Everywhere you look, whether it is all over the social media sites you are scrolling through, on the TV you’re watching, or the magazine cover you walk passed there is always something showcasing a women’s body to show what we should ideally look like. It is so sad that we spend most of our time worrying about if we are going to measure up to the standards that are set so high for us.
You always hear about the insane amount of stress that college students are trying to deal with, but one major stress factor is overlooked: Trying to figure out how to eat healthy and exercise daily while enjoying the party side of college, which may or may not lead to a beer belly.
- “The Freshman 15”
Of course the dreaded “freshman 15” is a problem in college. This a very over used term pertaining to the 15 pounds most college freshman gain from all of the unhealthy decisions made that I will be talking about in this article. Our bodies go through changes from high school to college, metabolism slows down, you’re not getting much sleep, and you have a million other things to worry about then the few extra pounds you may be gaining. This is all normal and will probably happen to everyone at some point during their college career. - Skipping meals
Skipping meals is so easy to do in college, especially breakfast. Who has time to wake up extra early before class to eat a well-balanced meal when you’ve been up all night studying and submitting assignments? Skipping lunch is just as easy when you go and take naps after your morning class and wake up at 5 o’clock. Dinner might be the only meal you are eating all day.. Until its 12 o’clock and you are up all night doing homework and you’re distracted by the sounds of your stomach growling so you scarf down anything you can find in your room like Easy Mac, chips, and candy.
- Excessive Drinking
How many college students do you know that turn down a beer that is given to them or refuse to take shots at a party? Not many. These are all added calories on top of the junk food eaten during the week. All of these calories add up and this might be a reason our jeans start fitting a little tighter.
- Fad Diets
Detox tea, DIY detox water, the Atkins diet, strictly raw food diet, and an only liquid diet are some of the many popular fad diets that women looking to quickly lose weight turn to. Not only are these extremely unhealthy for you, but it only works for a certain period of time. Yes, you may lose the weight you want to, but you will gain it back once you stop the diet.
- Choosing Your Calories Wisely
It’s not uncommon to hear college students say, “pick your calories; food or alcohol”. You should never skip a meal to save calories for that keg stand you NEED to partake in to show all of the frat boys you can hang.
- Social Eating
It is so easy to revolve hanging out with your friends around food. “Hey, do you want to go get Chipotle?” “Let’s meet up at the dining hall after class.” Not only do college students do this, but also everyone in the world does this. It’s part of life, we always make food a reason to hangout with friends.. which leads us to eating more than we would like.
- Dining Hall Food
There are pros and cons to getting an almost all day access to unlimited food 15 steps away from your dorm room. But a con is definitely trying to fight the urge to eat all of the brownies, cookies, pizza, and French fries in the dining hall your stomach can handle, especially when you’re not paying for it out of pocket. But, when you do have that one salad a week and feel like the healthiest girl in the dining hall you then decide to reward yourself by eating your weight in dessert.
- Drunk Eating
How many times have you had a “post game” with your friends at 2 AM on a Friday night? This may or may not happen after you stopped on Main Street for pizza fries and mozzarella sticks at the only place that’s open late on the weekends. Eating leftover pizza right from the box is also something that happens often after a night of drinking, which you may or may not regret eating in the morning.
Eating is OKAY, don’t ever let someone tell you that you should skip a meal to fit into the new dress you just bought. But, it is important to be conscious of what you’re eating. Going to the gym at least 3 times a week while keeping up with a mostly healthy diet is ideal to stay fit and healthy, but drinking on the weekends and eating an occasional slice of pizza is how you should be living your life in college.
