Hey!

I totally understand what stress and long hours studying/working can do to you. I am in my final year of an accountancy undegrad program. I have accepted a part time position with the firm that I interned with during this past busy season and between studying, working, and my various other school, church, family, and personal commitments, keeping an active lifestyle can be very difficult. I have lost 40 pounds in the last two years and am endeavoring to lose 30 more (after recently adding exercise to my routine).


The thing I have found most helpful is to price out the best way to eat healthy on a budget and I have pretty much eliminated junk food from my life by simply not purchasing it at the store and making sure my student card (which can be used to purchase food from the vending machines always has a really low balance so that I am not tempted to use it to purchase food).

Here are the things that I do that have helped the most with stress...

Take long, leisurely walks. Sure this doesn't help a lot with your cardiovascular fitness but it does wonders for regulating hormones and clearing your mind.

Cardio- I imagine that your school probably offers free fitness classes for current students. I take Zumba twice a week to improve my cardiovascular fitness and burn some extra calories.

Strength training- I purchased a kettlebell and use it to strength train. I do swings, cleans and presses (as I am a beginner) and also use it to do other "traditional" strength training such as single arm rows, deadlifts, bicep curls, etc.

I also practice yoga at home, again for stress relief and flexibility ( I suggest yogajournal.com and youtube to find progressions/sequences to practice).

I try my best to take the stairs at school, park farther from buildings, and make sure I'm getting up and moving in between classes or go and take a quick jog up and downa couple of flights of stairs to break up a long study session. I find that this kind of activity helps keep me focused and alert.

Also, and I cannot stress this enough, drink plenty of water. I drink between 100-120 ounces a day, and I've found this is indispensable for good health.

I know that sounds like a lot, but it really isn't so bad. Here is what this week has looked like/will look like for me:

Monday: Yoga (1 hr)
Tuesday: Zumba (1 hr)
Wednesday: Crappy weather here, 10 minutes of yoga, and a half hour of stretching as well as the usual "NEAT" activity.
Thursday: Zumba (1 hr)
Friday: Long walk (45 M) with stretching (20 M) and light yoga (10 min)
Saturday: Yoga (1 Hr)
Sunday: Kettlebell strength training (25 min) Stretching (15 min)

As far as eating here are the best things I've found:

Homemade granola bars (check pinterest, there are tons of recipes, so much healthier than even the least processed options available at the grocery, and comparatively very cheap). I love KIND bars but I hate that there are still more processing involved than I care for and that they're 1.50 for such a small bar. I can make mine at home for about a third of the price.

Apples and Bananas usually price out at about .20 per piece of fruit.

Eggs are your best friend! I eat them scrambled and devilled all the time.

Greek Yogurt, the full-fat plain variety, I usually top mine with a little bit of honey or with some of my homemade granola. Sometimes I eat this for dinner hwen I don't feel like cooking.

If you don't already know, put some effort into learning how to cook. It will pay off in spades. I love to cook and as I've improved I've found ways to make cheap healthy food.

I used to buy into the notion that cooking/making food at home was way more expensive and not as good as just getting take out. I couldn't have been more wrong. I now LOVE to cook and I prefer what I make myself to almost anything I can pick up at a local fast food joint.

I noticed when I was in school I am ou for the summer. I do night school so id sit around and do homework all day and then I would go to class hungry come home study and eat and try to get some sleep. I noticed I was gaining weight. I have a son I am a single parent so with his school stuff and running around with him I was to tiered juggling school and him and trying to squeeze in a workout psssh seemed impossible. I am trying to make some changes for me and my health and also for my son.