Fighting the Freshmen 15!

niknokd

After having almost LOST 15 pounds, I'm terrified of starting college in the Fall and gaining the freshmen 15! I've been looking at the nutritional info for the meals at my school's dining hall and they all just seem so high-calorie and high-fat =\ What are you other current or upcoming college freshmen planning to do to stop the gain? I got a fitbit tracker so I can keep track of how many calories I can eat, and my goal is to do one of the rec center's group fitness classes 5 days a week.

TheGreenfaerie

Shoot, I lost weight without even trying to when I was a college freshman. Just as many kids lose 15 lbs as gain, in my experience.

With the meal plan I had (2 meals a day), I ate a salad with lunch just about every day at the cafeteria, and ate whatever I wanted for dinner, kept snacks (crackers, etc) and drinks in my room and I didn't set foot in the gym until I was a junior/senior living off campus--but I still lost weight. I didn't have a car on campus with me the first semester either, so if I needed to leave for for something too far to walk, I rode with friends or took the local campus/city bus system.

Mainly, I just walked everywhere! I walked to class, to go eat, to meet friends, when I was bored, to explore, to and from marching band practice... everywhere really. It was a hilly campus and not friendly to cars (started back in the horse and buggy days or your own two feet days), so walking was the primary mode of transportation for everyone, other than the buses.

I also started eating more veggies and carried a water bottle with me everywhere. I only put money on my campus card (like a debit card) for laundry and an occasional snack at the library. For everything else, I used my normal accounts, that way it felt like "real" money and I could track my spending with online banking. With that in mind, I actually didn't drink soda unless I was at the cafeteria which had fountains, but I did keep juice and bottled water in my dorm room.

It wasn't until I moved off campus and started to drive more and gain weight that I ever set foot in the campus gym, and that was mostly because I had a long lunch break 3 days a week and didn't want to have to hike to the remote parking lots (or take the bus to them), then drive home only to turn around about an hour later just to try to fight for a rare open parking spot for my afternoon classes. Instead, I'd just kill the time at the gym after my morning classes, meet my SO for lunch at a restaurant on the edge of campus (I'd cut my meal plan back to a smaller number of meals when I moved off campus), chill at the library a bit, then head back on foot to class. My SO used to come to the gym with me then too, and we were both about 40-50 lbs lighter then than we are now!

Now that I'm an adult in the real world, I wish I had that sort of built in walk everywhere any time sort of freedom again. It was so easy to be healthier then. Now, it takes work and planning.

dr3wman

Im currently a senior in college and i gained about 5 lbs freshman year. The main thing for me was not dining hall food, but rather alcohol...which led to eating out. Numerous times after drinking (sometimes up to 5 nights a week) my roomates and I would order food and eat it guilt free. Once I stopped doing that, I lost the weight again. As long as you dont go crazy with the "all you can eat" style of dining halls, you should be fine.

ncthomas09

I graduated college 3 years ago but I gained the freshman 30!!! I had an unlimited meal plan to the dining hall and lived in the dorms....So naturally I ate like 17 millions times a day so I could hang out with all my new friends.

Looking back I honestly don't regret it because I truely needed some more meat on my bones! I looked anorexic in high school!!

But the main thing is walk or ride a bike everywhere you possibly can. I'm sure your college will be just like every other campus and not have enough parking for everyone! If you have fitness classes available to you take one or two every semester. Mine were only 1 credit hour but also a good GPA boost since it's pass or fail. I took yoga but we did a lot of styles of crunches and I had some amazing abs!!

Also most schools have open gyms to their students so find some work out buddies! Chances are you are going to gain weight because it is your first year but don't let it get you down. I gained my weight freshman year and held steady until after graduation. Just keep in mind what you're putting in your mouth!! LOL and the booze is hell on your body too!!!

But as long as you are already aware of what could happen maybe it won't slip up on you like a lot of other students.