Losing Weight in College

MoreLikeAPanda

Hi Everyone!
I'm about to start college, and I've decided to use the change in routine as a opportunity to lose weight. I would love to talk to other new college students doing the same thing, or people with experience of losing weight in college.
Feel free to friend me or respond with your experiences!

clrrrr

bump! add me if you want.

mariapuhl

I decided last year that I was tired of being the fat girl in college, so I did something about it. The best thing was that we get a membership to the gym for free, which is open at awesome hours (6am - 11pm) so pretty much no matter what you can go at any time you can. I did though, live off campus last year which made it so much easier. Eating on campus in the cafeteria is hard. If you select main dishes, you don't really know what is going into it (they post the calories but still, it's iffy)... and the salad bar was good, but you'd get sick of it everyday. So with the cafeteria food it'll be a little harder but it's totally possible to lose weight at school! I've done it! Exercising is also a good stress reliever. Just go to the gym, don't think about homework for a couple of hours, it's nice.

sweetcheeks27

I'm a college student Add me, I will help anyway that I can

MoreLikeAPanda

Thanks for the advice! I suddenly don't feel so lonely.
Here's to four years of awesomeness.

HER94

Just getting ready to start before i go to unviersity for 3 years im going to be living off campus and my student hall accomadation has a gym on site perfect! Good Luck, add me up as well

BioQueen

Hi! I'll be a senior next year, and I've had some good and bad experiences with weight loss in college:

Freshman year - I ended up losing about 15-20 pounds, but it was before I knew anything about healthy weight loss. I was going to the gym almost every day but only eating 800 calories. Bad idea, and so unhealthy! Then I put it alll back on later.

Sophomore year - tried the Atkins diet. I bet it does work for some people, but not for my body. I was tired, sluggish, and everything seemed to take extra effort. I definitely didn't have enough energy for the gym. I think I lost about 8-10 pounds and then put it back on again.

Junior year - found MFP and started losing weight the healthy way! It's taken me a lot longer though, but that's okay with me. I just reached my half-way point yesterday and I am officially only 5 pounds overweight.

I would say the hardest things are fitting time in for the gym (which, time you WILL have even if you don't think you do, never let yourself think otherwise!), dealing with social situations, and learning to make the right choices in the dining hall. Personally, the social situations were hardest for me.

The best of luck! It is AWESOME to have the gym there for "free." College is a great time to have fun, work hard, and become who you want to be!

lguy29

Hi there! I am going to be a sophomore and I had negative problems with weight freshman year. Now, I didn't necessarily gain the Freshman 15, but I stopped working out, gained bad eating habits, and came home plumpy and with less muscle. I'm not try to scare you because I did a horrible job at college. But it goes to show you that things can get out of control quickly.

I always found having a healthy diet to be reasonable. The cafeteria, as you will learn, gets boring quickly. Also, since it is a buffet style, I ended up eating a lot more than I normally would. Running around between classes and practice made for my eating times to be all screwed up. I would eat breakfast at 8, lunch at 11, then dinner at 6, with no snacks in between. My friends and I would sit in the cafeteria for at least an hour each night and I gave into peer pressure of having the dessert often.

On top of horrible eating habits, I would tell myself I was too tired or too busy to go to the gym. Being a student meant we had free access to the gym, but I gave myself every excuse not to go. I go to a 24 Hour Sport gym at home, and my school gym is nothing compared. But it has most of what I would need to get a good workout in. Yet, I didn't. The only times I went was when I made plans to go with friends, but that didnt happen often enough.

Stress levels will be up, sleeping habits will probably change, and alcohol is there in college which if you choose to drink is just empty nasty calories. There are so many factors that can cause weight gain or loss.

The most important thing is to have have a good eating and workout schedule and you should be fine! I did a horrible job but I'm ready to turn my sophomore year around Hope that my post helps you with what NOT to do