Maintaining good health involves hard work and dedication. Some may make it their New Year’s Resolution to eat better or to join a gym. However, shortly thereafter, many tend to give up their resolutions and go back to old habits of eating junk and being lazy. Through my high school years, I wasn’t concerned about consuming unhealthy foods. I assumed that since I played sports and never had a problem with obesity as a child, I would easily be able to burn off unhealthy foods. I began resorting to foods like pizza and ice cream, and eating a lot of it. By the time I graduated high school, I noticed pictures on social media of goal “summer bikini bodies.” Compared to my own body, it looked like I had a lot of more work to do than I anticipated. Seeing those pictures on social media made me more aware of my health and gave me motivation to make a change.
It’s not always easy to completely give up foods like pizza and ice cream. In order to achieve my goal of good health, I stopped eating unhealthy foods during the week. By cutting out junk food, I was able to achieve my calorie goal each day. In addition, I picked out fun exercise routines that I enjoyed doing every week day for about half an hour. Exercising helped boost my metabolism, as well as strengthen my body. With eating healthy and working out, I was able to notice improvements on my overall health. By the weekend, I rewarded myself with going out to eat or with “cheat” snacks. However, I would go overboard at times and end up feeling guilty for how much I had consumed. I quickly learned that binge eating on the weekends would not help me achieve my goal of maintaining good health. In order to fix this, I began cooking more meals at home during the weekends. Surprisingly, I had just as fun cooking my own meals compared to going out to restaurants. Also, in order to help stop binge eating on the weekends, I focused on eating in moderation. This helped me to feel satisfied, rather than...