20-somethings balancing school/work/social life with healthy

LauraJo08

Hey guys,

So I'm not new to MFP. I started on here last May and lost 15 pounds throughout the summer, and felt amazing. But then I spent the semester abroad in West Africa living with a host family whose meals revolved around rice, oil, and bread. I worked out a lot, but my eating and self-control went crazy.

Going back to my last semester of college, and I'm incredibly nervous about balancing a full course load/20 hrs a week working/social life that revolves around drinking. Our school also requires paying for at least a half meal plan, so half of my meals will be in a cafeteria. Also, my friends and I go out a lot, and most of them are naturally thin without hitting the gym 1 day a month and drunk eating dominoes every night(GAHHHHH, unfair!). I'm on day 5 of Turbofire and loving it, but for me the food and temptations are the hardest things to resist when you have so many things going on!

Anyone else in the same boat/have tips for success? I would love new friends who are motivated, because boy do I wanna look fine in my summer bikini again!

cortycrazy

the biggest piece of advice i can give is do it for yourself and no one else! only YOU can have the control to say "no" and push yourself to go to the gym. just don't give up.. keep going and the more you do, the more results you'll see you'll stay motivated to keep healthy! and the more you eat healthy food, the more you crave it. but we're all human.. we all cheat sometimes. so have some pizza once in a while.. have a couple drinks. even if you go to the gym by yourself.. just remember you're doing it for your health. good luck!

eml48341

Although I am a bit older than you, I can sympathize completely. When I was in college, we went out every night. I would offer to DD when I didn't want to have 100's of empty calories from drinking, which by my senior year I ended up being the DD almost every night. Not only are you saving yourself calories, you are being a good friend :-) I also would schedule early morning aerobics classes so that I knew I wouldn't overdo it when I was out and did want to drink. I would order a vodka soda or vodka water with a lemon and a lime and then sip on a glass of water too. Not drinking a lot of alcohol will also help with the binging on fatty foods late night. If I knew I wanted to go out and let loose, I would workout extra hard that day to accommodate for the extra calories. I often found that after a hard workout, I was more aware of what I was drinking/eating later that night.

I also would schedule study breaks where I would workout for 30 minutes or so. It helped me break up studying and I felt more focused when I got back to work :-)

I hope this helps :-)

squared16

I'm pretty much in the same boat although I am new to MFP.

Put on a bunch of weight my freshman year and now I'm a sophomore struggling to get it all off me. So I'm hitting the gym, eating a lot of salad, and avoiding alcohol as much as possible.

I just took "before" pictures and feeeeeeeling pretty poopy! But here's to a healthier future! : )

MrsRobertson1005

If you want to drink, drink clear drinks like vodka and sprite, not dark. I had to buy the meal plan at my school too, we were able to get sandwiches, water, fruit, that's all i used it for. It is really hard to balance it all, i took 21 hours a few semesters. If you can, on the weekend cook meals that can last all week, that way when you're hungry there is something to eat, not just a quick fun to the fast food place. Also stock up on healthy snacks, pretzel sticks are better than chips, almonds, sunflower seeds, nature's valley granola bars, anything like that will help you not snack on chips and junk.

lmancuso87

I feel you. I'm 24 now and work crazy hours, but I've been this way my whole life so it makes it easier. In college I lived in a house of 6 girls where everyone loved to go out Wednesday-Saturday (plus drinking + football on Sundays), but I was an established fitness/health nut. Everybody who knew me knew this about me, and this helped tremendously. Not only did I work out at the gym 5-6 days a week, but I also worked there which kept me motivated. I would take a class or run, elliptical, etc. Monday - Thursday (even if it's just a 1-hour kickboxing or Zumba class), and then pick ONE day between Friday, Saturday and Sunday to do SOME sort of exercise, whether it be the gym or going walking. I wouldn't kill myself if I couldn't get to it over the weekend or was too hungover, and during the week I would try as often as possible to use the gym as an escape from the library if I had to study, or sit on the bike and study.

I would go out and drink pretty often, either sticking to light beer, red wine (sugary, but not detrimental to your diet), or "light" mixed drinks, such as Vodka + Seltzer. People confuse Tonic with Seltzer, where Seltzer has 0 calories and Tonic has about 100 calories + sugar, just like soda. If you're not a fan of the taste, just add a slice of lemon or lime.

At 3 a.m. when everybody would buy a $6 pie from the drunk pizza place next to the bar and dip it in Ranch dressing, I would whip up something healthy. Drunk cooking isn't always a good idea so remember to turn the stove off haha. I would make these awesome drunken, healthy quesadillas all the time. I even tried making them when I was sober to see how good they REALLY were, and they were still pretty good. I would throw in a pan on the stove some PAM or fat free cooking spray, a small, whole wheat quesadilla and fill it with some of the Perdue Short Cuts Grilled Chicken, some Fat Free Cheese, and then sprinkle some taco seasoning over the top. Fold it in half & press each side/flip until it's done. It was awesome and people eventually had me making these for them. You can even dip it in Fat Free Ranch dressing, Fat Free Sour Cream, or Fat Free Greek Yogurt is also a good supplement to Sour Cream.

As far as eating in the cafeteria goes, I'm not sure how yours is but we had different stations. I'd try to stick with the salad bar or order an freshly made egg white omelette when possible, but this one trick WILL help you. I'm sure you have a salad bar and there are tiny plates, and I'm sure you have everything else with large, dinner plates. REVERSE THEM. Fill your large dinner plate with salad (don't go too crazy with toppings, calories can add up and so can dressings), and fill your small plate (meant for salad) with whatever it is that you're craving- pizza, mashed potatoes, etc. Don't stack everything and don't go back up for seconds unless you LOVED something and can't live with yourself leaving the cafeteria and not having it twice. Also avoid the ice cream station as much as possible...that thing was the best but I tried to only have it once a week.

Hope these tips help!! They truly helped me to stay fit all throughout college, and believe me when I say I did my fair share of drinking, and even binge eating sometimes. Just try to stick to these rules as much as possible and if one night you crave pizza, have it. Don't deprive yourself completely or you'll go overboard.

dusty8907

Hey there, about the best advice i can give is to drink in moderation. Doesn't beed to be every weekend and when you do drink, drink hard liquor and drink it slowly. Hard liquor turns more into sugar than beer. The yeast in beer will boost estrogen making it harder to lose weight and make you feel sluggish. Other than that it's all about willpower. I don't drink at all because i want to look a certain way and if friends don't get that, i get new ones that get it.

DinoSaurous

I am 20 and at uni so I totally understand. Over the summer I lost 30lb, came back to uni and kept it off - even losing a little more. Over Christmas I was very ill and gained back every last pound

I am now back on the bandwagon with the intention of losing it all again (plus more). I have to limit myself to drink once a week otherwise I just get carried away and the weight comes flooding back on. It is hard so to begin with I make sure I don't put myself into the situationthat will make mewant to drink eg. don't go down the Bar for a few weeks until you feel confident.

Good luck you can do this