Struggling to unwind and destress? I know the feeling. Some nights I come home from work tense or wake up with lower back pain. In addition, when I’m stressed out, I feel drained, tired, and frustrated. Stress has such a high impact on my physical and mental state that it is visibly apparent on my face, back, and shoulders. These areas tend to be more prone to acne.

Some of the best ways I find to alleviate this problem is by practicing simple stress-free habits on a weekly basis. See below for a few tips.

I’ve been skinny my whole life, but it didn’t come from genetics or a fast metabolism. (Matter of fact, heart disease and diabetes runs in my family). It came from just staying active. With participating in cheerleading, dancing, and running in my younger years, I’d managed to maintain my weight at around 140 pounds. (Now cut to my not-so-pleasant moments of weight gain.)

As I grew older, I started to pack on the calories from primarily an unhealthy pescatarian diet and sedentary lifestyle. Although I felt cute and curvy, I developed poor lifestyle habits that wasn’t conducive to my health. For instance, eating greasy, spicy foods late nights after work, buying tons of gym memberships and opting out as the “no show”, and of course, eating high calorie meals consisting of carbs, fat, and protein while excluding fruits and vegetables...need I say more? Yes, the biggest downfall I experienced was becoming an omnivore. Even though an omnivore diet can be healthy, I became a omnivore as a default of my negative circumstances. It wasn’t a positive health behavior change that I planned intentionally nor was it tied to healthy emotions. It was a decision made based off of life changes I was going through at the time.

I cannot count how many times I had to regroup and focus on my health. One would think I would be sad or embarrassed at some of my lifestyle choices as a adolescent or adult. However, I was not nor am I now ashamed of my health journey. It’s all a learning process and I am humbled by the awakening experience.

Here are a few activities/habits I’d like to share with you that helped me keep my weight off: