Reflection of my Learning

Taking Multimedia Journalism, for which this blog was made, has been a very worthwhile experience. I've really enjoyed taking a topic I was interested in and learning more about it and applying it to my desired profession.

I took this class mostly because I wanted to learn Dreamweaver. I had taken E-Business II and had not gotten the grasp that I wanted, so I took this class hoping it would strengthen my understanding of it, and it definitely did. I'm very pleased that I know at least the basics of making a website using Dreamweaver, and had I more time, I would have made my website more interesting in terms of design and layout.

I wasn't necessarily interested in doing more work with writing articles. I always feel like I get enough of that working in Marketing and Communication and writing for the Trumpet. Still, I find that I often make the same mistakes, and by taking this class, I think it opened my eyes that you are never truly a polished journalist. I don't think I've ever written an article where no changes were made to it before publication. That says a lot about the learning process and why it's important to keep writing. They say that to become a better writer, you need to read, read, read and write, write, write. That's a good thing to keep in mind and I hope that as I continue to complete journalistic writings that I take into note more so the things that I need to improve upon as well as reading the articles of others for tips and inspiration.

I was very pleased that we were able to make a video in this class, and I wish I would have taken time to complete a package, because it would have been a nice addition to my portfolio, in which I already have a Q&A-style piece. I just ran out of time. I also wish I would've dedicated more time to taking photos since I don't have very many.

Learning more about the field of multimedia journalism and social media journalism has been very useful and will be very beneficial to my future. I hope that I can take what I've learned in this class and be able to apply it to my career even if I do end up in public relations. I'm very interested in news, and I want that to be part of what I do. And the ever-developing relationship of web and journalism is really exciting to me. I'm looking forward to what might lie ahead.

I think something that might be easy and interesting to add to this class would be a podcast. I would have liked to learn the audio program that Adobe offers (although I can't even think of what it's called right now). Plus, I think that would be something easier to put together since it's basically a blog post recorded.

Now, the topic that I have covered has been a really useful one--one that I wish more people including myself would take note of. It's so important to understand how to be healthy and to take interest in living a healthy lifestyle. I've learned about why students don't exercise and why they don't eat right and why they should do those things, but I've also learned how easy it is. It's just mostly a matter of laziness, which is disappointing. I hope that I can drop the bad habits I've developed in college and turn to better habits as an adult.

Overall, this class has been a very exciting and worthwhile journey that I'm very glad to have taken. I've learned and developed as a web writer, as a producer, and as a designer--all very important and useful skills that I'd like to put to further use in my career.

Is the Freshman 15 a Myth?

Maybe freshmen don't quite gain 15 pounds their first year in college. In fact, studies are saying it's more like 5-8 (Journal of the American Dietetic Association).

That's good news. Apparently people are learning what and what not to do in college. But at the same time, if you do gain even that amount of weight in your freshman year, it's not good, and if you keep up your bad habits, you'll find that you'll keep gaining weight.

So the number isn't as scary as 15, but you have to think about long term. I didn't gain 15 pounds my freshman year, but I didn't stop gaining weight afterward either.

No matter what the scale says or what the national average says, it's important to look at yourself and think about the habits you're forming. I've been trying to do that since spring has rolled around and I've been thinking about wearing shorts and dresses and realizing that I'd like to lose a few pounds for the summer. But I wish I would have earlier this year and known that I was gaining some weight.

That's another point--sometimes you just don't realize it when you're so busy with everything else on your plate. I think college stress is just a big thing for people experiencing college weight gain. It's difficult to think about what you're eating and when to make time to exercise.

I'm hoping to be strong my last semester of college and work to develop healthier habits. It's really important to me to live a healthy lifestyle as an adult, so I have to make these habits into priorities now.

Ever pulled an all-nighter?

One thing I can definitely say I've never done in college is pull an all-nighter. In fact, I've completely refused to do it.

The ways I hold myself to it are these:

-JUST DO IT! Have you ever looked back on your day and realized how much time you spent doing pointless things like watching TV, spending time on Facebook, or video games? You wouldn't have to stay up so late if you just sat down and did some homework to begin with. I'm a Communication Arts student, and I know this isn't practical for all majors, but I honestly feel like the workload they give you is manageable in 2 hours or less.

-Don't crunch for tests: Know your stuff ahead of time so you're prepared for the test. Do this crazy thing called paying attention in class so you know what's going on. Studying is a lot easier when you know what you're doing ahead of time and are familiar with the material. Finals are a whole different ball game, but I think even that can be handled if you put in the extra concentration ahead of time.

-Quit for a while: Even if I don't finish all my work, I'll often just go to bed when I'm studied out. I know that it's not good to study or work for hours on end because you lose focus and it's ultimately counterproductive. Lay down for the night and wake up early in the morning if you need to to finish. You'll feel refreshed and ready to go, at least more so than you did the night before.

Here are some other tips for ending the all-nighter habit: http://collegelife.about.com/od/healthwellness/ht/How-To-Get-Enough-Sleep-In-College.htm

If you've pulled an all-nighter before, how was it? Have you done multiple, or do you even make habits out of it?

Tough to Lose Weight

If you're keeping up with my website, you've read about Hallie Kinman in my fitness article and her struggle to lose weight in college.

I can definitely tell that I've gained some weight since coming to Wartburg, and I always gain about the same each year but I lose it during the summer when I'm more active and eat healthier. However, I'd rather keep up better habits during the school year. With a wedding coming up that I'm in, I'd rather look a little better than I do.

I'd definitely be exercising, but commitments to work, school work, friends and family keep me very tied up. I also have a cold right now which has made it difficult to even want to exercise. All I can do is try to think about making healthy choices when I eat, which is also really tough to do. I'd love to try a diet, but as Margaret Empie said, college students don't have time to sit and count calories and develop a meal plan. It's just not realistic unless you have help that's been tailored to you and your food access.

I hope that I can start to shed some pounds at the beginning of this summer and hopefully see a change from the upcoming wedding I'm in to my sister's wedding in late June. Hopefully those college pounds won't come back in my last semester here at school which ends in December. As stated in a previous post, I definitely blame the winter weather for a lack of fitness and healthy habits.

The Importance of Sleep

I'll be writing an article soon to post to my site about the importance of sleep in college. Getting the right amount of sleep affects so much: your mood, your diet, your studies, and physical fitness.

I haven't been getting the right amount of sleep lately. I often go to bed an hour or more later than I should. Unfortunately, my body has trained itself to wake up at the same time every day, so I'm up around 7:30 every morning no matter what.

It's a bad habit to stay up late because it makes it harder to wake up in the morning when you need to. Also, if you keep up that habit constantly, your body adjusts to it and it becomes hard to break. So if you stay up night after night doing homework when you could have done it earlier, it becomes tough to break in a new, healthier routine.

Something I'm trying to do differently is get to bed at the right time on week nights so I'm fresh to wake up in the mornings. Then on weekends, if I want to stay up a little later on Fridays or Saturdays, it won't hurt me much.

Healthy on a College Budget

I was enrolled in CA 461 this past semester which is the senior capstone for communication arts majors at Wartburg. In this course, we made documentaries about a particular topic. My group's topic was hunger, so I learned a lot about food and food prices.

Have you ever noticed that people who are struggling financially are often overweight or struggling with maintaining healthy habits?

It seems like it should be the other way around, that if you are struggling with money, you'd be thinner. However, since healthy foods are so high-priced, those who are having a tough time financially are forced to buy cheap, processed foods that are also unhealthy.

Unfortunately for college students, many who are living off-campus and don't have easy access to healthy foods fall into that category. Off-campus college students are more likely to ignore what they should be eating like fruits, veggies, and grains. Instead, they buy what's cheapest, and the food that's cheapest often isn't very fulfilling, so they're forced to buy more and more of that processed food that's both hard on their health and ultimately, their wallets. So there really is no win anyway.

As opposed to those students, on-campus college students have easier access to at least some healthy foods like what the Mensa offers. They're more likely to eat those healthy things because they can afford them at the moment and their loans aren't foreseeable.

It's definitely possible to eat healthy on a low budget. I did it last summer while living in Cedar Falls. It's just important to read the labels and realize what's actually in the food you're eating. Even though some foods might be cheaper, you'll find that the next price up might be healthier. It's tough to save for college and be worried about other expenses in your life, but food should be a priority. You need your health to survive and live a long life.

Eating Habits

Recently, I saw an interview on Dr. Oz with a woman who said that it works best to eat your highest-calorie meal at noon. That way, your body has the energy to digest it.

I thought that was interesting, since it seems like my highest-calorie meals and everyone else's seem to be at suppertime.

I tend to eat out a lot during the weekends. My boyfriend and I are definitely "foodies" and we love to try new restaurants. However, these already high-calorie portions often come in gigantic sizes, which is definitely not good for you. And apparently, at suppertime when we usually eat these giant meals, our rate of digestion is the slowest.

I also don't eat breakfast very often, which is a big problem. Breakfast is hugely important, because it kickstarts your metabolism. When I talked to Dr. Margaret Empie this week about how college students should eat, she said that it's also important to gravitate toward food like eggs and fruit instead of sugary cereals, which is what I gravitate toward more often when I actually do eat breakfast.

It's interesting to examine your eating habits and realize when you eat and how much you eat really affects your weight gain and fitness.

Here are some resolutions in my diet that I'm going to make:

-Eat breakfast more often and try healthy alternatives to cereal like hard-boiled eggs.
-Don't eat out as often! It's good for your health AND your wallet!
-For suppers, try light servings of pastas, sandwiches, or salads.

This summer I'll be living in Ankeny and working in Des Moines, so I think it will be healthy to try to eat a hard-boiled egg and a banana in the morning. At lunch, I'll probably pack something like a Hormel "Compleat" or a Marie Calendar meal since that's easy and cheap, even though it might not necessarily be healthy, but it will work with my budget, and since you digest best at noon, it should be okay. For supper, I plan to scrounge up some things around my apartment that might make a healthy meal, hopefully learning which foods are both economical and healthy. Also, I plan to eat out less frequently with my boyfriend and talk to him about how we can get our foodie fixes without the higher calories and big checks.

This gives an intro into the next blog I plan to write--how to stay healthy on a tight budget.

What are your eating habits? Which patterns do you see in the way you eat and your overall health?

Get Fit in your Dorm!

I know that the title of this blog post sounds like an oxymoron, but really. You can get fit and toned in your dorm room!

This summer, I lived in an apartment in Cedar Falls with a friend, and every night after supper, we'd go on a run or bike ride together and when we got back to the apartment, we'd do a circuit workout that included crunches, push-ups, wall sits, Russian twists, lunges, and planks.

Sometimes even at Wartburg, after workouts, I'll head back to my dorm room and do some push-ups and sit-ups. It's less intimidating to do that kind of work-out in the privacy of your dorm room rather than in front of everyone at the W.

USA Today published an article this week that detailed the easiest ways to get fit in your dorm room, which includes workout videos and online training sessions. In my opinion, that's not really the easiest way to get fit in your dorm room. It's some thing to try if you're interested in that kind of workout (yoga, dance, P90X, and more). Head to the nearest video rental store and you can probably find the perfect video for your workout.

Read more here:
http://www.usatoday.com/story/life/wellness/2013/05/08/ways-to-get-fit-in-your-dorm-room/2145085/

If nothing else, it's a great idea to just try some simple ab workouts in your dorm while you're watching TV. That makes it harder to make up an excuse for not exercising. If you have time to watch TV, you have some time to work out.

Diet Fads

I plan to write about college diet fads in a coming article on my website, but I wanted to talk about my own experiences with diet here first.

I have struggled with a lot of self-esteem issues since I was a teenager in high school, but now that I am in college and not active on a sports team, I find it very hard to keep my weight in the range I'd like it to be and to find time to work out.

The first time I tried dieting was when I was in 8th grade, believe it or not, but I didn't go about it in a healthy way. The second time I tried dieting was this past spring. I tried the diet fad known as "The Military Diet."

http://themilitarydiet.com

The military diet has a very set diet plan that you follow for three days straight. You eat the exact foods that you are instructed to eat in the exact portions. After the three days are over, you are allowed to eat whatever you want as long as you exercise somewhat regularly. People claim to have lost up to 8 pounds in a week on this diet.

I only tried this diet for one week but found that I was not even that hungry while completing it. While the portions are small, it made me feel healthy. However, my diet quickly came to a halt since I did not have access to each food item listed unless I made a trip to Wal-Mart which I didn't have time for.

Other college diet fads are constantly changing. When I talked to Margaret Empie, director of Dining Services at Wartburg, she said that Wartburg students are able to come to her if they would like to set up a personal diet plan. It would be interesting to take up that plan!

What do you think? Have you ever tried dieting? What results were you met with? Do you find it hard to diet while in college?

Does the weather affect weight gain in college?

Today was definitely a beautiful day, and I was thrilled to get outside in the sunshine for a bike ride. After my ride, I didn't stop there, I went to a fitness class and then went swimming afterward.

This must sound like I'm a fitness machine and super in-shape, but that's really not the case. I hardly stepped out once this winter to exercise. Part of it may have been added stress, as it's May term now and not quite comparable to my hectic winter semester I've just come out of. But a bigger part of it was the fact that I didn't want to put on all my layers then walk all the way to the W, take off some layers and exercise indoors where it's always way too hot, and then walk back in the snow and the cold.

Also, this past winter wasn't exactly the best for my mood or my esteem. I often felt depressed, which I felt made me want to eat more unhealthy items and snack constantly. As a result of little to no exercise and a high intake of junk food, I gained a few pounds this winter that I'm now trying to lose, but I'm not too concerned with the coming summer, as I will want to be outside more often.

What do you think? Does the weather affect whether or not you want to work out? Do you find yourself eating more during the winter? Do you think this is the case for only college students or for everyone?

Or is it just me?!

College Students Gain Weight for Variety of Reasons

College students gain weight for a variety of reasons their first year at college, and it continues to build as they go through school.

These reasons include but aren't limited to:

• A Busy Schedule

When college students hit universities for the first time, they are often shocked at the work load that comes with their classes. On top of that, if students participate in extra-curriculars or clubs, they're even more prone to stress and little time to eat a healthy meal or exercise. 

• Homesickness/Depression

Students often are away from home for the first time in their lives when they head to college. Sometimes, homesickness or depression leads to heavy eating and lethargic-ness which makes students not want to exercise. Also, students may have been fed healthy meals by their parents at home in which they had little choice of what they were being served and ate it anyway. At college, they have a buffet of all kinds of carbs and cholesterol they've never been exposed to before. They are more likely to indulge and choose unhealthy options with so many options before them.

Winter months tend to be the worst for weight gain since seasonal affective disorder very easily affects college students and makes them less willing to step out of their dorms.

• Heavy Partying/Drinking

Lots of partying or drinking on the weekends or even during the week adds lots of calories to a college student's daily intake. Also, if they are experiencing "after shocks" the morning after, they're highly unlikely to want to do anything active that day.

While these reasons are overwhelming to a college student's level of health, it's still possible for them to maintain a healthy lifestyle by making time to exercise at least twice a week as well as making time to eat a healthy meal. 

I for one am often tempted by the fatty foods and desserts that the Mensa offers at Wartburg, and I definitely don't always make time to exercise, but when I think about it, I often spend way too much time on Facebook and watching TV that I really could be using to exercise. So I can't use the excuse that I don't have time. 

Really, it's all a matter of just trying. It's time for college students (and people in general, for that matter) to get off the couch and get active.

Welcome - Have you beaten the Freshman Fifteen?

Hello everyone! Welcome to Beating the Freshman Fifteen, a blog about staying healthy in college, specifically at Wartburg College.

In this blog, I'll be talking about what sources at Wartburg have to say about staying healthy in college, the challenges, and what students can do to be healthier with a slim schedule.

I'll also examine current events and exercise routines that are trending right now among college students. I for one am looking to get in better shape and eat better, so I'll be delving into this journey myself. I'm looking forward to it and I hope anyone reading this blog will find some of my insights helpful.

What about you? What are your memories about eating right and exercising regularly while in college? Have you beaten the freshman fifteen?

-Kristine