college tips!!!

yesitsjess

helppppp me please... l'm a freshmen and i havent gained any weight but i havent lost eight... any tips or at least some motivational support.. I'm starting to lose hope

tehzephyrsong

The best thing to do food-wise is to just buy your own stuff and cook, if that's an option for you (i.e., there is a grocery store nearby, you have access to a fridge and kitchen, you can afford it in terms of both the food itself and the gas to get yourself to the store if it's too far to walk/ride a bike, etc). However, I assume, as a freshman, you're required to have a meal plan and eat on campus. If you can't opt-out of the meal plan and buy your own food, take a good look around your cafeteria.

If they don't put out nutritional information, ask about it. If you don't know who the managers are, ask an employee if you can speak to the supervisor, and ask them to start putting that information out. If they do put out the nutrition information, pay close attention to serving size and calories; having worked in a college cafeteria, I will tell you that the servers have no idea how much they're actually giving you and the serving utensils aren't sized according to any kind of standard. A serving of (say) beans and rice might be 1/2 cup, but chances are the bored student behind the hot line is going to load up your plate with something closer to 1.5 or 2 cups of it unless you specifically ask for a "little bit" of it. And even then, they're not going to measure it out.

Calories add up really quickly, especially for the hypercaloric/hyperdelicious fried foods, so avoid those as much as you can. If you have a deli counter, get your sandwiches on whole-wheat wraps instead of bread. Stick to fresh vegetables and non-fried meats as much as you can; if you can't stand plain veggies, develop a taste for low-cal dressings like Italian or oil and vinegar. The occasional (small!) slice of cake or couple of cookies is OK, because you gotta live, but don't make it a habit.

If you drink coffee with cream and sugar, start weaning yourself off of the fixings, or switch to tea (and don't put cream and sugar in it). Cream adds a ton of calories; believe whatever you want about artificial sweetener, I just know it makes black coffee palatable without adding calories. I can't afford to get serious about my coffee, as a fellow student (I'd love to buy fresh beans, grind them myself and make fresh, delicious coffee with a French press, because that's supposed to be the best coffee ever or something), so I just sweeten regular drip-coffee with some Splenda or Equal when I need the caffeine but not the calories. Or I just make tea, because I can drink black tea straight. It's an acquired taste if you're used to sweet beverages.

For exercise, you probably have an on-campus student fitness/wellness/recreation center. If treadmills are boring and you're not comfortable venturing into the weight room, look into group fitness classes, like Zumba or yoga or spinning. Otherwise, provided your school isn't in a dangerous neighborhood or the weather isn't too extreme, you could just walk/jog outside around campus. Whatever you do, stick with it.

Remember: You're smarter than the Freshman 40. Form these habits now and you won't have to play catch-up later!

yesitsjess

thank you sooo much... i will definitely use these