NAUTI WARRIORS: Emily

Nauti Warrior: Emily

Our second Nauti Warrior is a kind-hearted, badass chick from NorCal who makes her overall health and well-being a priority in her daily life. She is a student at SDSU studying Child and Family Development. Emily enjoys spending time with her family, being awesome, and living nauti!

We asked Emily to speak more about her life and how she lives out her passion for being healthy, below are her wonderful responses:

1. What got you into living a healthy life?

I was an athlete for as long as I can remember until I graduated high school. I never had to come up with my own workouts and I never had to think about fitting physical activity into my daily life, it was always just there through sports. When I got to college, I had no idea how to use a gym or how to workout on my own. For the next three years, I kinda struggled but did not really know how to change it. 

A couple months ago, I admitted to my boyfriend that I wanted to make a change. I was not concerned with physically looking skinnier, I was only concerned with FEELING better, I knew that a physical change would come along later. I wanted to feel healthy. So, with his guidance and my own determination, I made a plan to make a change. I made three goals for the month of January: 1.Workout 5 days a week. 2. Make a meal prep plan and stick to it. 3. No sweets, treats, or alcohol for 1 month.

2. What is your usual workout routine?

I made a goal in January to make a workout plan and stick to it. I promised myself that I would get in 2 resistance workouts, 2 cardio workouts, and 1 yoga workout. 

Admittedly, I do not actually write my own resistance workouts, my boyfriend does that for me but if I had to I have learned. For cardio, I either run a 5k on the treadmill, run a route that I like along Mission Bay, or I go to the Aquaplex and get at least 2,00 yards in in the pool. I was noticing during my resistance workouts that I have very tight muscles so I decided to sign up for the beginner yoga class offered through the ARC, before that I was watching yoga videos and doing them in my room. 

Because I am human and have a busy schedule I do not always reach my workout goals for the week and that is ok!

3. What are your thoughts on working out v. eating healthy?

YOU HAVE TO DO BOTH! One without the other isn’t nearly as effective (especially if your goal is to lose weight). I have noticed that eating an abundance of unhealthy things really affects how I feel physically. I feel sluggish, bloated, and unmotivated. I have noticed that through eating healthy, I have much more natural energy, I have less stomach pain, and just overall feel better. Fueling my body with good food leads to better workouts.

4. What is in your grocery store cart?

Trader Joe’s is the ONLY place I will grocery shop. Not only are the prices great but there is a lot less temptation to buy unhealthy snacks. I avoid buying treats and snacks that way I do not have them in the cabinet to tempt me. 

For breakfast, I like to eat scrambled eggs and a bagel (your protein and carb to get the morning going) but when I am in a rush I do vanilla yogurt with granola and berries. Lunch varies a lot but I like chicken sandwiches on wheat or sourdough with cheese and avocado or a salad loaded with veggies. Dinner is always chicken rice and veggies.

Perfect Bars, popcorn made with coconut oil and sea salt, and hummus are my favorite snacks.

5. Favorite fitness or health products?

Love Perfect Bars! So filling and good ingredients. And I love the hard center foam rollers (the ARC has them). They are great for rolling out muscles, I do it before every workout and it makes a huge difference, super painful when you first start but as you get looser it feels so good. Also a big fan of Cryotherapy. I am lucky enough to work at a gym that offers it to me for free. You go into a cold chamber for 3 minutes and trick your body into thinking you are hypothermic which sends all the blood to your core and vital organs and flushes out lactic acid and hits a virtual “reset” button on your body. So many great benefits from pain relief to resetting your sleep cycle.

6. Besides being physically healthy, how do you stay mentally and emotionally healthy?

I struggle a lot with chronic anxiety so mental health is really important to me. Keeping a regular sleep schedule really helps me because I personally do not function without sleep. I know that I need my alone time to unwind, so I make sure to always make time for myself to relax. Exercise releases endorphins and those endorphins really help me stay emotionally stable, I can feel a difference in my mental state when I have strayed from regular exercise. At the beginning of each semester, I like to write myself inspirational quotes in each week of my planner so that throughout the semester I have something to motivate me when I feel like I am struggling. 

7. How do you handle stress?

Not well, every warrior has their Achilles heel and this one is mine. Again, regular exercise helps me relieve stress when I am feeling overwhelmed. When I get really stressed, I have to remind myself to do one thing at a time. I just recently started using essential oils to help but it’s a work in progress. I think each person just has to figure out what works best for them since we all react to stress differently.

8. Who do you surround yourself with to improve your mental well being? And how should others pick these people?

I have learned that some people are going to help support your mental well being and others aren’t. Just because someone does not help support me in that way does not make them a bad person it just means that our friendship is not on that level and that is perfectly ok. The people that do support me know who they are and I know I can count on them at my best and my worst. It takes trust and reciprocity to develop this relationship and when you do it is something to be cherished. 

9. What does it mean to be a Nauti Warrior to you?

Life is hard sometimes and living a healthy life can be even harder but to me being a Nauti Warrior is holding yourself accountable for your overall health and wellbeing. A Nauti Warrior is a girl who is confident in herself and feels good about herself. I think my best advice is to listen to your body and give it what it needs because you only get one. We may be young but we are not invincible.

10. Do you have any advice for people who also want to live nauti? 

Make achievable goals, write them down, stick them where you see them and stick to it! Instead of trying to make all the changes at once, make one change at a time - it is less overwhelming and you can focus on that change and see how it positively impacts you. Each month add a new goal but maintain the previous goal, little by little you will see changes. Remember change is hard and it takes time to break old habits and create new ones. 

THANK YOU, EMILY for being so open and honest with us! You are a true inspiration and a true warrior. 

LIVE NAUTI

☆ 

Madison