It happened! I've moved out and down to the south west. I'm 170 miles away from home and my first week of university has been, well.... Interesting!
For many many months I'd been looking forward to move out and as the day finally came I was so very excited. I just wanted to get in the car and get out in a new town, no offense to my family but my time had come to flea the nest. I hate to admit that saying goodbye to my mum and brother after enjoying a delicious steak at the restruant over the road from my halls was pretty emotional, but it was! I crossed the road back over to my new flat and it all felt very real and very strange! I just thought to myself 'shit, I'm on my own now'!
Obviously first things first after unpacking all my clothes and belongings I chatted away with my new flat mates and some of there parents, I then had the important task of joining the gym, made the 5 minute walk to The Gym and signed up without hesitation, having already looked at my options online I just couldn't beat the convenience of a 24 hr gym 5 minutes walk away from the flat!
Although the families are not up there with the gym at home, it'll do! They've got dumbbells, barbells and a power rack - what more can a girl possibly need, right?!
Although the families are not up there with the gym at home, it'll do! They've got dumbbells, barbells and a power rack - what more can a girl possibly need, right?!
One week in:
FOOD IS SO DAMN EXPENSIVE!
Having always had mum cater for my nutritional needs, I never got to understand how expensive food is, and the real cost of living a healthy lifestyle. It is ridiculous. Chicken is so expensive and for a girl like me who loves her meat I can't help but think that chicken will soon be turning into a treat.
My main diet staples at university so far have been:
Quark - I've been substituting my total 0% Greek yoghurt for quark. Still containing no fat and more protein than total Greek it curbs my yoghurt cravings perfectly! Have been mixing it with my protein impact whey to make deserts and with frozen berries
Porridge oats - should be a staple in every diet, we all know why they're amazing!
Sainsburys frozen white fish - a bag of 6 white fish fillets for £1.70, sounds too good to be true right? No, I've pretty much been living off of these, so easy to cook just chuck in the oven for 25 mins and your ready to go! Super good macros and they go with anything!
Eggs - I use one egg white in my porridge every morning to give it that extra volume and protein hit, I know i couldn't live without eggs
Broccoli - undoubtedly my favorite vegetable of all time, broccoli is just amazing, I find it goes perfectly with ketchup too!
Spinnach - all of the amazing health benefits aside, Spinnach has been a staple in my fridge since I got here, one bag has lasted me the week and it hasn't wiltered or gone manky like many of the other pre packaged salad leaves which as a student is great meaning it'd not going to get wasted and is always readily available to chuck in with any dish!
Canned Chopped tomatoes - I add these to any meal if im feeling like I want a sauce, clean and healthy and not too carb heavy!
Kidney beans - I just love kidney beans! These are not going to break the bank at around 70p a can depending on what super market your in and add a good amount of protein to, salads or, rice or, anything really!
Sugar free jelly - at 6kcal and 1c per pot these make the perfect snack. When your lying around the flat bored this is the perfect guilt free snack. And at 25p per pot you can't go wrong!
Frozen fruit - tesco frozen summer berries and the frozen smoothie mixes from sainsburys have been saving my life! As I'm not a massive fruit eater It would be silly for me to buy fresh fruit it would go off and be wasted. This is the perfect way I can get those nutrients into my diet without being wasteful, it's so easy to just chuck in my porridge or quark. And the temperature has rewlly been helping my saw throat!
University diet:
My diet since being here has been pretty damn perfect! Started off the week not feeling very hungry at all, which Is an emotion I don't think I've ever experienced before! My meals were smaller and filling me up - it must have been the excitement or nerves! After a few days I caught the dreaded freshers flu and I'm still suffering now which meant I was trying to get more fruit in than I usually would and make sure I'm getting all the nutrients and healthy fats I need to recover. I was still hitting my macros every day and haven't gone over or binged since I've been here which is the main thing.
All of my flat mates have been saying how jealous they are of my meals and almost always comment on how good the smell is and how delicious they look. It's great to get these complements and makes me feel kind of smug!
My diet since being here has been pretty damn perfect! Started off the week not feeling very hungry at all, which Is an emotion I don't think I've ever experienced before! My meals were smaller and filling me up - it must have been the excitement or nerves! After a few days I caught the dreaded freshers flu and I'm still suffering now which meant I was trying to get more fruit in than I usually would and make sure I'm getting all the nutrients and healthy fats I need to recover. I was still hitting my macros every day and haven't gone over or binged since I've been here which is the main thing.
All of my flat mates have been saying how jealous they are of my meals and almost always comment on how good the smell is and how delicious they look. It's great to get these complements and makes me feel kind of smug!
Leading a healthy lifestyle should not be a chore, I personally love creating my meals and planning ahead on what I'm going to be eating for the day. I think I would really struggle for a day if I wasn't going to count my macros, Id feel lost!
Anyway, to wrap this up now - university is amazing. So far so good (minus the freshers flu), I've coped living with strangers and can already tell I'm going to be making some amazing friendships this year! I'm more motivated than ever, I just need to shift this flu and start making some gains!
lectures commence at 9am tomorrow morning, wish me luck!!!
lectures commence at 9am tomorrow morning, wish me luck!!!
