The dreaded freshman fifteen. It's every freshman's worst nightmare, yet it still seems to come upon people consistently. Everyone goes to college with the best intentions. They want to study hard, make friends, and be responsible. However, many times this will take a dip after the first few weeks. That's normal and expected, but it is still important to do and maintain those things.
One area that frequently neglected in sacrifice to other things is regular care and maintenance of your body. To be sure, I am no expert on this and am not in perfect health, but I have a couple years of college experience behind me, and I was able to avoid that cursed freshman fifteen. Here are some habits and thought processes for incoming freshman to implement:
1. Remember that food really does matter.
Please don't forget this. It's easy not to worry about calories or portion control or anything of the like. I'm not saying that it's necessary to count every calorie. You are young and able to eat relatively freely. However, there is a difference in eating freely and eating whatever you want. If you can, avoid extra fatty snacks like Little Debbies and opt for some crackers or nuts instead. Don't keep too many snacks in your room at all. Whenever you eat in the cafeteria, limit yourself to one trip. Get an entree and a couple of sides, eat your meal and be done. As you can see, these aren't radical tips. They just stem from a practice of remembering that food matters.
2. Late night food runs should be a rarity.
Try, as much as it is possible with you, to make supper the last time you eat every day. Optimally, this would happen sometime after 5:30 but before 7:00. This doesn't mean you can't do this on occasion for a fun time. Nobody has to live their life by such hard and fast rules. However, this should be a real rarity. I don't mean as rare as once per week either. I mean two or three times per semester. Feel free to go with your friends any time, but keep your money in your wallet and don't buy anything. Also consider knocking your friends unconscious too. Diets are always better with buddies.
3. Soda is now a treat.
I'm just going to save you the trouble and tell you to learn to love water. If you want to keep the pounds off, this is essential. Water should be your primary (almost exclusive) drink. Any time you have a Coke or sweet tea, it should be as a treat which you have once or twice per week at most. If you need the caffeine, learn to love (black) coffee or hot, unsweetened tea. It's much more healthy. Trust me, you'll need that coffee come exam time anyway.
4. Eat real food.
I know how convenient Easy Mac is. Yes, I'm aware of how delicious Taco Bell is. However, this doesn't meant that you need to eat junk food for every meal or even every day. Eat the real food (or at least as real as it is) from the cafeteria. I know it gets old, but if you have a meal plan, you've already paid for it. Every time you eat out, it's like paying for your food twice. If you need another incentive, that should do it.
5. Exercise. Seriously.
Not like this though.
You thought that maybe you were going to get out of this article learning how to keep the freshman fifteen away without exercise? Sorry, not this one. I recommend having a regular way to exercise. It kicks your endorphins in and makes you more relaxed anyway. Whether you like lifting weights or jogging or biking, find something you like and do it consistently. If you like playing sports, find some times to play regularly in the week and keep it up.
As you can see, keeping the freshman fifteen off isn't impossible. It just requires you to be responsible for your body. Just like your car doesn't need absolutely constant attention but regular maintenance and responsible ownership, your body needs the same responsible attention. We all have to learn to be more responsible in college and our bodies is just another way we have to!
