How do I lose weight in college? What kind of foods should I be eating? When should I be eating? What causes weight gain? Students in college, mostly girls, are sensitive to their weight and have a hard time controlling it when in college. Have you ever heard of the freshmen 15? I know I sure have. It took me awhile to figure out that the food I was eating was not cutting it for me. I had to change my entire lifestyle of eating. Eating healthy is a choice! So if you're eating unlimited amounts of food in the cafeteria, late night fast food joints and staying up too late your body is going to change and not in the good way.
What has helped me stay healthy in college is by exercising every day and eating anything and everything that has no preservatives or artificial flavors. I'm all about that natural taste! The saying, “You are what you eat," really is true.
The key to losing weight and maintaining muscle mass: PROTEIN, PROTEIN, PROTEIN! Want to build muscle and maintain it as well as losing weight? Well if you want to lose weight you will gain more muscle (aka muscle does weigh more than fat, but you will still lose weight). Having protein in every meal will help you gain more muscle and lose weight more efficiently. You're probably wondering when I'm going to tell you what to eat, when to eat and so on.
Honestly, the best way to lose weight in college is to not only know what you're fueling your body, but also how much you are eating and the amount of water you're consuming. Portion control is the best outcome! Usually how portion control works is measuring each item of food you are eating. Such as, the amount of protein you should have on your plate is the size of your palm, veggies are your fist size and a tablespoon is considered the tip of your thumb including the knuckle. Here is how I usually eat during the day to help my body restore energy longer and feel great:
Breakfast: 1/2 cup of Quakers Oatmeal with half a tsp of cinnamon and 1/4 cup of blueberries and strawberries. (the fruit does the sweetening for you so you don't have to add any extra sugar to it. (If you want it to be sweeter, steam the berries on the stove with a splash of water and wait 'til they appear a little solid a little liquid). I used my oatmeal trick as an example, but you should be having some sort of protein with carbs in the morning. Breakfast is the most important meal of the day, which also means you should eat the most during this time period. Your body with thank you afterwards!
Lunch: Think of your plate into four different sections. 1/4 of the plate is for protein, 1/4 is for fruit, 1/4 is for veggies and 1/4 is grain (anything wheat is good, also grain such as quinoa or brown rice).
Snack: Always have at least 1 or 2 snacks during the day between breakfast and lunch or lunch and dinner, maybe even a snack after dinner. But keep the snacking to 1 or 2 snacks a day. Remember eating late at night, after 9pm, is not suitable for you to lose weight.
Dinner: Lastly, dinner is very similar to lunch in the way your plate should look, but you should eat less than you did at lunch. During dinner DO NOT eat loads of carbs, that will be hard on your intestines and your food will not digest properly while you sleep. Make sure you're eating lots of veggies and some protein with your meal. Keep it light and fun. This will help you digest your food better when you sleep.
You should be eating 3-4 hours between each meal and be drinking 1/2 of your body weight of water every day to receive the results you want to see, including workouts! Now depending on how tall or how many pounds you need to lose everyone's eating habits may differ on calorie counting. For instance, someone who is 183lbs and wants to lose 10 pounds, they should be eating 1200-1600 calories every day to be able to meet this goal within a few weeks to a month. It also depends on how much you work out. You should be working out at least 30 minutes to an hour every day. That's when you start burning the most fat in those time frames.
Well folks, I hope this article helped you find some answers on how to stay healthy in college. Remember, you're not dieting, you're simply changing your lifestyle of eating and exercise. Healthy never looked so good on you!
