Here at CollegeCandy, we like to think we’re experts in a few key areas: budget fashion, sex, budget sex and college fitness. That’s why when FitSugar asked us to help them put together a post on keeping fit during those tricky undergrad years, we immediately blurted out, “Wear that cute dress you got on sale last weekend and go bang some hot dude until you sweat out all the beer you consumed the night before!!!”

And as soon as the words left our mouths, we realized that our advice wasn’t exactly sage…kinda like the time your older sister suggested you chug a 40 oz. of watermelon Smirnoff Ice. So, in light of our personal inadequacies when it comes to workout tips, we decided to toss this one over to a few of our trusty writers — the real CC fitness pros.

Head on over to FitSugar to see what they had to say about motivating yourself for the gym, scoring stylishly functional duds and fitting a workout into your busy schedule.

I have always been a fan of any quick fix diet plan. If there was a pill that would melt away pounds within a day, I would be first in line to buy it. So when I was perusing the web one day and happened upon the Slim Fast website, I saw an opportunity and ran with it. After all it has ‘fast’ and ‘slim’ in the name, so how bad could it be?

Within the first day I realized this was going to suck.

First let me just explain to you what it entails. Everyday you eat three snacks that are 100 calories, Slim Fast provides snack bars and the website also offers healthy 100 calorie snacks of real food you can make yourself. Then you also eat two 200 calorie meals, both are provided by Slim Fast and  you can choose between a shake or meal bar. Lastly you have one 500 calorie meal. It doesn’t seem too hard, right?

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I always have a difficult time staying motivated about working out. The problem is, I’m lazy, so the hardest part is actually just getting out of bed early or getting my butt off the sofa to drive to the gym and work out. Since I have a hard time dragging myself to the gym, I’m trying to stay in shape by running around my neighborhood. I still don’t do that as often as I should, but it works for me, since it doesn’t require me to go anywhere except out my front door.

The only problem with going for a run around the neighborhood is that it’s not as easy to gauge the distance I’ve run as it is on the treadmill at the gym. But that’s not a problem anymore, now that I’ve discovered WalkJogRun!

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Have you ever stayed up all night studying for a final? Blood shot eyes, empty coffee cups, pages and pages of notes…you know, the works. Do you remember sitting there wishing you had diligently studied all semester long, gone to class or stayed awake during the Powerpoint presentation?

Yeah, me too.
Every. damn. semester.

Well, I’m here to let you know that just like studying, the same goes for good health and fitness. We can’t expect to do crash diets or spend 3 hours at the gym on one day to achieve our goal body. There’s no way that’s healthy or realistic. Just like school, it takes a little effort every single day in order to see maximum results. And with Spring Break and summer just a few months away, if you want to feel beach body confident by semester’s end you have to start now.

The secret to having the body you want is actually pretty simple. If you know and understand these three key factors in exercising, you’re off to a very good start. Read More »

[Everyone’s got a vice, a bad habit, something they know they need to change. Unfortunately, everyone also has a million excuses why they just can’t do it. Not anymore. Every month we will be following a different CollegeCandy writer as she takes on a personal challenge. This month, Melanie is putting her health first and going to the gym....every day....without excuses. We watched her suffer through her first week, breeze through week 2, and work her way through major obstacles in week three. So how did it all turn out in the end?]

After dealing with the turmoil of a breakup, the impending holiday season, the bitter cold and the death of my beloved aunt, the only thing getting me through were my workouts. That’s right, while the rest of the world was going for pumpkin pie, I was skipping dessert and smashing up the elliptical. While everyone threw elbows at their local Target, I was throwing punches (Jillian Michaels style) on the treadmill.

All I can say is: I did it.

Yes, I slipped up last week. But you know what, I pulled through. Even through the holiday season when my plans inexplicably brought me to my relatives in Ohio, I was blessed with a 24 hour gym in my Cleveland hotel. And you know what? I felt amazing skipping the pie and busting my ass on the elliptical. Granted, it might not have been the most fun or indulging holiday, but I felt ten thousand times better skipping out on the alcohol fest of “Thanksgiving Eve” or the “drinking to make my relatives seem normal” tradition of Thanksgiving itself. I burnt off my aggression about my break up, my sadness about my lost aunt and the general grief that this season brings me.

This month challenge has truly inspired me in many ways. Although it seemed like an arduous task at first, I really feel that I gave 100% of myself into this and I want to keep going. From this day on, I want to continue my high-energy motivation for the gym. Albeit, now that I’m not documenting every moment in time of this journey, I will take some time off once a week to rest. I’m allotting 5-6 days at the gym for Gym-cember (doesn’t have as catchy of a ring to it, does it?) and going to keep pushing myself. I do know that 7 days is too much for my body to handle at this point and I deserve a day off instead of just feeling crushing guilt when I skip. Read More »

[Everyone’s got a vice, a bad habit, something they know they need to change. Unfortunately, everyone also has a million excuses why they just can’t do it. Not anymore. Every month we will be following a different CollegeCandy writer as she takes on a personal challenge. This month, Melanie is putting her health first and going to the gym....every day....without excuses. We watched her suffer through her first week, and breeze through week 2. This week, though, Melanie faced a whole new sorta challenge.]

So, just wanted to let you guys know that this stupid One Month Challenge is officially cursed. When my sister gave up her penchant for junk food for a month, her and her bf broke up. Fast forward 2 challenges later, I broke up with my boyfriend, who was living with me and my roommate. All drama aside and cutting to the chase: I skipped a day at the gym. Oops. However, I have been getting a significant amount of cardio in from my sporadic post-break up sobbing in public/indiscriminate panic attack dry heaving. I can already feel my abs tightening.

Now, I’ve started to work out even harder at the gym, pushing myself to my full limits. Actually, skipping a day made me work even harder. I think my body needed the rest. Except this week really, really sucks for working out. There’s nothing I want more than to curl up on the couch clutching my bottle of Pinot Grigio, my two new boyfriends Ben and Jerry and weep while watching “It’s Complicated” because I will never find a guy like John Krasinski. But oh no, I have to take my multi-vitamin as per Jillian Michaels, pound out some time at the gym, do crunches, do my sobbing abs exercise and try my damndest not to skip another day. Read More »

[Everyone’s got a vice, a bad habit, something they know they need to change. Unfortunately, everyone also has a million excuses why they just can’t do it. Not anymore. Every month we will be following a different CollegeCandy writer as she takes on a personal challenge. This month, Melanie is putting her health first and going to the gym....every day....without excuses. We watched her suffer through her first week, so how did she handle week 2?]

So I’ve made it through week two, and surprisingly, it’s gotten better every day. I’ve been pushing myself and have discovered the joys of OnDemand exercise videos featuring Jillian Michaels, which I use to warm up before I put in my time at the gym. I asked you all last week for some tips and tricks to get through this and I was overwhelmed with the responses. The encouragement you guys dispensed made me feel great and it made me feel even better when some of you indicated that you’d be joining me for Gymvember!

One piece of advice that I wish I had heeded this week came from a comment warning me, “Obviously if you are not a morning person do not workout in the morning. You are just going to hate it and your performance will reflect your feelings.” (Thanks “A Dude”!) However, I had a lot to do after work one day and knew I wouldn’t have time to go to the gym at night. So, I begrudgingly woke up an extra hour or so earlier and went to the gym. That was awful. I hate mornings and it absolutely did reflect in my workout. I was sluggish, cranky and felt like a zombie afterward. I think I’m going to stick to my evening workouts from now on; the morning does nothing for me, especially before I’ve had my iced coffee (yes, I realize it’s November… I mean, Gymvember). Read More »

[Everyone’s got a vice, a bad habit, something they know they need to change. Unfortunately, everyone also has a million excuses why they just can’t do it. Not anymore. Every month we will be following a different CollegeCandy writer as she takes on a personal challenge. Last month Emmy dabbled in vegetarianism. This month, Melanie is putting her health first and going to the gym....every day....without excuses. How did her first 6 days go?]

How often do I go to the gym lately? I guess I would use the word “sparingly.” Since starting a full-time job, my fitness has taken a backseat to schoolwork, regular work and all the lovely stresses of living in New York City. Never mind the fact that I live in an apartment building with a gym. I’ve tried to justify my lack of rigorous exercise by walking to and from work every day (30 minutes both ways) but in reality, the only reason I do that is because I have a crippling fear of the subway and all public transportation.

Let’s face it, the only marathon I’ve ever participated in only happens when I’m too lazy to turn off E! and I get suckered into 5 hours of the Kardashians. It was time to make a change and get my ass back into shape and take full advantage of the fitness room in my building. So I’ve begun my month challenge, which I’ve endearingly nicknamed “Gymvember.” I’m not skipping a single day of exercise at the gym and have vowed to go for a minimum of 25 minutes a day. This minimum will ideally be exceeded. And no, Bravo marathons and walking around the city don’t count as exercise.

This is going to hurt. Read More »

To parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles, and writers of The Denver Post,

Thank you so much for your concern about my supposed “drunkorexia,” which is apparently the deliberate decision to eat less food on days destined for drunken debauchery. Though this is not an official medical term, it has been noted in Colorado as a recent “growing trend” among college women. However, let me assure you, drunkorexia is not actually real, and the things that appear similar to the nonexistent disorder may actually be conscious dieting choices among university realities.

Any college student’s diet is abnormal and worthy of attention on its own. Our campuses are equipped to fight our appetites with buffet-style dining halls filled with low-quality options, and our kitchens are stocked with frozen pizzas, chips and Cup of Noodles, each drenched in unhealthy preservatives and way too much salt. Our meal times are tightly squeezed into our schedule among study sessions, work shifts, volunteer programs and internship hours – meaning we chow down while running out of our apartments and we treat ourselves to late-night breaks in the middle of all-nighters. It may not be an ideal routine for our waistline, but it works out well for our resumés, academic transcripts and graduate school applications. Read More »

You don't need a beard and a ship to discover something (sorta) new.

One fateful day back in the pre-Facebook days,  Christopher Columbus “discovered” America.  Much like you discovered that wearing a scarf around campus on a 75 degree day would not stop the hickey rumors from floating around. And we’re sure that’s not the only discovery that you’ve made since attending college. Just like Columbus discovered America and thought he was onto something pretty big, we’ve all found a few things along the way that wowed us as well. We rushed home, told our roommates, and sat there in shock when we realized that they already knew that it’s smarter to change into sweats before going to a booty call.

So here are a few more awesome discoveries that every college student needs to make:

1. Finding the secret bathroom so you can poo in private: We’ve all been victim to the poop wars in college dormitories.  You enter the community bathroom at the same time as another innocent pooper and each of you sit in the stall waiting for the other to make the first move.  It’s disgusting, but don’t begin to admit it hasn’t happened to you.  I’m guilty as charged, so finding the secret bathroom to do your business is a dream come true.  Nobody goes in there and you have hours to shadoobie in private. Glorious.

2. Finding the class where the prof puts the entire lecture online: This is one of the most wondrous discoveries. Attend class from the comfort of your bed. Just make sure to show up to the exam.

3. How to make a panini in the waffle maker: Or other fabulous cafeteria discoveries. The caf is a place to let your imagination span mountainous regions.  My freshman year, I discovered how to grill a sandwich on our waffle maker. My sophomore year I discovered how to mix the different kinds of cereals (preferably Cheerios and granola). My junior year I discovered the art of burrito making and bringing a Tupperware to the caf for leftovers.  You get the idea, now get out there and be your own Sous Chef. Read More »