<p>please share your stories if this has happened to you/someone you know. is it really as common as it is played out to be?</p>
<p>You’re at a college. Go to a gym. Work out.</p>
<p>I haven’t really noticed it around here…at least, no one seems to have changed that much since we started school. But when I go home for breaks, I’ll occasionally see someone from my high school class who’s gained a noticeable amount of weight. From what I’ve gathered, it usually happens to people who played sports/were active in high school but go to college, drink a lot (beer seems to be especially bad–that stuff adds up), treat the dining hall like an all-you-can-eat buffet at every meal, and stop exercising. </p>
<p>Keep eating normally, don’t go on beer binges every weekend, and find a way to stay active. If your campus is big enough and you don’t have a car, you might be able to get in a decent amount of exercise just by walking to class. If you take reasonable care of yourself and don’t have a history of problems with weight, you’ll be fine.</p>
<p>I have noticed it with my friend who came back after the first semester. :(</p>
<p>I actually ate healthier (salad twice a day as opposed to 3-4 times a week), went to the gym daily for 1-2 hours (as opposed to 1-2 hours 4 times a week), and besides drinking ton of coffee was overall much healthier.</p>
<p>Is it hard to find time to workout? I’m worried that school work will take up a lot of time and limit the time I have for exercise. Thanks for the responses so far!</p>
<p>My very petite daughter gained close to 20 pounds. I wanted to cry when I saw her because she just did not look like herself. The weight gain was gradual and I don’t think she realized just how much weight she had put on. She attributed the gain to lots or unhealthy food choices and lack of exercise. It took her about 6 weeks to get the weight off once she came home.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>You wanted to cry? God forbid. Glad I’m not your daughter.</p>
<p>more cushion for the pushin’</p>
<p>But yeah, the freshman 15 isn’t hard to avoid. It exists because for arguably the first time since you were a young kid with the metabolism of a cheetah, you’ve got all this access to tasty unhealthy things like pizza, burgers, chicken tenders etc. Whenever you want. For (if you’re not paying for room&board) what feels like free. </p>
<p>But if you just eat healthy and work out (heck, if you walk a ton each day you don’t even really need to work out) you’ll avoid it.</p>
<p>“you’ve got all this access to tasty unhealthy things like pizza, burgers, chicken tenders etc.”
eek, scary thoughts : P</p>
<p>“more cushion for the pushin’”
that’s whatzzup.</p>
<p>At my university you walk so much that even with the diner food it’s hard to put on much weight. I think I was averaging 3-5 miles a day walking between my dorm and my classes freshman year. </p>
<p>It’s funny, freshman year I was living on the north side of campus and taking all my classes on the south side (which is anywhere from 3/4 mile to 1 mile away), and now I’m a senior living on south campus and I have two classes on north campus!</p>
<p>"At my university you walk so much that even with the diner food it’s hard to put on much weight. " </p>
<p>my thoughts exactly</p>
<p>My sister lost weight when she went to college. She started going to the gym and managed to eat less because of financial situations. Also, with all the trekking across campus, she walked more last year than any other year so lost even more weight.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>This.
I feel bad for that daughter. </p>
<p>Anyway, OP: most colleges have a gym. At my first college, gym membership was only $65 per semester – which was a steal comparing it to say, Bally’s or something.</p>
<p>I exercise daily (it’s a stress reliever for me.), so I haven’t had a problem with weight gain. </p>
<p>I do have a few tips to prevent gaining weight:
- If your dining hall has buffet type serving (which most colleges have), only make one trip to it, and don’t go back to refill. </p>
<ol>
<li><p>Even if you’re not on a diet, write down everything you consume and approx. calories in it. There are a few studies showing that when people write what they’re eating, they tend to eat less and pay more attention to fat and calorie content.</p></li>
<li><p>Drink honey and cinnamon teas. </p></li>
<li><p>Take 1tbspn of honey and 1/2 tablespoon of cinnamon and put it in 1 cup of boiling water. Mix it thoroughly, strain the tea out (the broke college student method I use to strain it [if you don’t have an actual tea strainer] is to loosely lay a paper towel or napkin over a cup, wrap a rubberband around the paper towel and poor the tea in over it to strain. It’s important that paper towel is lose, and ideally with a dip in it. The towel should not be taut or you’ll make a mess.)
Split the tea into 1/2 cups. Drink one serving before breakfast and the other serving before dinner.</p></li>
</ol>
<p>The tea minimizes fat absorption from your food, and also minimizes cravings. I do this daily and I swear it works.</p>
<ol>
<li><p>If you feel hungry, drink water. A lot of time feelings of hunger are actually related to thirst. If you’re still hungry after drinking the water, then have something to eat. Also, drink water between bites – you’ll fill up quicker.</p></li>
<li><p>Related to the above, if you’re getting a lot of sugar cravings, try *slowly<a href=“this%20is%20important,%20you%20must%20do%20this%20as%20slowly%20as%20possible”>/I</a> sip orange juice. It raises your blood sugar and the sugar craving should be gone in a few minutes.</p></li>
</ol>
<p>PlattsburghLoser has some amazing tips.</p>
<p>I plan on exercising daily when I go to college. I will most likely do this for a month then give up, although hopefully I won’t.</p>
<p>I am hoping on my fast metabolism to stay up to par whilst I am at college. Also, I eat semi-healthy snacks when I’m feeling hungry. I enjoy steamed sweet peas or any type of vegetables (those frozen vegetables at the grocery store you can microwave for a quick snack, however I believe most people use them as a side dish.) I rarely have any sweet tooth cravings as well, if I’m craving chocolate I’ll have some chocolate dusted almonds. I don’t drink any soda as well, although I am a coffee addict. </p>
<p>I think a good eating habits in high school will hopefully aid me in not succumbing to the “freshman 15.”</p>
<p>I agree with everything Plattsburgh said. At my school, the gym is free and very close by so it’s convenient. In addition: </p>
<p>Eat breakfast everyday, even it’s a very small breakfast! It really helps regulate your blood sugar levels and improves your mood. Eat something quick and simple: yogurt, whole grain toast with peanut butter, a banana (this seems to really work for me 'cause it makes me feel full for a long time. Apparently bananas are a big trend diet in Japan). Keep a piece of fruit in your backpack for snacking so you don’t run to the vending machine in the afternoon.</p>
<p>"My very petite daughter gained close to 20 pounds. I wanted to cry when I saw her because she just did not look like herself. </p>
<p>You wanted to cry? God forbid. Glad I’m not your daughter."</p>
<p>I think the mom has a right to be upset. Putting on that much weight isn’t healthy, and the daughter probably wasn’t happy about it, and if the daughter wasn’t happy, it’s perfectly OK for the mom to be unhappy because her daughter was. Personally, if this happened to my kid, I would also be worried that it might be a trend that would continue next year. So, all things considered, I think it was perfectly OK for the mom to be a little upset when she first saw her daughter. It doesn’t necessarily mean she was being shallow. It was probably just a shock to see how different she looked, not to mention the health concerns I mentioned above.</p>
<p>As for my experience…I put on 3 or 4 pounds during my first quarter of college. I’m hoping not to put on any more, but we’ll see how that goes. It’s a bit difficult to tell because I don’t have a scale here to gauge whether I am gaining or losing weight. Personally, I’m finding it a lot harder to exercise in college. In high school, I was a three-sport athlete, but here, I’m not in any sports and it’s hard to work exercise into my schedule. It doesn’t help that the gym is all the way on the other side of campus.</p>
<p>The food, too, is a big factor. Most of the dining halls are buffet-style, and they have tons of unhealthy but tasty stuff every day, things that I didn’t get to eat often in high school. So for me, the constant access to that kind of food has been the biggest problem.</p>
<p>I never drink soda, coffee, or alcohol, so at least I know those are making me put on weight.</p>
<p>Eat healthy snacks, but aim for healthy filling snacks. I, personally, do not feel satisfied by carrot sticks. BUT, 1 tbsp peanut butter on a lightly salted rice cake is way more tasty than it sounds, and it sticks with you for more than just a few minutes. Those Skinny Cow (?) cheese wedges with crackers are also filling.</p>
<p>Something that I have found that works for me is don’t eat when your not hungry. Really simple right? Along with that, a lot of people grab a ton of food from the buffet and then feel obligated to eat it even if they are full. Although the best choice is to not grab that much food in the first place, don’t be afraid to throw it away.</p>
<p>Drink lots of water!</p>