College is a time
when many of us first have the opportunity to be on our own and make our own
decisions. This is also a time where healthy habits seem to slide by as we pack
of the famous freshman fifteen. Here are fifteen budget friendly tips to avoid gaining the
freshman fifteen.
Know what and how
much you are eating. Find out the nutritional info for the foods being
served in the cafeteria if you have a meal plan. Pay attention to how many
calories are in that bag of Ramen noodles. Be aware of the fat in your
food. Fat in your food is directly stored as fat in your body. Your body has
unlimited storage for fat. It seems unfair but it is because fat is not the primary form of fuel for your
body. An easy way to help guide your eating habits is by counting calories. Low
calorie foods such as fruits and vegetables are healthier for you than french fries. Calories are very important to weight loss and weight
maintenance. Going over your recommended
caloric intake as little as 100 kcals a day for a year can cause you to gain a
pound. That's only an extra one of those 100 calorie snack packs a day. Find out how many calories you should be
eating at
http://www.choosemyplate.gov/supertracker-tools/supertracker.html.
Sign up for a free profile to help individualize the advice found here.
Use the campus gym.
They are typically free for full time students or at a reduced price to part
time students. It's convient to wrok out in a place that is located where you
spend most of your time and is free. I found that it was easy to stop by the
gym after class each day. It helped relieve some stress and kept me on an
exercise schedule.
Try a personal
trainer. At the University I attended they offered free personal training
to faculty and students as well as nutrition counseling. Take advantage of all
the free services available to you to help you build healthy habits now. Personal
trainers make things easy for people who don't enjoy working out, are overwhelmed,
don't know where to start, or need some external motivation. Also college is
the best time of your life. Don't you want to also be in the best shape of your
life? It definitely helps your dating life.
Sign up for a class
that forces you to exercise. If you have a deadline or a set schedule the
chances of your attendance increases. If you attend classes that make you move,
like a dance, weight lifting, flexibility, or basketball class you will move.
Find out what interests you.
Walk or bike to campus.
Walking to campus rather than taking the bus or your car will save you gas,
looking for parking, and will help trim you down. It's an excellent for of
cardiovascular exercise to carry a heavy backpack to campus with you.
Take a nutrition of
health and wellness class. Nothing combats obesity by learning what it can
do to you and how to fight it. The more informed you are about an issue the
easier it is for you to know how to deal with it. I was required to take many
such classes as these for my major and it seemed as though i was being graded
on how I ate or exercised every semester. A good grade is a great motivation to
get you on the right path to your weight loss goals.
Sign up for an intramural
team. It will force you to exercise and meet lots of people who enjoy the
same things you do. You will have maybe a practice once or twice a week with a
game during the week as well. That could total 3 days a week where you are
being physically active and having fun.
Utilize your friends.
Make them be your workout buddy or find one. Working out or eating healthy is
more enjoyable when you have someone who has the same goals you do. That way
when one starts to slack off the other one will help to keep them motivated. If your friends are not fitness fans try starting a dance party. Dancing is a great way to burn some calories and have fun.
Don't waste money on
energy bars or protein supplements.
Protein supplements can be expensive and often don't taste very good. Drink a
glass of low fat chocolate milk instead. For one it tastes better, has a high
amount of carbohydrate and complete proteins to replenish your body's stores
after a workout. Save money by ditching the energy bar and eat and egg sandwich
or 4 low fat fig newton bars. When else would you be told to drink chocolate
milk and eat some cookies after a workout.
Make Plans! Set a
time each day to exercise that you will not allow other things to interfere
with. Plan out how many calories you will be eating that day. Plan healthy
snacks to bring with you to class and study sessions.
Get adequate amounts
of sleep. According to a recent study examining the relationship between
sleep and body composition, women who had the shortest sleep durations(first
quartile) had the highest average adiposity measures. Simply stated women who
slept less were seen to have higher percentages of body fat than women who
slept moderate to long (2nd-4th quartile) amounts. Plus it's
easier to work out when you aren't tired and you don't have to snack on as many
sugary foods to keep you awake in class.
Sign up for a race,
game, or competition. If you sign up with a friend even better. Having a
deadline to your goals or something tangible to work for helps keep motivation
up. Staring at a picture of a model with the body you want may motivate you for
a little while but having a deadline on anything will increase the likely hood
that it will happen.
Don't eat out often.
This does not mean that if you want to stay in shape you are never allowed to
eat at a restaurant again. However do not make a habit of eating out. Your waistline
and wallet will thank you for following this simple rule. Eating food you have
not prepared yourself often means you are unaware of the calorie content,
nutritional information, and spending more than you would to make it yourself. When
trying to eat healthy it can be difficult to know how many calories are in your
meal when eating out. A dinner salad can easily reach 1000 calories. For many
people that's half of their caloric requirement for the whole day.
Drink water. Avoid
spending a ton of money on sodas and other beverages which can have 300
calories or more without satiating your need for food. Drinking that
many calories can cause you to go over your recommended caloric intake. See tip
number for a refresher on why excess calories is bad. A study conducted in Westminster and East London showed that
regardless of previous coursework abilities when students drank water in their
examinations they scored an average 5% higher than those without water. Dr.
Pawson from the University of East London says that drinking water may have an
effect on thinking functions that leads to improved exam performance.
Meditate.
Decrease you stress levels in a healthy way. Chronic stress can increase the
levels of cortisol, a stress hormone, in your body. Cortisol has a negative
effect on body composition. Cortisol is associated with increased abdominal
fat, and increased craving for sugary and fattening comfort foods.
