Advice for college student trying to lose freshman 15

bleachedsnow

I'm 18 years old, 5'7" and 146 lbs. I'd like to go down to about 130-135ish. I've got a lot of questions and it's a super long post so please bear with me.

I go to uni and eat food at the dining hall, and they don't have any nutrition info, so I always end up having to approximate. MFP assigned me a calorie goal of about 1350 if I wanted to lose 1 lb/week. I put myself in as sedentary since I'm a student, so I'm sitting down whenever I'm not walking/biking to class or working out. I log my workout calories separately. Is that a healthy goal for me? It's almost 300 below my BMR. Should I be "lightly active" instead?

I've been keeping track of the calories I've been eating for 3 weeks now. I'm having a pretty hard time sticking to such a low calorie goal, so I frequently overeat by a couple of hundred calories and occasionally have days where I just fail completely. (I feel that since I overeat so much, even though my goal is really 1350, I'd actually be eating around 1500.)

I understand that means that my weight loss will slow down dramatically compared to the estimations that MFP has set up for me. I've been weighing myself every now and then, but I can't tell if any weight loss I have is actually fat, or if it's just daily fluctuations in weight. How much do I have to lose before it can be considered fat loss vs. water weight? Also, any other advice for beginners like me ?

Abowles27

I'm actually going into college next year. I'd say try to stay away from pasta, rice, bread, etc. Try to find fruit and vegetables. I'd also say if you have a refrigerator in your room keep greek yoghurt or eggs/egg whites or snacks with high protein and also maybe keep fruit in your room. Try to eat chicken or fish and if they have salads plus you can always look up nutritional value of food in the dining hall if you know beforehand or even when you're there. I'd just say eat smaller portions but more portions so like 5 small portions. Try to drink water.

elispeli

Welcome! I'll try to break all that down for ya-

1) Yes, those dining halls are suuuuper annoying. We just have to soldier through with estimations and detail. It's a pain, but approximations are usually pretty accurate

2)
a) If you're 5'7" 1350 seems mighty low to me. I'm 5'3" and MFP said 1200/day. Also, if you're overeating- you're hungry! Never go to bed hungry. Go to bed exhausted from working out. Ideally, I eat 1500 calories a day and work off 500.

b) Overeating is a bit of a misnomer. You can eat yourself to death on raw vegetables and fruits and still be under your calorie limit. As a college student myself, I know how often my friends and I go out for pizza, and how easy it is to grab Chipotle and Subway. But at the end of the day we have to be really strict with -what- we eat as well as how much. There are some 'clean eating' groups on MFP that are a good support resource for keeping yourself on track.

3) You're definitely not sedentary, my friend! You bike, walk, and work out! Give yourself some credit

4) People have different strategies for tracking weight loss in small increments. Some people only weigh themselves once a week. My friends and I have 'Sunday Morning Check-In', for example. You'll have to ask around for other ideas. To ensure accuracy with weighing, only weigh yourself in the morning, after using the toilet but before breakfast and shower.

My best advice would be to get to the gym every day. No matter what. If you get in at 2 AM, go to the gym. If you have class at 9 AM, get up early and go to the gym. Even if you don't manage to cut down to your daily calorie goal, making it a daily habit will double your success!

l_ashley

It is great that you are cognizant of your health during your college years. During college I gained almost 40 lbs in 2.5 years because I stopped running track and kept eating the same.

I would recommend that you invest in a pedometer. Walking around campus can equal to a lot of exercise. I used to walk 5 - 6 miles a day just trying to get to class. Fitbits are great, but if you can't afford one, a little $15 pedometer from walmart will do just as good.

bleachedsnow

Hey, thanks for all of the advice

I'm currently in the middle of a work crunch right now though, so my biggest concern at the moment is trying to awake and not starving at 3 in the morning haha. I'll definitely be more diligent about running and going to the gym when this is over.

I'm considering upping my calorie goal to 1600 because I've hearing that eating below your BMR is really unhealthy for your metabolism. And that people who were plateauing were able to lose more once they ate a little more. Am I just being too impatient since it's only been 3 weeks? Is 1 lb a week too high of a goal if I'm only planning on losing 10- 15 lbs?

bleachedsnow

bump

spikrgrl503

I would put you as lightly active. If your "1lb/week" loss calories is below your BMR something is wrong.

bwogilvie

MFP assigned me a calorie goal of about 1350 if I wanted to lose 1 lb/week. I put myself in as sedentary since I'm a student, so I'm sitting down whenever I'm not walking/biking to class or working out. I log my workout calories separately. Is that a healthy goal for me? It's almost 300 below my BMR. Should I be "lightly active" instead?

The activity level you choose depends largely on how much you log as exercise. If you log your walks or bike rides to class as exercise, then set it to sedentary. If you don't, lightly active might be more appropriate. Either way, look at your results after a month; if you're losing slower than you want, decrease your activity level; if faster, increase it.

There's nothing wrong with eating under BMR if you get sufficient protein, fat, vitamins, and minerals. If you do a reasonable amount of exercise, your total intake is going to be over BMR anyway. However, after you lose 5-8 lb. you might want to switch to half a pound per week. 15 lb. isn't that much, and there's no point rushing.

Another point: when you're in a calorie deficit, your muscular glycogen stores are likely to be partially depleted. When you reach your goal and go back to maintenance, they'll be replenished, and you'll gain weight not only from the glycogen (which isn't much) but also the water that's stored with it. It's not fat, but it will show up on the scale. If that will bother you, start tapering your calorie deficit slowly when you reach goal, or lose a couple pounds below goal before switching to maintenance calories.