How to Avoid the Freshman 15

The Freshman 15 occurs when we phase into the next adventure of our lives, college. It happens to many of us, let alone to the best of us. Although our lifestyles are subject to change when we're vulnerable to late night partying and food binges, there are many ways to take control of ourselves and to steer clear of these nasty habits.

If you follow these guidelines, you’ll stay healthy, thin, and fit. Not only will you be in shape, but you'd be less vulnerable to sickness.

Difficulty: Moderately Challenging

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• motivation
• the will to stay happy and healthy
• sneakers

1. Food is key. After my first year in college, I realized it’s not so much WHAT I ate, but how MUCH. Besides watching your diet, make sure you’re not eating more than you should! Since everything was free and it was buffet style, I figured I should dig into everything! After all, I’m paying for it! I have a wandering eye, so “one of each” was my motto. Well, I found out the hard way that the problem was how many plates I was gathering, not the food I was choosing. Eat what you like, within reason. MODERATION IS KEY.

2. Although you should be eating what you want, make sure that you’re consuming the necessary food groups! Eat less cheeseburgers, pasta, and french fries and more soups and salads! Also, drink more juice, milk, and water rather than all the soda that they offer. Stay on top of your vegetables, fruits, and grains! The more of this that you eat, the less hungry you’ll be for the greasy pizza.

3. In college, you’re always busy when you’re in and out of classes. Its safe to say that you’ll be eating at the dining commons only twice a day. In order to keep your metabolism from slowing on account of minimal meals, make sure to have your dorm stocked with a refrigerator and/or small pantry of healthy snacks. You’ll learn to eat at a normal rate if you have food in your dorm because you’ll be eating up to four or five times a day when consuming healthy snacks, therefore speeding up your metabolism.

4. Most importantly, drink as much water as you can! Water, if anything, will help you LOSE weight! It cleans out your system and removes toxins from your body.
   To find out how much water you require, daily, weigh yourself and divide that number by two. For example, if I weight 130lbs and divide it by 2, my answer is 65. Therefore, 65 is how many ounces of water you should be drinking a day.

5. A huge reason why students gain weight in college is because they stay up way too late! Not only can irregular sleeping patterns slow your metabolism, but this dysfunction can cause stress and/or anxiety. If your head is all mixed up and not in the right place when you need to be concentrating, this can be a huge factor to weight gain. Don’t believe me? Ask a doctor. Stay organized, prepared, and calm. Do your work on time and sleep well!

6. A very hard rule to stick with when you’re in college is to drink less. Besides what you eat and how often you sleep that can cause anxiety and stress levels, your partying can affect you the most. Despite the fact that the drinking can cause depression, anxiety, and stress in itself, it directly causes weight gain.
   
   Alcohol-->yeast-->sugar-->fat
   
   All alcohol contains yeast, and the yeast in alcohol directly becomes sugar. And, of course, sugar is proven to cause fat.
   
   It is completely natural, as an adolescent, to want to drink and have fun, but try to remember that it’s in your best interest to say no.

7. Being in a new environment can cause stress and anxiety, so make sure that you keep yourself from this. Try to go home every so often so you won’t feel so emotional about being away from the people that you love. Also, a great way to beat the depression you may feel from the separation is to join new activities and social groups. This will keep you preoccupied and happy. You should also remember that the people that you meet at these activities and the friends that you make in your dorm and new community are your age going through the exact same thing! They’re new at this just like you! You’re not as alone as you may think.

8. Lastly, the most obvious step of is EXERCISE! I don’t have to sit here and write about how exercise is essential, for this is common knowledge. What I will tell you is that it’s easy to find a half an hour a day to put on your running shoes and head out for a quick jog around campus. This quick thirty-minute cardio workout, in itself, will make that much of a difference.
   If you’re really serious about keeping yourself in shape and you’re willing to work hard to keep off the fifteen, check out your college’s gym. The majority of schools offer a free gym to those who attend the university, so put it on your *to do* list! And if you want to empower yourself and others, go in groups with friends! This is a great strategy because you’ll maintain motivation.

Tips & Warnings

• If anyone ever teases or comments on any of these things that you’re doing to keep yourself in good health, whether it be eating right, going to bed (relatively) on time, not drinking, or working out, just remember that they’ll be the ones paying the price later! They’ll gain the Freshman 15 (and sometimes 20-25), not you! And if it helps, remind them of this!
• Make sure to diminish depression with your activities, friends, and events rather than eating and drinking!
• If you need caffeine boosts for any reasons for events such as exams, try to drink diet sodas, teas, or coffee with skim milk/black coffee and very little to no sugar. Lattes, cappuccinos, and high- in- fat sodas or drinks with tons of carbs in them are an obvious no, no!
• DO NOT attend any late night dinners!! Eating after 9 pm can make you VERY vulnerable to weight gain! If your friends are trying to peer pressure you into this, use the excuse that you have a paper or assignment due the next day and that you really need to get it done. If your friends want to order food, reply that you’re low on cash. Say and do whatever you can to get out of late night eating!
• Pay attention to what your body is saying to you! If you’re not hungry – STOP EATING! If you’re hungry- EAT!

[rckymtnhome]

on 11/10/2009 Thanks for the good advice, can be used by anyone, not just the freshmen. (I'll go put away the potato chips and get myself a glass of water.)

[WritingNag]

on 9/25/2009 Very good advice on not gaining the freshman 15! or for anyone trying not to gain weight. 5*

[velosity]

on 7/23/2009 I never realized about the time thing. I always go to bed so late.. Thanks for sharing!

[NightowlMama]

on 7/10/2009 could of used this 10 yrs ago lol thanks great article

[makaksa]

on 5/11/2009 Good advice for avoiding the freshman 15!