Hey guys! So Im sure most of you have heard about the Freshman 15, but in case you haven't, basically it is an average of 15 pounds that college students gain their Freshman year. Some people gain the freshman 15 and never loose it. Some spend their freshman summer on a strict diet. And unfortunately, some people gain a freshman 30 an never loose it. In today's post, I am going to talk about how to avoid the Freshman 15 and stay at your healthy weight.
Check the Calories:
Dinning hall food is notorious for being bad for you. However, you can still take care of yourself and avoid the freshman 15 by examining your food choices. Before you pick that 1/16 slice of pizza...take a look at the calories on the ingredient card. You may think that 1/16 is such a small slice that you can have it along with many other things. However, this is not the pizza you buy from a pizza place, and this stuff has 200 calories alone per 1/16 slice. You probably won't feel full after that tiny slice, so is it worth it? Probably not. If you want to maintain a healthy weight, I would recommend double checking the calorie cards before you make your pick in foods. Looking will not only make you conscious about how much you are eating, but it might also help steer you away from the fattening stuff.
There are Healthy Options:
Sure the waffles with ice cream are an appealing breakfast option...but there are other tasty, more healthy options as well. For lunch and dinner in a dining hall, try to fill up your plate with many different colors. I like to make sure that I am having a bit of fresh fruit with both of those meals and try to make sure that I have a serving of fresh veggies with at least one of them. Dining halls all have a salad bar. Take advantage of it as much as you can. This is a great option because you can always change up what you put in your salad to keep it from being boring. If you are going to eat a salad, pick up one of the dressing packs, but you might not want to use it all. Your most likely not going to find a light ceaser dressing, so if your going to have a full fat one, do not use the whole packet. These packets are loaded with calories that would be better spend on an extra spoonful of veggies. In addition, you can always visit the deli area for a healthy meal. In my school, I opt for the whole wheat wrap with turkey, provolone and cucumber. These sandwiches are not too bad in the calorie department and are one of the more healthy options to choose from.
Portion Control:
In my school, the bowls they give you to put everything on are rather small. However, most of the time you don't actually need more than the size of the bowl to feel full. Our eyes are often bigger than our stomachs. Just because the bowl looks small, docent mean you should fill two of them up with the same food. Most likely, one bowl will be enough.
Healthy Food Still in Moderation:
You can still gain weight on healthy food. Dining halls are going to be all you can eat. Eating two bowls of fruit may look appealing because it is fruit and is good for you. However, two big bowls of fruit is a lot if calories that could end up adding up to the same number as that cafeteria cookie. Make sure that you are still watching the amount of food that you eat. You may not realize it, but cutting back on your portion size of even the healthy foods could be the key to preventing the freshman 15 (or at least stopping it in its tracks). If you are at college and feel like you would like to loose your freshman 15, this could be helpful as well.
Go to the Gym:
I read somewhere that the key to working out is not to love it at first, but to make it a part of your routine that you come to love. I can honestly say that I was not a big fan of working out in High School. I use to be a competitive dancer in middle and elementary school (like the Dance Moms kind not ballroom but not like as intense as Dance Moms) and then I took my dance into theatre in High School so I never really felt the need to go to the gym. Over the summer, I started working out every day in my basement in hopes that I would get into the habit of doing it and would continue in college. Guess what? It worked. I actually have started looking forward to days that I can get to the gym and have been working out in my room on days that I haven't been able to get there. I will do another post about the work out in your room thing but a simple thing you can do in your room so your at least doing something if you can't get to the gym is to find a 30 day abb challenge and just do the excursive every day and you will see results. Currently, I am doing one by 30dayfitnesschallenges. They have a twitter handle under that name so you can check out them or honestly, there is so much you can find online in the fitness department. As long as you are doing something that you enjoy to stay physically active, that is what counts and I promise you, you will avoid the Freshman 15... I have.
Okay that is it for this post! I am going to have a video up on my YouTube channel (which you can cheek out in the side bar) very soon that goes more in depth about staying healthy in college. I am also going to have a post and possibly a video about working out in your dorm room so stay tuned for that as well.
xoxo
Check the Calories:
Dinning hall food is notorious for being bad for you. However, you can still take care of yourself and avoid the freshman 15 by examining your food choices. Before you pick that 1/16 slice of pizza...take a look at the calories on the ingredient card. You may think that 1/16 is such a small slice that you can have it along with many other things. However, this is not the pizza you buy from a pizza place, and this stuff has 200 calories alone per 1/16 slice. You probably won't feel full after that tiny slice, so is it worth it? Probably not. If you want to maintain a healthy weight, I would recommend double checking the calorie cards before you make your pick in foods. Looking will not only make you conscious about how much you are eating, but it might also help steer you away from the fattening stuff.
There are Healthy Options:
Sure the waffles with ice cream are an appealing breakfast option...but there are other tasty, more healthy options as well. For lunch and dinner in a dining hall, try to fill up your plate with many different colors. I like to make sure that I am having a bit of fresh fruit with both of those meals and try to make sure that I have a serving of fresh veggies with at least one of them. Dining halls all have a salad bar. Take advantage of it as much as you can. This is a great option because you can always change up what you put in your salad to keep it from being boring. If you are going to eat a salad, pick up one of the dressing packs, but you might not want to use it all. Your most likely not going to find a light ceaser dressing, so if your going to have a full fat one, do not use the whole packet. These packets are loaded with calories that would be better spend on an extra spoonful of veggies. In addition, you can always visit the deli area for a healthy meal. In my school, I opt for the whole wheat wrap with turkey, provolone and cucumber. These sandwiches are not too bad in the calorie department and are one of the more healthy options to choose from.
Portion Control:
In my school, the bowls they give you to put everything on are rather small. However, most of the time you don't actually need more than the size of the bowl to feel full. Our eyes are often bigger than our stomachs. Just because the bowl looks small, docent mean you should fill two of them up with the same food. Most likely, one bowl will be enough.
Healthy Food Still in Moderation:
You can still gain weight on healthy food. Dining halls are going to be all you can eat. Eating two bowls of fruit may look appealing because it is fruit and is good for you. However, two big bowls of fruit is a lot if calories that could end up adding up to the same number as that cafeteria cookie. Make sure that you are still watching the amount of food that you eat. You may not realize it, but cutting back on your portion size of even the healthy foods could be the key to preventing the freshman 15 (or at least stopping it in its tracks). If you are at college and feel like you would like to loose your freshman 15, this could be helpful as well.
Go to the Gym:
I read somewhere that the key to working out is not to love it at first, but to make it a part of your routine that you come to love. I can honestly say that I was not a big fan of working out in High School. I use to be a competitive dancer in middle and elementary school (like the Dance Moms kind not ballroom but not like as intense as Dance Moms) and then I took my dance into theatre in High School so I never really felt the need to go to the gym. Over the summer, I started working out every day in my basement in hopes that I would get into the habit of doing it and would continue in college. Guess what? It worked. I actually have started looking forward to days that I can get to the gym and have been working out in my room on days that I haven't been able to get there. I will do another post about the work out in your room thing but a simple thing you can do in your room so your at least doing something if you can't get to the gym is to find a 30 day abb challenge and just do the excursive every day and you will see results. Currently, I am doing one by 30dayfitnesschallenges. They have a twitter handle under that name so you can check out them or honestly, there is so much you can find online in the fitness department. As long as you are doing something that you enjoy to stay physically active, that is what counts and I promise you, you will avoid the Freshman 15... I have.
Okay that is it for this post! I am going to have a video up on my YouTube channel (which you can cheek out in the side bar) very soon that goes more in depth about staying healthy in college. I am also going to have a post and possibly a video about working out in your dorm room so stay tuned for that as well.
xoxo
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