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10 Easy Tips for Avoiding the Freshman 15
Although the freshman 15 is pretty much a myth, it’s still easy to gain weight in college, especially freshman year when students have to change their lifestyle to adapt to the college environment. It can be challenging for students to stay healthy and fit when they have to juggle all their stressful responsibilities and don’t have much time to workout.
There’s also many unhealthy food options conveniently available, from food delivery services to the junk food sold in dining halls. That’s why it’s easy for students to gain a few pounds after a semester or two.
Luckily, there’s a lot of easy ways college students can avoid putting on that extra weight and maintain a healthy lifestyle. Below, you’ll find 10 proven tips you can use to keep yourself feeling good throughout your college years.
1. Stay Active
Staying active is an excellent way to avoid putting on any extra weight in college. Additionally, it helps with keeping you motivated and even relieving stress.
The best way to stay active is by working out, but if you don’t have time to do much exercising, then just find ways to incorporate being active with your daily life. This can be things like walking to class more often, exploring the local area with your friends, or riding a bike around campus.
Anything to get you moving and out of your dorm will help. It’ll also become much easier to stay active in college once you get in a routine of doing it. Laying in bed all the time and constantly eating junk food is the routine you don’t want to get stuck in.
2. Carry Healthy Snacks
It’s a good idea to carry a few healthy snacks with you when you’re walking around campus to your classes. I usually prefer protein bars, nuts, or fruits. When you get some free time, you can go to the store and pick up some similar food items. Or stop at your dining hall and grab a healthy snack.
Similar to staying active, you’ll get used to eating healthy snacks if you continue to have them on a consistent basis. This will help keep your energy levels up throughout the day, which can lead to improvements in your academic performance.
3. Avoid Sugary Drinks
There’s a million reasons why people shouldn’t have drinks that are filled with tons of sugar. If you have a tendency to drink soda, energy drinks, or similar juices, you’ll have a higher chance of putting on a few pounds. Besides just the weight issues, you’ll also put yourself at risk of heart disease, high blood pressure, obesity, and other health conerns.
Sugary drinks can be hazardous to your brain and mental heath, as well. While they provide a quick energy boost, you’ll end up crashing not long after because they cause your sugar levels to shoot up and rapidly fall back down. Studies have shown that higher consumption of sugar can even lead to depression.
4. Don't Skip Meals
Skipping meals can be a real concern for students in college, especially if they’re worried about the freshman 15. Doing this can significantly lower a person’s metabolism, which will cause them to burn less calories. It can even cause people to overeat when they do end up eating a meal. A low metabolism combined with overeating will absolutely cause weight gain.
Skipping meals as a weight loss or weight management strategy can actually have the opposite effect. And this happens due to people craving more unhealthy foods when they skip meals. Actually, the best way to watch your weight is to eat healthy meals every 4-6 hours and manage portion sizes.
5. Eat Healthier Dining Hall Foods
When you walk into you dining hall and see that slice of pizza or cheeseburger, it can be very tempting to grab one. However, you have to try to overcome that temptation and stay disciplined.
Try going for healthy options, such as salads, fruits, and foods of higher nutritional value. I’m not saying you have to eat 100% healthy at your dining hall everyday, but you should make an effort to eat healthier dining hall meals if you go there frequently.
Set goals for yourself to eat healthy for a few days in row. Once you finish those days, reward yourself with a cheat meal. There’s nothing wrong with having that slice of pizza or cheeseburger once in awhile, but they should be consumed in moderation.
6. Meal Prep
Meal prepping is an invaluable skill for college students, offering numerous benefits such as time and cost savings, healthier eating habits, stress reduction, and improved focus. To meal prep effectively, start by planning your meals weekly, choosing versatile ingredients, and investing in quality storage containers.
Cook in batches, utilize your freezer, and incorporate variety to avoid meal fatigue. To stay within budget, buy in bulk, shop seasonally, use student discounts, and compare prices. Manage your time by scheduling specific prep times, multitasking, and using time-saving appliances.
Choose nutritious ingredients like lean proteins, complex carbohydrates, healthy fats, and a variety of colorful fruits and vegetables. Maintain a balanced diet by mixing macronutrients, controlling portions, and staying hydrated.
Start small and gradually increase your meal prep efforts. With practice, meal prepping can become an enjoyable and rewarding part of your college routine, supporting both your academic success and overall well-being.
7. Find Ways to Manage Stress
Stress eating will pretty much put you on the fast track to the freshman 15. In the short term, being stressed will make you loss your appetite because your nervous system tells your adrenal glands to pump out a hormone called epinephrine. This temporarily causes your body to have no desire to eat.
The opposite will actually happen if the stress is continuous. Your body will release a different hormone called cortisol, which increases your appetite.
Unfortunately, one of the most stressful times in a person’s life is when they’re in college. I’m sure the stress is even more severe for students with extremely difficult majors. Or students who have a job and internships on top of everything else.
8. Avoid Alcohol
Alcohol is another beverage you want to avoid if you’re worried about weight gain because it’s filled with empty calories that have no nutritional value. If you’re of age, there’s nothing wrong with having a few drinks at a college party once in awhile, but drinking several times a week is definitely not a good idea.
It can lead to many health risks later in life and affect your emotional well-being by causing depression and personality disorders. Drinking alcohol over long periods of time can even cause chronic diseases, such as liver cirrhosis and high blood pressure.
9. Have a Supportive Friend Group
Having friends that hold you accountable and motivate you is extremely valuable in life. Not only will they give you the confidence you need to stay healthy, but they’ll also inspire you to work harder and grow as a human being. Its not good to hang around unmotivated people who hold you back from achieving your college goals.
Sometimes it can be hard to find genuine friends that actually help you be a better person. If you’re struggling to find friends like that, try getting more involved in the college community and attend events going on around campus. This is an excellent way to make long-lasting friendships.
10. Stick to a Routine
None of tips above are going to be beneficial to you if you don’t get in a routine of doing them everyday while in college. I mentioned it earlier, but staying consistent with a routine will help you get used to these tips much quicker.
It’s not going to be an overnight success, but if you’re determined to stay healthy in college and not put on unnecessary weight, then you’ll have no problem implementing these tips into your everyday life. It just comes down to remaining disciplined, and having a solid routine in place will help keep you that way.
