FRESHMAN 15...HELP!

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makeupinmanhatten
makeupinmanhatten Posts: 155
in Health and Weight Loss
This Fall is going to be my first year at college, and I am so terrified of gaining the "freshman 15" Any tips that you guys have for how to stay fit once you are on your own for college? I am looking into taking a couple fitness classes and also a nutrition class! I am very interested in learning how to take care of my body the right way. Please let me know if you have any tips on ways to stay fit once you are a new college student away from home!

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  • aelarek
    aelarek Posts: 83 Member
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    I read in a 17 magazine a few causes of freshman fifteen.

    1. Drinking high calorie beverages throughout the day. Such as, orange juice with breakfast, a fancy coffee from the snackshack at midmorning, a cola at lunch, juice/whatever in the afternoon, energy drink at dinner, alcohol in the evening. Those liquid calories really add up! So watch out for that!

    2. The unlimited amounts of food in the dining hall. Pizza, tacos, spaghetti aren't the best route and usually there are healthier choices available, like salad bar, grilled salad, ect. Keep your eyes peeled for the healthier option.

    3. Late night studying leading to a lack of sleep which, for me, led me to candy bars/energydrinks/sweets during the day to keep me going. Always try your best to get an adequate amount of sleep. It'll also help provide you with energy for workouts!

    4. Eat a healthy breakfast. It'll definitely help you out energy wise. It's important to start out tour day like you mean business. A healthy breakfast will help keep you motivated to make better choices during the day.

    5. Remember, just because fast food is quick & convenient, especially away from home. It's not worth the fats/salts/sugars.

    Hope that helps!
  • theroadto100
    theroadto100 Posts: 209 Member
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    I've been at community college these past few years, but I visit my friends at Uconn a lot and I can understand why it's so hard to stay fit and so easy to gain weight. There's SO many choices in the dining hall and some of them look SO good. Like pizza and grilled cheese and desserts... you just have to stay away from those. When I visit my friends I tend to get a wheat wrap with veggies, some special k cereal with almond milk, a fruit, or salad. The best part about the salad is that they have all the toppings you could dream of so you can really make it your own.

    A lot of schools have the daily menu on their website. I know they do at Uconn, and they even have healthier sections of it that tell you the nurtition facts. They serve grilled chicken dinners or whole wheat rice, and there's ALWAYS a healthy alternative like this. Plan your meal BEFORE you go to the dining hall and COMMIT to it. Do not change what you plan on getting, no matter how good that cupcake looks.
  • wiscyproblems
    wiscyproblems Posts: 16
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    The freshman 15 was very very hard for me to avoid. The biggest problem I have is that eating becomes a social activity rather than one simply to sustain life. Girls want to grab lunch to get to know you better, boys want to stop at the dining hall with you to get dinner. Alcohol carries many many calories and for many students becomes a social facilitator and way to make new friends. Its true that if you don't at least "go out" to parties it is often hard to meet new people (at least at my school) and often when going out the temptation and peer pressure to drink is high. It comes down to making smart decisions 24-7 and I wasn't prepared to make those decisions. Over 15 pounds later I'm regretting the choices I made and working to find ways to lose the weight. It's not always easy in a new setting experiencing new things but I think that discipline is the key to not gaining the freshman 15.
  • lavr
    lavr Posts: 19
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    I just got done with my freshman year of college, and I was pretty worried about gaining the freshman 15 too, especially since I had a meal plan where I could just walk in and eat anything and everything I want. In the end, I managed to stay relatively about the same weight, and here's what I did:

    I'd say, for the next year, if you could avoid it, don't get the completely unlimited meal plan, where you can walk in at any time of the day however many times you want. I had a meal plan where I roughly could go in for about 10 meals a week, and then I'd always take a few apples oranges and/or bananas and put them in my backpack for snacks later.

    I always carried a water bottle with me. You always hear that sometimes you feel hungry when you're just thirsty, so I tried to make sure I really was hungry before I ate (although that didn't always happen). My university had places where you could refill water bottles (and i'm not talking about water fountains, they were little things in the wall made for refilling water bottles! it was cool!!), so it helped with money as well.

    Like I said earlier, I usually had an apple with me, so whenever I felt a little hunger but it wasn't time for a meal yet, I'd snack on that. It helped because if i went out to eat with friends, i wouldn't feel the need to order such a big meal, or if I did, I'd try and save some so i had delicious leftovers later.

    And I took the stairs whenever I could (at least I tried), even if it was more than a few floors up. The elevators were usually crowded or took forever to get to you and filled with that awkward silence that I didn't like anyways.

    And when you're out drinking, try drinking water between your drinks. sometimes you drink a lot because you feel like you don't feel the alcohol yet. but if you wait a bit, it hits you. And water in the moment helps minimize the hangover you get the next day!

    That's all i can think of in the moment! Hope it helped (:
  • 12by311
    12by311 Posts: 1,716 Member
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    Watch your portions. Don't eat crap food all the time. Find a balance. Drink lots of water. Stay active.

    Wish I had taken that advice entering college...
  • HealthFreak1967
    HealthFreak1967 Posts: 116 Member
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    The nutrition class will be so interesting and helpful!! It was my favorite class as a freshman!

    And all you have to do is try to not eat a lot of processed foods. I lost weight at first when I started college, but then gained 4 pounds because I was literally eating chocolate, cookies, crackers, peanut butter, and loads of other crap everyday. Now That I stick to a primarily whole foods diet, with no processed man-made, chemical infused "food", I've lost the weight and feel so energetic and light. We were meant to eat whole foods that are grown out of the earth (fruits vegetables gains beans nuts seeds). Just stick to that and if you eat meat or dairy try to have it low fat and minimally processed. If you want snacks, instead of getting things out of a box or package, have fruit and nuts or vegetables.

    Try to also pick things with a high fiber or water content as they will fill you up and keep ya satisfied :)

    LAstly try to limit eating out and eating fast food as that greatly contributes to fast weight gain. Also, all that stuff is packed with fat and oil.

    Goof luck and have fun.

    And P.S. Drink loads of water!!!! I used to never drink water and I'd always overeat.. we really do mistake thirst for hunger!! Best thing to do is every morning before anything else, drink a huge glass of water.

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