Successful weight loss tips for busy students?

As someone who graduated from college and had a super busy first year at her job (then quit because of the stress), I completely understand. However, I do have a few tips for you.

First, as for healthy eating. It sounds like you're in college. Try to bring your lunch with you when you head to campus (or, if you live on campus, try to make your lunch). While it's not necessarily the "coolest" thing to do, it is much healthier than eating the foods on campus (and I know they're tempting!). I suggest buying a little lunch bag (they have some really cute ones at stores like Target) and a little freezer ice pack so you can keep your foods cold. Then, make sure you pack healthy foods. Try making healthy sanwiches or wraps (usually you can find some healthy tortillas for wraps in the deli section of your grocery store). Try to bring fruits and veggies as well for your lunch (and snacks too). Things that work great: celery sticks, baby carrots or carrot sticks, cucumbers, etc. Fruits I love for portability: grapes, oranges, apples, bananas, cantalope (when it's in season, cut it up ahead of time and keep it in a container -- it's soo good), strawberries, etc. The key is definitely to make sure you have some low-fat snack options with you since it's common to snack while at college. If you have access to a microwave for lunch, try bringing a microwavable soup. You're supposed to watch sodium with these, but there are low-sodium options out there and I find that soup really fills me up.

The next thing you should try adding is exercise. I understand that you have a lot of homework and studying to do, but consider trying to take a break from it once in a while. Try starting small and exercising for just 30 minutes 3 times a week, then gradually increase the amount of time you exercise and the number of days you exercise. I think you'll be amazed that you actually will have MORE energy and be able to think better by exercising a little bit.

I also really recommend tryng to recruit someone to exercise with you. For me, that's my boyfriend. It really is true that you feel like you would be letting your exercise buddy down if you skip a workout! You could ask your roommate, a friend, boyfriend, or family member to workout with you.

As for exercises, try to start out small. You could start out by walking around campus, rollerblading (if your campus is set-up for that type of activity), biking, etc. If your campus isn't that big, try checking out some parks around your area. Also, see if your school has a gym/rec center/field house that you have a membership to. Sometimes colleges/universities provide this to their students and they can work-out for free. You could start on exercise bikes or elliptical machines, etc. Definitely make sure you have music for doing cardio workouts. I recommend a variety of upbeat songs (think about Lady GaGa, Katey Perry, Enrique Iglesias's newer songs, Black Eyed Peas, etc). These will help to get you moving and keep you moving. You could also try some workout DVD's, but I have never liked them and have always given up with them.

Just try to make little changes, one at a time, and it'll eventually add up.

Good luck!=)