"The Healthy Party Girl"
While I did make a commitment to myself to lose weight and stay in shape, I also refused to not enjoy my life. Health is all about a balance. I still go out to eat with my friends, occasionally have a frozen treat, and I DEFINITELY still get my drink on while maintaining my healthy lifestyle.
The problem with college life though, is that so many students don't understand how to maintain this balance! The campus mentality promotes going out, getting drunk off your ass, snacking on junk food late at night, waking up late the next day with a hangover, moping around and eating bad food to recover, then repeating this process at least 3 times a week.
This is not healthy. At all. Not only will the added calories from your consumption of alcohol and junk food help you create a weight problem, getting trashed that often can create hidden and latent health effects. Your liver will not thank you 20 years from now!
Instead of allowing this cycle to slowly break down your health, you can be proactive with your drinking style! Here are some tips I go by:
1) Plan ahead.
When I look ahead at my weekly schedule, I try and plan when I am going to drink. For example, if I know I am probably going to have a few drinks when I go out on Saturday night, I will avoid restaurant food and sweets Thursday and Friday to save myself some calories.
2) Don't drink to get trashed.
If you are trying to maintain your weight and healthy lifestyle, you shouldn't be drinking to get trashed as possible. There is nothing healthy about drinking till you pass out or until you can't remember anything. First of all, the amount of calories you would consume to do that is ridiculous, and the damage you are doing to your body from that much alcohol is obscene. How are you suppose to maintain a fit machine when you are constantly putting garbage in it? Instead drink socially. Have a few shots. Drink 3 beers. Have a mixed drink. It is okay to get a little buzzed or tipsy!
3) Do something active.
If you are sitting around watching a movie while drinking hard alcohol, you are not giving your body the extra boost to burn off the caloric effects. I know what you are thinking... "Does Aley really expect me to do a workout while I'm drunk?"And the answer is no. Not at all! There are so many things I do to help my body burn off the alcohol in my system.
1) Dance it out. An hour of intense dancing can burn more than 400 calories!
2) Walk to the party or bar. Walking in high heels= major calorie burn!
3) Don't sit down at your destination. Staying on your feet for 3 hours will knock out some calories!
4) If you still have some energy left when you get home, do 100 crunches. BURN THAT BEER BELLY!
4) Don't drunk munch on junk food.
I always have something set out to eat when I get home that is healthy and tasty! My favorites include: string cheese, peanut butter oatmeal, wheat thins with laughing cow spread, or baby carrots and low fat ranch. Save yourself the calories and the regret in the morning! You will feel so much better if you don't order that cream cheese pizza from the Pizza Shuttle.
5) Drink light alcohol.
Most people are unaware of how caloric their drinks actually are. You might be drinking your whole days worth of calories in one night at the bar! On average:
1 shot = 100 calories
1 beer= 150 calories
1 margarita= 500 calories
1 mixed drink= 300 calories
If I were to have 2 margaritas, that would be a little bit more than half of my daily amount of calories! YIKES.
I recommend looking up how many calories are in your favorite drink, and comparing them to healthy alternatives at websites such as: Get Drunk Not Fat.
This may seem extreme, but if you are really serious about losing weight and staying in shape these tips are the way to go! I have not only maintained my body, but have continued to lose weight while sticking to these guidelines. Sometimes you just need to be a little tipsy to get fully cardio-jiggy with it on the dancefloor!
