As I returned home from my first year of college, I got a chance to catch up with all the girls from home who will be heading off to college this fall. Incoming freshman obviously have a thousand questions from everything like, “what kind of shampoo should I bring?”, all the way to silly questions like, “how are the boys?” But one question in particular that stood out to me was, “how did I stay skinny in college?” At first, I laughed because before college I was a size 0 pant size and trained 32 hours a week for dance so I looked way better than I do now. But then I realized, these girls are genuinely concerned about how they are going to stay skinny without a sport to keep them in shape. So to all the ladies out there that are concerned with body image coming into to freshman year of college. Quit it.
The biggest problem I had when going off to school and having to workout on my own and having unlimited access to cafeteria food was thinking WAY too much about it. I would try and plan out my meals every day, I would make sure I got to the gym every day at least five days a week, and honestly it was the biggest waste of time and energy.
College is going to keep you very busy and therefore, very stressed. Stress will help to regulate weight gain and loss, as long as you aren’t stress eating. (Especially during finals week!) There are going to be days when it’s much more important to just stay in and study for a big exam. You can go to the gym to run off the stress after your exam. It’s also important to keep in mind that you walked for maybe 5 minutes between each class in high school, at college you’re going to be walking for 20-30 minutes in between classes. I mean you actually walk everywhere and it’s a great form of exercise!
A great tip for my busy girls who like to work out is bring a yoga mat and a little speaker to school. The girls in my dorm hall used to bring their speaker and yoga mats into the living room area on our floor and do a few HIIT workouts as a study break, it was a great stress reliever!
Food wise, at first it’s very tempting to eat all the wrong things. There’s a line that hands you a burger and pasta and cookies and all that great stuff that’s not so great for you. So at first enjoy it, because it is awesome and you aren’t going to put on 20 pounds by eating a cookie every day. But, my best advice for eating healthy at the cafeteria is to get creative! I used to take chicken from one station, pita bread from another, cashews from another, and then build my own salad and add the chicken, pita, and cashews. It was a great lunch or dinner option and yeah it took a little longer than instantaneously being handed a cheeseburger but sometimes it’s nice to eat healthy.
A big killer on the weekends is the late night food. If you can avoid it, then you should avoid it! Try substituting ordering pizza with eating some of the snacks in your room or make it to the cafeteria before it closes. One of my biggest problems was waking up feeling bloated, and worse than I already would feel, without all the pizza and mac ‘n’ cheese bites. Even on late study nights, try drinking some water or have a tea before bed and try to wait until breakfast in the morning. It’s better to give your food all day to digest versus the few hours you sleep to digest.
Last tip, if you have the luxury of grocery shopping every once in a while, put healthy snacks in your room, not crappy ones. My roommate and I bought boxes of healthy popcorn, cuties, and apples whenever we got the chance and it was a great and healthy grab and go snack.
Now, I’ve loaded you with my best information and advice about how to stay healthy in college, but the best advice I can give is; just don’t think too much about it. What you’re going to realize with college kids, is that we aren’t interested in the skinniest and prettiest girls like we were in high school, we’re interested in the best people on the inside. So, focus on school, make healthy choices when you can, but indulge after a tough exam, and make freshman year about a little fitness and a lot of fun!
