How To Avoid The Freshman 15

During college you’re going to gain knowledge, life experience, skills, and if you’re not careful, an extra 15 or 20 pounds…in your first year alone! But before you give up and let Pudgy the Pig rule your college years and ultimately the rest of your life, try out these tips for keeping on your slim side.

Get a pedometer.

Using a pedometer will help you gauge whether you’re walking enough steps in a day. And when you’re in college—eating pizza, sleeping odd hours, and drinking energy drinks just to keep your lids open in class—walking as many steps as you can in a day may be the only way you keep your heart from turning 80 before your graduate. You should be shooting for anything between 7,000 and 10,000 steps per day. If you’re attempting to lose weight, you should be walking between 10,000 and 12,500 steps per day. Walking keeps your metabolism moving, your heart pumping, and your hips from sprouting muffins.

You are what you eat so eat healthy or healthier.

It’s not easy to eat healthy in college. Scratch that. It’s not easy to spend time cooking a healthy meal in college. That doesn’t mean you shouldn’t be able to eat healthy. Fruit and vegetables come ready to go. Try a veggie pizza with everything on it to make your pizza night a little healthier. Try a handful of blueberries with a yogurt instead of a blueberry muffin. Remember too that fatty, greasy foods not only make you bloated and add to your weight gain, they also slow down your metabolism, can make you groggy and depressed and also give you acne.

Saw that great new diet? Don’t do it.

If you’re in college and have already gained weight, don’t start yo-yo dieting. Every diet pill and diet plan comes with a set of restrictions that most college students can’t abide by due to time constraints or the mere fact that you need more than 500 calories to survive each day. Eating right and exercising are the only ways to ensure that your body will treat you right and not give out on you or let you down at your greatest moments. Not to mention, you could buy a gym membership or a personal trainer’s time with all the money you’re wasting on diet pills and plans. If you don’t eat properly your body will go into survival mode and store all of your calories as fat, getting you up to and beyond the dreaded Freshman 15 that much faster.

Get happy.

Being happy keeps the weight off. Depression keeps you from thinking about what you’re doing or seeing the consequences of your actions—at least the ones where you eat and sleep. Depression may also keep you from exercising. If you’re feeling homesick or down, do something to get yourself feeling better as soon as possible to mitigate what could be a serious problem for your psyche and your weight.