4 Health Tips to Avoid the Freshman 15

The “Freshman 15” is the classic name for the fact that during freshman year, most college students gain 15 pounds. This is mainly because of two factors, which are activity level and eating habits. Though yes, your habits will change, because going to college is a major change in lifestyle, there are plenty of ways to avoid it. Here are my four tips on how to avoid the Freshman 15.

Stay Active

This is a simple habit of being moderately active for at least 30 minutes a day. Moderate activity is walking about 3 miles a day with a pace faster than a leisurely walk. Staying active means that you are burning calories and working off the food you ate. Make this a fun activity for you and a friend to do together. Put some music on and just have fun with it. Maybe try a fitness routine online or on you will make it feel less like work. I try to work out two or three times a week. I do not always meet this goal but luckily, we live in NYC where walking is the main way we get around. 

Eat Less Take Out Food

Foods from restaurants tend to be far unhealthier than the food you would cook for yourself. The takeout food is often high in sodium, fat, cholesterol, and sugar and often fried. Cooking will not only save money, but you have more control of what you put in your body. Though I know that LIM students are notoriously busy and have a hard time making time to cook. One solution is to look at the nutrition facts on the food you are going to buy. Most restaurants have their menu and the nutrition somewhere on the internet and can be found just by googling it. This isn’t as healthy as cooking, but it is a good way to track how much you are eating. Keep in mind you should be consuming about 2,000 calories to maintain weight or 1,500 to lose weight.

Change When and How You Eat

While a snack can be a great way to avoid being hungry before a class some snacking habits are very unhealthy. Such as, mindlessly eating while watching Netflix or studying. An easy solution to this is to put your snack in a bowl or container rather than eating out of the bag. Late-night snacking can also cause weight gain because your metabolism slows the less active you are. You should typically limit yourself to two or three small snacks a day that has protein like peanut butter or almonds to make yourself less hungry. I have heard the saying from dieticians that you should eat breakfast like a king, lunch like a prince, dinner like a pauper. This means your biggest meal is your first. You should eat a big breakfast with a good amount of protein so that it lasts you longer and you eat less later on. Typically, you should eat three meals, but with a large breakfast, you should only eat two meals a day with one mid-morning and another early evening. Another factor of when you eat is choosing to eat a big meal, or something unhealthy as a reward. This is a very common American view, but eating as a reward can easily lead to weight gain.

Avoid Sugary Drinks

I hate to break it to you, but to all Starbucks lovers reading this, but those drinks can be worse than a soda. Soda is already known for being high in sugar and being bad to consume regularly. A bottle of coke is 140 calories, a Frappuccino can be up to 600 calories which is equivalent to a whole meal. The only drink that has no calories or bad effects on the body is water. Drinking more water helps you maintain or lose weight and can even help with your complexion.