Amanda Mills said she has always been a little overweight, but never thought much of it. The senior public relations major and Student Government Association vice president was comfortable with herself and how she looked. However, she said she's always had a gut feeling that she could be healthier, but she's never had the motivation or cared enough to make a plan and do something about it, she said.
That all changed since she heard about the Health Education Center's Fall Weight Loss Challenge.
"I thought that if I did this with other Ball State students then I could probably do it," she said. "I have a couple weddings coming up and if I could just lose 20 pounds, I would be in good shape."
While Mills hasn't lost quite that much, she is on track to her goal. After seven weeks in the program, she's lost a total of seven pounds, and she doesn't plan on stopping there.
"I've just been focused on eating really well, eating less and eating healthier," she said.
With her focus on eating healthfully, she's had to change many of her old habits.
"Before, I would eat tons of crap and junk food at any time of the day whether I'd just eaten," she said.
Mills said she's more conscious of how often she eats and works on recognizing when she's full.
As a server, Mills said when she closes at work, she has to order food. Before she would eat the entire portion of a meal, which totaled about 700 calories. Now, she only eats half, putting the rest in a to-go box.
She's also making changes in what she buys. She said she's buying more fresh foods, things she can make herself and fruit. Another trick she uses is buying foods in bulk and portioning it out into smaller sandwich bags so that she's never eating out of the bag and eating a larger portion than she needs. She's also more careful about reading food labels.
"Like yogurt for example, I buy the low-fat kind, but I'll compare the brands and buy the one that has less sugar," Mills said. "I think I'm just paying more attention."
Her mom always told her to avoid sugar and flour if you're trying to lose weight. While Mills values her mom's advice, she's given her mom some advice of her own.
"I've kept [my mom] in the loop and she's actually starting to lose weight," she said. "She's eating a lot healthier. She's lost 15 pounds."
Mills said she's learned a lot, but one of the most important lessons is having the right mindset, which is imperative when dealing with food and eating habits.
"It's just being more conscientious of what you're eating, but if you're not eating as healthy to not guilt yourself into a deep hole," she said.
This change in mindset is what has helped her fit into a favorite black skirt that she hasn't worn in about a year.
"About two or three weeks ago, I tried it on. It looked a lot better and fit just fine," Mills said. "I was excited because it was something physically tangible that I knew I had been losing weight."
Mills said the skirt has given her the motivation to keep it up and is looking forward to buying new clothes when she's achieved her goal weight.
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