run a mile every week day, and I have kept that up since then. I have also incorporated thirty squats and twenty-five  sit-ups into my daily routine.

Through not drinking soda, cutting back on junk food and extra snacks and spending ten minutes exercising every day, I have lost twenty-four pounds of unnecessary weight. I think one of the most important things to know about my journey is that I was positive with my self-image the whole way through, and still try to be. In other times of my life where I have negatively tried to fix my body, I have not heeded any results. A happy mind makes a happy body.