the reverse the slices, slice.

 ( I'm gonna chalk this up to a good life experience)

 ( Oh yes, I felt even more awkward than I looked )

 ( white top & striped skirt )

 ( born to be wild? hardly. I was born for the beach )

 ( holy sunburn )

C A U T I O N: 

This post may contain vain sentiments and frivolous things that we are supposed to not care about. But I suppose you're thinking similar things too, I just happened to write it down and post it on blogger.

Confused? Let me explain.

Spring break is 3.5 weeks away for us Ohio State students and I am cringing at the idea of giving up my chunky knit sweaters, scarves, and boots. And peppermint mochas, but that is another story. All over twitter and facebook I am seeing convicting tweets and posts about "ONLY 23 DAYS TILL SPRING BREAK!" "spring break diet starts NOW. #lifesucks" "just worked out for 3 HOURS at the gym, beach here I come! #soready"

Scary stuff right?! I fully believe that I need to tackle these fears head on. Hence why I have created "the reverse the slices" slice. Slices equaling pizza slices, pie slices, pumpkin roll slices, turkey slices, cake slices, anything-processed slices, etc. I will be following (and have been following since this past Monday) said "slice plan" until spring break...and you are more then welcome to join me! Luckily for all of us I have been preparing to write about this my whole life. Yup, I have been reading fitness magazines and health books, taking nutrition classes, and even reading books on sports that I don't play...which is all of them. Basketball for Dummies, the Complete Idiot's Guide to Football, Eat This Not That, Shape, Women's Health, the Men's Health Abs Diet, you name it, I've read it. I can't help it, I find this health nut stuff weirdly fascinating even though I have not put most of it into practice. 

But that is all changing now. Because over the next 3.5 weeks I am going to regurgitate all of this information and cross my fingers that writing it all out will hold me accountable. And maybe help someone else out too. So whether you're going for the beauty queen look, the runway model look, or just the I-was-born-for-spring-break look, (refer to above photos) I know we can be successful. 

WEEK 1 SLICE 1:

Eat when you are hungry. 

Never ever ever deprive your body of nourishment! With that being said, that does not mean eat Doritos when you're hungry for Doritos. I think that I would call myself a social eater, as in I eat chips when you eat chips and if you are eating a cookie it just wouldn't be right if I didn't have one too. Man I gotta stop that.

WEEK 1 SLICE 2:

Eat whole, unprocessed foods.

It is so important for our skin, bodies, and energy to eat whole foods that haven't been manufactured, altered, processed, or refined. Try eating whole foods for one day and I promise your energy will sore!  It's tricky when I'm running between classes and meetings to grab something unprocessed rather than a granola bar or lean cuisine. But I'm quickly learning that packing an apple is just as easy as packing pretzels.

WEEK 1 SLICE 3:

Have a plan. And a backup plan for your plan.

Do you know how many calories and how much protein you need a day? Probs not. I need about 1,800 calories a day to maintain my body weight and 1,300 if I want to lose a pound a week. And I try to eat 90 grams of protein a day! Knowing this is kinda pretty crucial if you are serious about toning up for spring break. In order to tone up you have to get your body fat to go down. And knowing this also kinda pretty much sucks huh. As far as back up plans go, my back up plan is to run 3.5 miles 3x a week as my "insurance" against all the fro yo I consume.

WEEK 1 SLICE 4:

Make sleep your number one priority.

Seriously though. If you aren't sleeping 7-8 hours every night do everything in your power to change that. When I'm tired the only things that sounds appetizing are high GI index carbs (aka donuts and bread) and um ya, more carbs.

WEEK 1 SLICE 5:

Christina needs to get off her lazy bum.

And you should too. Maybe you are a D-1 athlete (*cough cough* my boyfriend Justin) and already have a rigorous exercise schedule. But for me and everyone else, we need to be more serious about being active and committing to a healthy lifestyle. God gave us our bodies to use them to glorify Him, not to be lazy or to overly criticize them. Whichever end of the spectrum you're at, I hope that you find something active you can do and enjoy. Even though I don't love it yet, I picked running as my new hobby and personal competition. It's been almost fun, in a painful-I-hate-every-minute-till-I'm-done kind of way.

Now for those of you who made it to the end of this extraordinarily long post without skimming, congratulations. Pat yourselves on the back for me! I'll update everyone on my progress Monday, and please do keep me updated on yours.