You’ve heard it. You have probably even taken part in the short, but not-so-sweet conversation that floats out of so many mouths after Facebook-stalking an old friend or running into the senior that sat in front of you in class last year. It goes a little something like this:
“Have you seen Susan lately?”
“No, why?”
“Well, she is home from her first year of college, and she definitely gained some weight.”
Don’t freak out: Her Campus is here to help you make sure you never become the center of those frequently spoken sentences. You know very well the risk you are taking by going to college. You are placing yourself in prime position to be plagued with the epidemic that takes many of our dearest friends and family members as victims, the epidemic we have come to know as the “Freshman 15.” Between late night snacking and a new desire to nap in all your free time, gaining weight in college is not hard to do. Nutritionists Susan Holmberg and Kelly Klacziewicz, as well as HC readers who have just completed their first year of college, helped us develop a five-part recipe to make sure you never become acquainted with the infamous Freshman 15.
1. Develop healthy eating habits as early as possible.
It is absolutely vital to your weight gain avoidance that you start building healthy eating habits right when you move into your new dorm room or apartment or even before. Starting the routine will carry over into your college life and definitely prevent you from packing on a few pounds. Coming up with a food plan that is possible to duplicate before you leave will make it much easier to keep yourself eating healthy in college. Start building healthy habits by following these simple tips:
- Develop two or three breakfast and lunch options that you know you will be able to recreate in college. For example, cottage cheese or a hard-boiled egg for breakfast and a wrap or salad for lunch.
- Start to embrace a diet that contains good carbs, like choosing the whole-grain option whenever possible.
- Wait 20 minutes before you get seconds, and if you’re still hungry, choose veggies!
- Stick to foods that are prepared in methods that are low in oil and fat such as baked or broiled foods.
- Replace sugary drinks such as soda, fruit juice and Gatorade with water.
2. Wear gym clothes to class.
HC Reader Tip: “I always wear my workout clothes to my first class of the day. I have learned that if I am not already in my gym clothes, by the time I go to my room to change and drop off my stuff, I won’t have time for the gym and will have made several excuses. If I am already in my clothes, there’s no way around it and I just go straight to the gym with my books after my first class. I’m already out and about and it is definitely the easiest way to get myself to workout.” -Amanda Roberts, Texas Christian University
Eating healthy and working out go hand in hand and while doing one or the other is better than neither, you will see best results when you practice the two together. Exercise is good for mental and physical health, helps you sleep better and will energize you throughout the day. It is very important that you start developing a workout schedule of 30-60 minutes for four to six days a week now, because there will be plenty of excuses for you to find when you are at school. When you get your heart pumping and your forehead sweating, you not only get the benefits of burning calories while you are working out, but you also increase your metabolic rate and essentially still burn calories for the 24 hours following your workout! If that isn’t enough reason to get you breaking a sweat, just think of the ample amount of guys that frequent the gym.
[pagebreak]
3. Think of alternatives to late night snacking—don’t just plan on avoiding it
HC Reader Tip: “Late night snacking is a hard one to get around, especially when you are stuck at the library till 2 a.m. or out with friends late. What helps me is eating dinner later than normal. If I eat dinner at 6:00 and then stay up till 2:00, there’s no way I won’t get hungry again. I try to eat meals a little later than normal; lunch around 2:00 and dinner around 8:00. On nights that I can, I just go to bed early before I get hungry again. When my friends want to hit up Taco Cabana on our way home from downtown, I just firmly remind myself that I will survive if I do not have their delicious taquitos right this second and take a cab home. Figuring out the healthiest options at the food places that are open 24 hours a day beforehand helps too, so if I can’t resist, I already know the best option.” -Kim Boller, University of Texas at Austin
Holmberg points out that when it comes to late night snacking, the truth is that it is going to happen. Food joints are open all night in college towns and your suitemates and friends down the hall will be ordering pizza often. Instead of locking yourself in your dorm room every time you smell the cheesy goodness of Papa John’s pizza, keep your mini fridge stocked with two to three snack options that will satisfy the late night craving. Some good options are:
- Fresh fruit or veggies
- Orville Redenbacher’s 100-calorie pack popcorn
- Yogurt
- Rice cakes
- 100 calorie Jell-O packs
If you are strong-willed enough to avoid the dreaded late night snacking entirely, then absolutely do, but for those of us who need a little pick-me-up when pulling an all-nighter to search on Facebook for the guys you met that weekend…uh, I mean study with your roommate, make sure you have healthy options!
4. Talk to your roommate about it.
If avoiding the Freshman 15 is important to you, then it is important that the person you will be living uncomfortably close to the next year is going to support you. Sit down with your roommate the first week of school and set some rules about what kinds of foods you leave in the room. If you want a healthy snack, it is going to be very hard to grab your carrots when your roommate’s chocolate chip cookies are sitting right there too. You and your roommate should agree to keep certain foods in the room and if she’s not willing, then suggest you keep your foods separate from one another and out of plain sight.
HC Reader Tip: “My roommate and I would always make time and go to Target together so we could buy healthy snacks that we could both enjoy. That way the food in our room was a good option for both of us and we could make sure that there were healthy snacking options in our room at all times.” -Avery Mills, University of Colorado at Boulder
[pagebreak]
5. Be smart about drinking.
HC Reader Tip: “Drinking is a lot harder to avoid than I thought it would be. I know that it is definitely not the healthiest option, but I also know now that I’m going to do it. What I have tried to do is only allow myself to drink one night a week, and if I know I am going to drink more than that, I force myself to go to the gym and eat healthy those days—there is really no other way around it. Also, I try to cut some calories by avoiding beer and using diet sodas or tonic water for mixers.” –Anonymous college girl
We know none of you freshmen should pick up a beer before you turn 21, but just to be safe, let’s talk about the empty calories that alcohol undoubtedly consists of:
- 1 margarita = 550 calories
- 1 Long Island iced tea = 380 calories
- 1 Pina Colada = 293 calories
- 1 beer = 125-190 calories
- 1 shot of tequila = approx. 100 calories
Not only does alcohol increase your daily caloric intake faster than you realize, but it also causes you to crave other foods, which are also high in calories. The body also processes alcohol before fat, protein and carbs, which means that drinking will slow down your body’s burning of fat. The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition reported that fat metabolism could be slowed down by nearly 73-percent with the consumption of two vodka and lemonades within one hour. It is not okay to cut back on calories during the day to save them for drinking later on. Not only is this very dangerous but also it will not speed up the weight-loss process at all. If partying is something that is very important to you, it definitely won’t help you avoid the Freshman 15.
So you see, beautiful HC readers, while the Freshman 15 takes its victims at every campus across the country, you can stay strong and fight it. You will inevitably be the subject of the conversation we talked about earlier, but you can change it to something more along the lines of:
“Hey, have you seeninsert-HC-reader’s-name-here lately?”
“No, why?”
“She just got back from her first year of college, and she looks amazing!”
Sources
Susan Holmberg, Nutritionist and Behavioral Therapist
www.susanholmberg.com
Kelly Klacziewicz, Nutritionist
American Journal of Clinical Nutrition
Amanda Roberts, Texas Christian University
Avery Mills, University of Colorado at Boulder
Kim Boller, University of Texas at Austin
Photos
www.redbookmag.com