Why it’s Normal to Gain Weight in College
When you first start college, there are many new opportunities ahead of you and most of them you can prepare for. However, the “Freshman 15” is a well known fear that you hope to avoid, but can’t always run away from. Once you think you have escaped it, the fear of gaining the “Sophomore 30” is yet another obstacle you may face. As a college student, it is normal to gain some weight during over the next four years. After all, the dining hall food filled with pizza and hot cookies and fast food restaurants that deliver down the street aren’t always the ideal options for getting a healthy meal.
College is a new adjustment all around. You are living away from home and have to eat whatever the dining halls are serving that night. Following a new meal plan can make it difficult to eat healthy and find the time to prepare a wholesome meal. Stress is another common factor that plays a role in gaining some weight. The workload is heavier than it was in high school so it becomes harder to spend more time cooking a healthy meal that it is to just order take out. Alcohol also has a large influence on college student’s weight gain. Alcohol contains many calories and after a few drinks and over a long period of time, the pounds start to add up before you have even realized it has made a dent in your waistline. Even the most athletic college student has a hard time fitting in a daily workout or following a weekly routine. Sometimes, life gets in the way of your daily workout and it becomes a continuous pattern.
These four factors aren’t just a normal part of a college student’s experience, they are a normal part of life. But there are many ways that you can prevent weight gain by being intentional about what meals you choose to make, managing your time on school work, creating a weekly schedule of workouts to do, and watching how much you drink when you go out with friends. College is full of changes, both emotional and physical, but they don’t all have to be bad. Like everything else, it is simply an adjustment.