Whatever your pleasure, I think all of us ladies can agree on how great it feels when you realize you need to go down a pants size when you are trying to lose weight. Over the past two years, I got to experience this phenomenon a whopping 5 times as I descended from a size 12 to a size 2. I’ve also thrown it in reverse and bumped back up to a 4. For some that might be the worst feeling, but for me, putting weight back on was necessary. And it made me feel even better.

Through my long and trying journey, I’ve come to learn that both losing weight and gaining weight can be fantastic feelings, so long as you are changing your body for yourself.

For me, it started my senior year of high school. As a graduation requirement, we were forced to watch videos released by the USDA that talked about balanced eating. It was here that I realized just how bad all of the junk food I ate was and what I had to do to fix it. A great, eye-opening experience, right? Except that I’m a perfectionist. I took my eating and exercising to the extreme.

By the summer after I graduated high school, I had become completely obsessed with losing weight. The girl who never ate a vegetable in her life was existing on romaine lettuce and fat-free yogurt. The girl who never exercised was spending 2 hours every day on the elliptical machine. By July, I had lost 80 pounds, but that wasn’t it. My hair was falling out. Despite the summer heat, I needed to wear sweaters as soon as the sun set. I lost my period month after month. Read More »

Let’s face it: we all make stupid decisions. Like choosing a fifth over a review session, or bringing that guy home…who stole our iPod in the morning. That’s part of college life… and a big part of what makes it so memorable. But there are some choices that have longer lasting repercussions; things we do now that will haunt us later.

So here are the 11 things from your 20’s you will most definitely regret when you’re 40. Read More »

Over the past few months, I’ve written a lot about how nervous I am to graduate, to leave college for good, and enter the real world. I’ve felt scared, nervous, anxious, and every other emotion that comes naturally to a graduating senior.

I’ve stressed about my lack of job, the economy, and how the heck I am going to figure out things like insurance, paying bills, and not drinking on Sunday nights. But despite all my reservations about leaving the wonderful world of college behind, I’m also really, really, fantastically excited to graduate.

Like many of you, I’ve had the best time over the past four years. I literally cannot imagine my life any differently. When I was a senior in high school, leaving my comfort zone for a college over 2,000 miles across the country was one of the hardest decisions I’ve ever had to make. But it was also the best decision I’ve ever made. I knew no one and had no friends. But four years later, I’ve found a network of teachers, mentors, and peers that have helped me grow into the person I want to be. Who knows what my life would be like without the people I’ve met or the experiences I’ve had here in college? Read More »

[The following post is courtesy of our most fashionable friends over at CollegeFashion.net.]

Overalls have always been on my “don’t” list, especially since I’m from a small farming town where everyone wears overalls, and not in a trendy way. However, this farming basic might be edging it’s way onto my “do” list, with a little nudging thanks to Ralph Lauren and Ms. Alexa Chung (photos above). Like it or not, overalls are definitely on the spring trend radar – and although they’re challenging, they’re more wearable than you think.

Keep in mind that the point of this series is to show fun ways to style more difficult-to-wear trends. A micro-trend by definition is a short-term development in fashion, so every trend might not appeal to everyone! The goal is to get you to be bold and try these out-there runway trends in real life. Read More »

Okay, you’re however old you are. I get it. You’re not thinking about settling down.

But you want to avoid dating complete losers, right? I mean, what’s even the point?

So here are a few tips for picking out the good ones while you’re still in college. (The dating world outside your university doors? A whooooole other can of worms.) Follow ‘em.

He’s Got To Have A Good Sense of Humor

Number one. Because, girls, if he’s cranky and depressive now, imagine how he’ll be in the Real World when he’s actually got Real Life responsibilities. (Read: He’ll suck.) Besides, why would you want to hang around someone who doesn’t make you laugh (or who doesn’t laugh at your jokes)?

He’s Got A Passion

If he says that his passion is you, get out fast. He better have some outside interests or else you’re in trouble. I mean, unless you like clingy men who bug the hell out of you every time you’re not near them and/or go into jealous rages. And you also want to know that he’s really dedicated to something because that shows an eagerness to make a place for himself in this world. If you want to be with a drifting loser, you might as well date the stoner-next-door. If you’re into that, cool, but I say it gets old really fast.

You Share A Lifestyle

Which is not to say you have to do the same things or act the same way or anything like that. Hey, sometimes opposites attract. But if you love to party and he’s adamantly anti-alcohol, you’ll find yourselves fighting over it all the time. There’s no way around that. Unless, of course, you compromise on something you care about and end up resenting each other. Make sure you both understand and respect the things that are important to each other. Read More »

I’ve got to get this out. Joy Bauer pisses me the f*ck off.

For those of you who have saved yourself by not knowing who this lady is, I’m about to ruin you — Joy Bauer is the nutritionist correspondent for the Today Show. She’s also published a ton of books and written about eating your veggies for a bunch of publications. Basically, she’s the Martha Stewart of the health world.

So why do I hate her? Because she’s systematically trying to destroy my happy relationship with food.

Every time I turn on the Today Show (read: while I’m on the elliptical at the ass crack of dawn or getting ready to brave the day) Bauer seems to be running her mouth about all the fantastic! and easy! ways for Americans to lose weight. As she gestures with her skinny arms (I want to know if this lady has ever lived a day over 115 pounds) to bad foods! and their subsequent good food! counterparts, I can’t help but want to shake that way-too-wide grin off her face.

Because she wouldn’t be so happy if she was actually taking all of her grey, lifeless advice.

Her recent “4 Weeks to a Better Body” segment illustrates exactly what I’m taking about. Her advice to get thin in 4 weeks? Basically: make your life so boring food wise the pounds will drop off your body in pity.

Some example “tips”:

1) keep only one or two snack items in the house

One or two snack items? Who the hell enjoys eating the same damn thing over and over again? Even peanut butter filled pretzel bites lose their appeal if they’re my only “snack” source for an extended period of time. This method is sure to make me start hating foods I once loved. Read More »

This article really made me think.

In the article, we learn that some cities are better for individuals to work in than others (cost of living, housing, relation to career, etc.). New York City, where I have lived since the tender age of 17, gets slammed.

Yes, it’s an expensive city to live in, but what I think this article completely leaves out is lifestyle. New York, for instance, offers a way of living that no other city can offer. And I’m sure any defender of any place they love would say the same. It’s important to be in a place that makes you happy, that keeps you fulfilled, if you want to do well at work. A fulfilled worker is a happy worker. Right?

Or wrong? I don’t know.

Today (at least in our society), job often comes before all else. It’s what we ask each other first at parties–”What do you do?” is supposed to tell us all we need to know.

And yet, most of the functioning 20-something set I know are unhappy in their jobs. Most of them don’t consider their current job to be their ultimate career. Read More »

How many of us really know what’s in our food?

Celebrities, campaigns, and informative guides have all tried to help alert the public to the dangers of additives and saturated fats, yet we’re still far from the natural and organic palate most of us are striving to achieve.

In particular, E-numbers have caused a stir for a good few years now. Despite the banning of some, there are still a great many present in our everyday favorite drinks and foodstuffs: candy bars, fizzy drinks, crackers, and more.

For example, E102 (also known as ‘Tartrazine’) is used to color jams, cereals and drinks. It also happens to be banned in Norway and Austria, as it has been linked to thyroid tumours, chromosomal damage and asthma. Worrying? I certainly think so. Read More »

Skies are blue, trees are blooming, and temperatures are rising, which can only mean one thing – it’s time to take your godd*mn pants off.

My roommate and I have been experimenting with the pants-free lifestyle for many months now. It began in January when one early Friday evening we were sitting on the couch watching Scrubs reruns, harnessing our chi for a night out on the town.

Me: I don’t wanna wear pants tonight, dude.

My roommate: Yeah man, f*ck pants.

Half an hour later, we emerged from our respective bedrooms, me in a tank top and some sort of shorts/panties half-breed, her in what can best be described as beach loungewear. We threw on our jackets and headed out to the club, where we proceeded to drink whiskey and diets and shake what our mammas gave us until we were so pleasantly exhausted and sweaty we could barely stand any longer and had to call it a night.

The point of this little anecdote? By choosing to forego pants, my roommate and I ensured that we would have a fun evneing. If we had been so foolish as to wear, say, skinny jeans or perhaps high-waisted wide-leg trousers or some other wintry-style clothing garment out that evening, there’s no way we could have enjoyed ourselves to the degree we did. We would have felt restricted and gotten sweaty and would have never stayed until the late-night DJ came on and started busting out old-school James Brown jams. Instead of having a glorious evening, we would have had a low-key, mediocre evening, because pants ruin fun. Period. Read More »

Knowing when to end a long term friendship can be more difficult than any of us would ever like to admit. Wouldn’t it just be a hell of a lot easier if our oldest and supposedly closest friends never bugged out? If they could just stay calm and always be that chill girl we used to kick it with…all would be well with the world. But the fact of the matter is this: A lot of girls go “crazy” eventually and this easily includes girls you’ve known “forever”.

Not that long ago, I moved my best friend since elementary school into my apartment. At first, it was totally awesome. Despite the fact that we had certainly had more than one rough patch in our history of being friends; we were still getting along rather famously once we were living together. That was…of course…until I really started to see how nuts she was.

She was a pathological liar. But this was something that I had always known. She was obsessive with guys. This too was something that I had always known. She had a high level of respect and regard for me…again, something that I had always known. However, I had no clue how far she could possibly take any of these aspects of her character.

FIRST came the jealousy. I had recently started to rearrange my diet and lifestyle, finally putting my foot down and wanting to be healthier over all. In the process of doing this, I ended up dropping a few pounds. She, on the other hand, had always struggled with her weight, but was never quite willing to compromise her tendency to over-eat in exchange for the body she wanted. So when I dropped down to 125 at 5’7 (please note that this is a totally acceptable weight), she started to accuse me of being “scary skinny” and actually called me Nicole Richie. Read More »