IM BACK!

Okay so I took a longer break that originally planned but I am super excited to get my teeth back into blogging and sharing my own journey based around, healthy eating, fitness, and lifestyle.

Where have I been hiding?!

This past year has been really full on due to it being my last year of my degree and therefore I wanted to put all my head strength into achieving my original goal I set at the beginning of my degree and that was to achieve a first-class degree. All the head strength paid off and I have now gained a shiny new qualification; A First Glass degree in Graphic Design.

I could not be happier with the outcome of my 3 years hard work and I cannot wait to get back into my blogging journey and make StudentVsFitness a frequent blogging platform, continuing to follow my own journey to a healthier lifestyle and a fitter future.

The future of StudentVsFitness

So now I am a graduate and no longer a student I thought about changing the name of my blog but I then thought the whole reason I started this blog was to encourage other students how to eat healthy on a budget, give tips on how to help the dreaded hangover with natural nutrients and how to stay active during tough times with exam stress and coursework deadlines. So I have decided to keep the name the same and continue my blogging journey through the eyes if a student/recent graduate.

I am SO excited to get back into blogging and sharing my experiences through my blog and hopefully starting to network with other similar bloggers to me and work together to inspire other students to take their own journey to a living a healthier lifestyle and working towards a fitter future (all within a student budget!)

Missing: Motivation!

So recently in my world of health and fitness there hasn't been a lot of fitness (boo you Shannon). In the past few weeks I have lost a lot of motivation to get my bum to the gym and sweat my ass into shape. I keep using excuses like " oh I have too much uni work to fit the gym in as well" or "ill go tomorrow and work even harder" (which 99% of the time doesn't happen either).

I don't really know why I have lost the motivation, I think maybe at the beginning the academic year when uni started again I got too caught up in the 'partying' and drinking which made me lose all motivations to keep up with my health and fitness.

I'm definitely making more of an effort to get back into the swing on things now though, I'm starting to bring back the realisation of how much I enjoy going to the gym and how much better it makes me feel after a work out. I'm still not 100% of where I want to be in terms of my body shape either, so now its all go, back to the fitness focus and keep on with my journey to living a healthier lifestyle and a fitter future. 

P.s I know I have bits of negativity in my posts here and there but this is mainly used as my diary of my journey which I can look back on to see my ups and downs and how I overcame different milestones, I wont be negative all the time because I'm not a fan of negativity but everyone goes through spells of it! ANYWAY....

I am super excited for the next few blog posts to come and to keep on with my journey!

Little Update!

4/5 months slightly over due but I have finally organised myself into a routine to get back into what I do best and that is blogging! The past 4/5 months have been super full on with uni and a ton of other stuff which I know is no excuse to have such a long ‘break’ from blogging.

Now work load is starting to calm down with at uni I will have a lot more time to focus on the content of my blog and improving my communications with my audience.

In the essence of health and fitness, I plucked up the courage to join Coventry Uni Hockey Club and couldn’t be happier with the pals I have gained as well as being part of a team of crazy and ever so slightly alcoholic girls. Training every Monday helps to keep on top of my fitness as well as going to the gym throughout the week. I am glad I have kept to an active regime and not just packed it in since moving back to uni.

On the other hand I am not being as strict as I was over the summer with my diet. I am a lot more lenient with what I eat, not in the sense of stuffing my face with shitty foods but after spending the months from April 2015 to September 2015 with no carbohydrates or very little, I have reintroduced certain carbohydrates into my diet these include; whole wheat pasta, whole wheat bread and the usual sweet potato that I love, I had to do this due to training for hockey and playing matches, I needed to re think my diet for energy levels in sport.

I still go to the gym when I can each week which is usually 2-3 times because it helps a lot with letting out stress from uni work as well as keeping the weight I have worked hard to lose, off.

I have a whole list of blog posts that I want to write each week to keep my blog active for my audience and keep my motivations going on my own journey to improving and maintaining my health and fitness. 

Confidence Is Key.

Confidence plays a rather large part in everyone's everyday life.
Got an interview? Make sure you're confident.
Meeting some one new? Just be confident.
Starting a new job/new uni/new school? Let your confidence shine through!
Peeling a potato? Let your confidence lead th ....Wait, what?

I feel like from past failed experiences of changing my lifestyle and fitness it has mostly always been about 'you must lose weight to fit in' or 'Don't be the fat friend in the group' and when I researched into a ton of fad diets and pointless easy exit ways to try and lose weight it just focused on ' lose your weight and workout and life will be just dandy' and although that is slightly true because my life has become a lot 'dandier' since I have started this journey and lost  a lot of weight and become a lot healthier and fitter, I feel like the other factors that you gain from the journey of weight loss and fitness get undermined.

This is where confidence comes in.
Now this time last year, even thinking about stepping outside my comfort zone scared the crap out of me.I had no confidence in anything like talking to new people, making new friends, expressing my opinions, nothing. Nada. I just wouldn't put myself through it. I was probably at my worst during 2011-2013 in the view of my diet, lifestyle and fitness. I was very overweight for my age and that is when my confidence took a very harsh drop ( although I could talk for hours to people I already knew, but that's about how far it went.)

I can hand on heart say that starting this fitness, health and lifestyle journey that I decided to embark on at the beginning of the year has been the best thing I have ever done. Physically, mentally, personally and emotionally it has made my confidence blossom. This summer, that is coming to an end ( super sad, its been rad) has been the best summer for me to prove to myself my confidence has improved. On a recent trip to Devon I decided before we went I was determined to go surfing. no matter what. I had never done it as much as I love water sports and being in the water ( yes, I was definitely a mermaid in my past life) in the past my confidence had held me back greatly and the thought of getting in a wetsuit surrounded by beach goers didn't sound appetising to me, but this summer I wanted to do a ton of stuff I had never done before SO, I got my wetsuit, I got my surfboard and headed out to my favourite place in the world, the ocean. I spent about 4 hours non stop in the water working on my surfing on one of the days and LOVED every minute of it.

I'm not saying that if you eat a salad here and there or go to the gym once in a blue moon (is the moon actually blue though?) that your confidence will come flooding back, that's not how it works. I have been working on my confidence now for the best part of a year in my health, fitness and lifestyle as well as my everyday personal life. Its all one big journey/adventure that I am loving!

I want to carry on stepping outside of my comfort zone fitness and lifestyle wise. One thing that I want to pursue also is to get on the university hockey team. I have a big love for hockey and was always on the teams in my early high school life but it kind of faded due to my drop in confidence, and just didn't think it was 'cool' at the time. (very regretful that I even made this an excuse back then) I have been umming and ahhing all summer about joining because my confidence in my fitness is still growing and although I now have a pretty good fitness level, my critical self still compares myself to others and makes me worry that I wont be able to keep up. But I really want to push myself that bit further even if it is a challenge and I hate it sometimes, I know I will regret it if I don't sign up and challenge myself.

Keep working hard, dreaming big and being positive. Your confidence will soon come flooding in.

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