Maintaining an active lifestyle amidst the hustle and bustle of work, school and everything in between can be a challenge.

As college students and young adults, we have an ever-escalating amount of pressure on us to get everything done, be at five different places at once and still manage to have time to rest and focus on ourselves and, in this case, our health.

I played sports throughout my entire life, which meant volleyball year round; I never needed to worry about planning when to work out.

In fact, having practice most days of the week and games and tournaments on the weekends meant I could eat whatever I wanted since I’d just burn it off later.

However, once my volleyball career came to a close, those eating habits seemed to find me. It was clear to me that, without the repercussions of missing a mandatory practice, finding time for the gym, yoga or a good run was a lot harder than I had anticipated.

I found myself saying, “I’ll go later tonight,” but then I would get caught up with something else and completely forget.

The same goes for my eating habits: I could go get a burger and some fries and feel totally fine once I worked it off at practice.

It’s been months now, and I still haven’t gotten my routine down. So far, I’ve gone to a core class and a yoga class at the UTSA rec center; I have learned that once a week isn’t going to cut it if I want to avoid the “freshman fifteen.”

And that is what brings me here: my goal is to help other students figure out what works for them in their attempts to stay fit and healthy—from classes at the UTSA rec center, to healthy eating habits and to gym routines.

There are so many ways to avoid the freshman fifteen, get toned and even get ripped; whatever your goal is, there’s a way to achieve it.

There are always options for different ways to exercise, and there are options for healthy eating as well. It’s just a matter of making the right choices.

Ultimately, eating the right foods is what will get you closer to your health goals, internally and externally.

Personally, my goal is to have a consistent exercise routine every week and make good choices when it comes to eating meals and snacks.

Fitness means something different to everyone. What matters is that each of us know how to attain it and eventually get to that end goal.