University is no place for a fat girl...

I'd do a search on 'college' or 'university' - I've seen threads recently about people heading back to campus, and you can find some friends & support by connecting with them.

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/318081-where-are-the-college-kids-losing-weight?hl=college#posts-4233000 is an example of a recent thread.

Good luck, and have a great year!

I actually didn't feel that way a couple years ago when I was a freshman... But I got involved with a lot of really cool people right off the bat, so I didn't feel deprived. Sometimes when I dipped into the very dissimilar social worlds of friends of friends, I felt kind of uncomfortable. I think there's a lot of pressure to either look a certain way or present yourself a certain way. I wasn't confident enough to fit in there, but nobody was mean to me. I'm sorry that your experience was different. It probably depends a lot on the area and backgrounds of people, too. There was a lot of diversity and acceptance at my university. (Although really, I thought that was the aim of all places of higher learning.)

Anyway, I'm sure this site will help you track which foods are doing you good and which are hurting you! There are so many tips to healthy weight-loss. But if you keep a food diary, you'll probably be able to pinpoint which kind of foods are doing you in and making you gain weight, and then you can start making substitutions.

I say start by finding an activity that you truly enjoy, that's the best form of exercise! And when in doubt about food choices, simpler is better. Water is better than soda and the like; fruits and vegetables make better snacks than cookies, etc. Good luck! You can add me as a friend if you're looking for a buddy around here! :bigsmile:

Hey Cat!

As another Cat at university (although slightly older I'm sure) - I can completely empathise with you, my friends are tiny types and an ex army PT trainer (aaargh!). Walk everywhere! It saves money and is surprisingly good at burning calories - and maybe your campus has a gym? Mine worked out at about £12 a month last year - it fills up some time you could be wolfing down food! Please feel free to add me, and we can hopefully find some other strategies (although I do agree with aj_rock that good nutrition and exercise are key) to assist with uni days!

Cat

Hey Cat,

I'd suggest trying to walk everywhere instead of taking the bus, especially for short distances. Worked for me in uni, and meant I could save my pennies for the union bar! It's a habit that's stuck with me ever since.

Good luck girl!

Hi Cat!

Fellow university student here. Went in knowing NOBODY and weighing 200lbs, which I still weigh. I also lost a lot of confidence, but I found my new friends really nice and supportive of me. I only joined up to this site a week or so ago, and I've never really tried to lose weight before.

Are you shy? If you feel fat and/or hate the way you look it can knock your confidence - I actually barely left the house for a few months because I didn't want anyone to look at me. And a lot of people don't realise that you just might be shy - having been on both sides, it's so easy to mistake someone for being stand-offish when really they're nervous.

I'm finding the food and exercise diaries on here really helpful, and I've stopped making excuses to myself and finding reasons NOT to do things. Try to keep in mind that even if the weight loss comes slowly, you're making changes for the better - your body will thank you by being fitter and healthier than ever before.

With food, it's not always about eating differently - it can be as simple as eating less. I prepare (or help prepare) my own meals, so I can measure everything exactly and work out how many calories I'm eating. On a day when I do a lot of exercise, I'll give myself cheese in my ham salad sandwich - but on a fairly sedentary day I won't. I also bought smaller plates to eat off, since eating the same amount from a smaller plate can make you feel fuller.

On the exercise front, I've had a ton of DVDs, but while I was doing them (before I started counting calories) I was only maintaining my weight, not losing. I've seen a lot of people on this site recommend Jillian Michaels' 30 Day Shred, and I personally am doing Couch 2 5k! I only just started it today, but running and other cardio is really good for weight loss. If that seems like too much, start going for a walk in the morning - give yourself half an hour, put some music on and off you go. I've done that every day for the last week and it's really good.

Hope this helps!

Hello Cat,

I'll be going into my second year at UIUC, and while I didn't see myself as overweight, I definitely noticed going into my first year that my jeans weren't fitting like they used to and that I was carrying a little extra pudge around my hips. I was furthermore discouraged (and a little frightened) when my mother had brought up the famous "freshman fifteen", making it sound like because of what I would be eating (dorm food and take-out) that it was almost a guarantee.

HOWEVER, while college does do many things to your body, whether it be through the food you eat or the stress levels you may begin to have trouble managing, there are many low calorie/healthier food choices you can make to better your diet; the only you have to do is really make sure you take time to pick and choose. It is difficult to enjoy college when you feel "fat"; I do not encourage any woman to think this way about themselves, but I know there are a TON of skinny-minnies that made me feel self-conscious every day just by seeing them while walking to class. However, I'm proud to say that I beat freshman fifteen, and actually lost a couple pounds while at school. Take a look at some of my tips and maybe you can adapt them into your college experience for the rest of your time there!

My first tip is that you make sure you WALK to every single one of you classes. Get up early enough to do so, and don't make inclement weather an excuse. Even when it was pouring rain out, blizzarding, or sweltering hot outside, not once did I use our campus buses to get to a single class. Just do it. Also, make sure you have a little speed, or a little "pep" in your step. I naturally walk fast, but if you can start power-walking over plain ol' walking to class, you will eventually see the benefits, and faster.

Secondly, yes, you HAVE to put effort into your food choices. This is of utmost importance. When I lived in the dorm, it was a little difficult to pick and choose because I was not cooking for myself. Don't use dorm/bad food as an excuse either. There are ALWAYS healthy (or at least, healthier than most) food choices in EVERY setting, even fast food restaurants, so make sure you make the right choices. If you have to, PLAN what you're going to eat that day, so you don't go off track or make impulse choices that could ruin your healthy diet. Choose fresh fruit over cookies and chips, low fat/fat free yogurt and berries over ice cream, whole grain bread over white, etc. If you're the kind of person that picks up lunch or breakfast while on the way to class and there isn't really ANY seemingly healthy choices, pack a lunch the night before and bring it with you. It's the little things can can add up in your calorie intake, so make sure you are making conscientious decisions for you meals.

Make sure you have a CHEAT DAY. Yeah, I said it. This could mean a pizza after a night of dancing, take out with a friend while watching a movie, or ice cream on a hot day. It's okay to have a cheat day, and somewhat encouraged to help curb those crazy fat/sugar craving we might have. The only catch is that it should only be a ONE TIME A WEEK thing at MOST. After an entire week of healthy eating and exercise, yeah, I DO feel that I deserve something nasty to eat, so I do it. I just don't over-indulge or do it more than once a week for one of my meals. I usually save my cheat meal for a Saturday night/the wee hours of Sunday morning (can you say hangover food?).

You have GOT to put some time into your body. Not only with food, but with exercise. Make sure you do so FIRST THING in the morning, as your body will keep burning more cals after working out than not working out at all, and by doing it first-thing, you will get more benefits out of this concept rather than doing it at night, because this is when your metabolism and body slow down. 20 minutes a day on the tread or running outside is not that bad; 30 sit-ups a day isn't either. You can't psyche yourself into thinking that working out is the worst thing that has every happened to your day. Yeah, you get sweaty, smelly, and sometimes you're sore the next day, but you've gotta push yourself, because no one else is going to do it for you. One thing I do that I CANNOT STRESS ENOUGH is that when making healthy food choices or leaving for the gym, I do not have the mindset of losing weight. I don't go into my day thinking "Okay, I need to eat better and work out because my *kitten* is fat and I feel disgusting" (okay maybe sometimes, but I try not to). Instead, adopt a better view. When people only diet and exercise to lose weight, they begin all gung-ho and make unrealistic goals about how much they want to lose. Something I did was get discouraged when I didn't see results right away. YOU CAN'T DO THIS. What you MUST do however, is think to yourself "I want to eat better and exercise because this is what my body DESERVES; I just want to be healthier". When you make it all about just being at your best health, whether it be to avoid things like heart disease or to have more energy, you're more inclined to not only begin better habits, but stick to them in the long run. Losing weight will eventually come along with a better lifestyle, but that's not what it should all be about. Something else that I find important is that you should ONLY DO IT FOR YOURSELF. Not your mother, not your cousin, not the boys in your University and CERTAINLY NOT the skinny girls walking around on campus. Something all of us have got to accept is that we are all built differently, and sometimes (unfortunately) genes determine how and where we carry our weight, and how easy it is to gain/difficult it is to lose. You have to do this for yourself and yourself only despite everything that may be working against you. But, you have got to make sure that you view the whole experience as a positive; no one will want to go to the gym if they wake up dreading to go there, and no one will eat healthier if they just tell themselves it takes too much work.

RUN. Running has changed my body. It's a total body work-out, and it's literally fantastic for your heart. You don't have to be a marathoner, but running at least three times a week is great for your health. I hated running before I got into it; I was never good at it, and I have what they call exercise-induced asthma, but I didn't use these things as an excuse. You just have to do it, like any exercise. You can start off just doing 20 minutes a day, with an easy interval of 3 minutes running, 2 minutes walking until your time is up. You WILL get better at it, and soon you may learn to love it as I have. CARDIO is important, so so so so so important, and the best work you can do for your body. If you really really cannot stand to run one day, check your local gym to see if they have any dance/zumba/aerobics classes. They're fun and you have a whole group doing it with you, which is encouraging and makes it seem like less of a work out.

GET A WORK OUT BUDDY. They will help you enjoy the whole experience much more, and you can encourage each other along the way. Sometimes you may forget that you're actually working out because you're just having a good time with your friend!

PILATES. YOGA. STRENGTH TRAINING. I got a lot of pilates/yoga DVD's and let me tell you, Pilates hurts like a ***** but your core will be AMAZING. Yoga is kind of my calm-down/end-of-the-day thing that I like to incorporate at the end of the day before bed when my body slows down. It helps to relax me after stressful events and stretches and lengthens my body. YOU WILL LOVE. You also need to incorporate some strength in there, like weights. You don't have to over-do it and get huge bars and try and compete with the beef-necks at the gym, but some lawn-mowers with a ten pound weight don't do anything but help. Squats and lunges are always great, and push-ups do wonders for your arms. I like to focus on my tri-ceps, because I don't want a bingo wing...

CHECK YOUR LABELS ON FOODS. If you can, at least. Read the labels, check them, put them in your myfitness pal. Keep your fat content low, as well as your sugar. Look for fat-free/no-sugar added products. DRINK. WATER. (CANNOT STRESS THAT ENOUGH!). Keep the salt down too, because it causes you to bloat and retain water. UP on your fresh vegs/fruits, and definitely UP THE PROTEIN. Chicken, egg whites, LEAN meats, like lean beef and turkey are all great. Protein helps build muscle and keep the fat away, SO EAT IT!

I hope you start to adopt these basic concepts into your daily routine and with a positive attitude. You WILL feel better if you do, I promise you that.