In spite of what you may have heard or what others have you can avoid college weight gain. In fact, depending on what your family life is like, now may be the time you take charge of your own health and weight. It is even conceivable that you could actually lose weight once you change the environment that you live in. You are an adult. Adults are responsible for themselves so take charge of yourself with a positive attitude. If you know you have poor nutrition and exercise habits now is the time to change them. If what you did in high school worked for you, try to hold on to those habits as best you can while learning to adjust them to your new living situation.
Here are a few hints to getting yourself started on the right foot as you plan for college. When you are planning your dorm room purchases plan on getting a small refrigerator for your room. One with a nice sized freezer is best. Keep in mind that this is for healthy and low fat food and snacks. You are not storing regular soda, alcohol, sugary snacks, fattening snacks and things you know are bad for you. The point is lean, healthy, and nutritious snacks along with dining hall meal replacements. Also, do not let your friend store their fattening stuff in your refrigerator. That left over birthday cake that your friend has is her problem. Do not make it yours. Your fridge is a main barrier to the college weight you are trying to avoid. Keep it clean and lean. If you do not have cookies in there you will not eat them.
If you plan ahead much of what you need to supply yourself with can be purchased at the beginning of the quarter or semester and will last you until the beginning of the next. If you are lucky enough to have a car or know someone who does, a few trips to the local grocery store can help to replenish your supplies. In addition, grabbing a few pieces of fresh fruit or turkey meat from the dining commons is also an option. A viking hoodie with pockets and a few sandwich bags makes grabbing sandwich makings or hard boiled eggs fairly easy. Use your imagination but remember snagging the baked goods defeats the purpose. Your goal is to avoid weight gain. Pastries make you fat.
Good things to stock up on are nonfat yogurts, low fat string cheese, high fiber low calorie tortillas for wraps, store bought smoothies, sandwich meats, and of course lots of fruits and snacking veggies. If you have early morning classes and find yourself skipping breakfast have some nonfat milk and a high fiber high protein cereal like Kashi Go Lean cereal. Whole wheat bread or a banana with some natural peanut butter is also a good choice. Do not skip breakfast, it will make it much harder for you to make good choices at lunch. Your brain will also work better with a little quality fuel in your body.
Without being fanatical, try to keep your breakfast between 250-350 calories. There are some decent breakfast- energy bars out there that are great for grabbing as you go out the door. Make sure that you read the labels though. You want high protein, high fiber and as low in sugar as you can find. Be careful because some of those bars are practically like eating a candy bar no matter what they actually claim. If you can get to a microwave make a packet or two of instant oatmeal with milk instead of water for a nutritional boost. Add some fruit if you can.
Good afternoon snacks are baby carrots, snap peas celery sticks or even some rice crackers. Apples or a handful of almonds is also a good choice. Things that crunch are very satisfying. A small package of nuts is also a good choice and might just keep you from going down to dinner and scarfing anything and everything. Do not forget those 100 calorie packages of popcorn. Or if you are not really hungry and are just bored and waiting for dinner, pop some gum into your mouth and wait to eat until you really are hungry. When in doubt, eat a piece of fruit.
You have control over what you snack on. Plan ahead so that when others start snacking on chips or things you know you do not want to be eating you can go to your room and grab an apple and chew on something you can feel good about. With the right mind set and plan of action, weight gain is not inevitable or a requirement of graduation.
write by Dermot