Last weekend, we discussed the causes of the freshman fifteen, and today for our weekly Wednesday update, we are going to explain how to deal with this issue that college life brings upon us.

1. Solution to New Eating Habits

With greater freedom comes greater responsibility. Our eating habits and much of our daily lives were planned for us by our school and parents’ schedules, now that we are in college, we need to learn how to schedule and plan ahead. This goes not only for studying but also for our daily lives as well as for our diet. The most important thing to do is to plan our meals and do our research on what is healthy and what is not. This requires a bit of discipline, but college is a place to grow into an adult. As long as one has a rough eating schedule and eats around the same amount of food per meal per day then he/she can’t gain too many excessive pounds of fat. Although this could be conversation enough for a whole other topic and is very specific, I can’t stress the importance of at least having a decent breakfast every morning.

2. Solution to eating both socially and studiously

Eating socially does not mean that you have to order what all of your friends do (the fries, the creams, the wings). Firstly, encourage them to go to healthier restaurants, and if they don’t go to healthier restaurants then just use your knowledge to eat the healthy stuff on the menu. KFC now has grilled chicken and McDonald’s has salads. Keep your portions small, the main purpose of eating socially should be to socialize, get rid of stress and take a break from studying. It should not be to try and out eat your friends or submit to your cravings of sugars and fats. Also realize that eating by yourself does not make you a loner, oftentimes I eat alone to save time but I still have a very active social life.

Eating studiously should also be discouraged, the problem with this is that we no longer care about what we put in our mouths when we eat whilst studying which means that we are likely to eat a lot more or a lot of worse things whilst studying. In addition to this, because we are eating and studying at the same time, we are not fully concentrating on what we study either. My advice: if you need to eat in order to stay awake to study, then maybe you should take a small break from studying and go have a bite at the cafeteria then come back ready to tackle your studies with complete concentration.

3. Solution to Snacking on the wrong foods for the wrong reason

Snacking is oftentimes needed to reinvigorate yourself and to fill an empty stomach. But many people in America use food as entertainment rather than a means to feed yourself. Remember this: ‘’Eat to live, don’t live to eat.’’ There are plenty of other things to do rather than eat if you are stressed out, in fact, eating will only make you feel guilty and add to your stress. If you are stressed out, then I would recommend exercising, communicating with friends or doing something you really enjoy and are passionate about.

4. Solution to Binge drinking

Telling college students not to drink at all is pointless; this is quite simply, for many students impossible to do. Not only that, but drinking socially is one of the very fun ways to kick back on the weekend. In my opinion, after a hard week of working, a bit of drinking on the weekends will not do any harm and should be deserved. This does not mean however, that I encourage drinking everyday or getting piss wasted every Friday and Saturday (or more). Both of these are proven to be bad for your health, and nobody wants to be the alcoholic that everyone makes a fool of. In addition to that, here are some nutrient factors that I’ll provide for you.

Protein: 4kcal/g

Carbohydrates: 4kcal/g

Alcohol: 7kcal/g

Fat: 9kcal/g

And the worst thing is, the calories in alcohol are completely useless and must be gotten rid of first before you can start using the other nutrients in your diet. So with that, be wary of how much you drink and it’s consequences.

5. Solution to Reduced physical activity

Just because you’re not representing the school, it doesn’t mean that you should become an inactive couch potato. There are plenty of opportunities in college to stay active; you just have to find them. Start lifting weights, go to one of the classes at the gym, run, swim, rock climb, join intramurals, go snowboarding, join a martial arts class, dance. Just do something, it clears your mind, and reinvigorates you with energy.

6. Solution to We’ve stopped growing

If you were one of the lucky ones in highschool who could eat whatever he/she wanted and stay nice and lean, well that’s changed now that your body is not naturally growing anymore. Join the rest of us. Now is the best time to get yourself into a healthy habit so that you can enjoy a fit and healthy body for years to come, so once again, plan your meals and do your research.

This week, I am going to be dedicating my blog to the freshman 15. Firstly I see it as a hot topic and one that is rather controversial so over here I’m going to try and get some things cleared out.

Classes have just resumed for the spring semester, many students are new, many are still in highschool and wondering if the freshman 15 is myth or fact, and then, there are of course those of us who have been through the first semester of college and already know what to expect.

As a general rule, stereotypes exist for a reason and from my experience here, I can assure you that freshman weight gain is no myth. Although I have very healthy habits and have maintained a good frame, a lot of my friends have gained a couple of unwanted pounds whilst some others I know have gained over 20lbs. 20lbs in 4 months is no joke, and when I ask them how it happened, they answer that it all happened so fast they did not realize how it happened and now all of them are trying (often blindly) to shed the weight off.

Of course there are exceptions, and some people actually end up losing weight when they arrive at college (although that isn’t necessarily a good thing either), but on average reports say that the average weight change in freshman year is an additional 5-8 lbs and often times they keep on piling on the weight throughout college so by the time they graduate, they have indeed gained over fifteen pounds of unwanted fat and sometimes much more. So before going to college, remember that your lifestyle is going to change and a change to your habits will have to be made in order to stay in top shape for years to come. Here are the primary causes for unwanted weight gain in college.

Cause 1: New Eating Habits

We left our parents back home and are introduced to a freedom that we have never experienced before. Food is readily available whenever we want it and nobody is going to stop us from eating what we want to eat when we want to eat it.

Cause 2: Eating socially and studiously

Although both scenes take place in a completely different atmosphere, both are generally unhealthy methods of consuming food because when eating socially the most common place to go is the fast food joints and hit the French fries. Eating while studying though may be equally bad for you because you are often not aware of what you are putting in your mouth and even worse cannot tell when you are starting to get full and may just be eating in order to get some extra energy so you don’t fall asleep whilst studying.

Cause 3: Snacking on the wrong foods for the wrong reasons

In and of itself, snacking is actually not a bad thing when done right, the problem occurs when you snack because of your emotions, this often happens due to boredom, sadness, depression, anger, stress and lack of energy. In addition, the food people snack on while being emotionally stressed is very often unhealthy and filled with simple carbohydrates and excessive amounts of fat.

Cause 4: Binge drinking

In many cases, college and drinking come hand in hand and in many cases it is inevitable that you will drink in order to relax and enjoy yourself. Back in highschool drinking was still very much part of weekend activities but now that you’re in college, the opportunity is there for you to drink every hour if you so wish.

Cause 5: Reduced physical activity

Back in highschool, it was much easier to be on one of the school’s athletic teams and that generally kept us fit. Some of us even took P.E or gym classes, but now that we’re in college our priorities have changed and representing your school has reached a whole new level of competition which gives less incentive to stay physically active in college.

Cause 6: We’ve stopped growing.

By the age of eighteen, our bones, muscles and height no longer increase naturally in size and no more huge growth spurts can be forecasted. For this reason, our metabolism may have taken a plunge that means that when we eat, the weight won’t go to our muscles, bones or height but straight to our bellies and thighs.

Come back on Wednesday to hear how to deal with these six causes and tackle the freshman fifteen.

New Years celebrations are over and hopefully you have made some productive New Years Resolutions. Gift giving time is over, but now, more than ever, is the best time to go out and make some changes to your wardrobe. The reason being the January sales that all major clothing outlets are now offering.

What’s the best thing about college fashion? There is no college fashion! Everyone and anyone in college can dress in any way that they want and nobody will discriminate against you for doing so. However, it must be noted that what you wear does give off an image. Unless you are the type of student who spends his entire day in his sweatpants then one of the most enjoyable and rewarding things to do is to have a wardrobe check-up and have your own personal style.

A wardrobe check up is something that I do every break to ensure that when I go back to college, I’m not going to have to spend too much extra money or time buying clothes at the mall.

1. Assess anything you have not worn in three months.

If you do not see yourself ever wearing this again then it’s time to throw it away.

2. Assess the strengths and weaknesses of your wardrobe.

Do you lack jeans or skirts? Go out and get some. Do you have more than enough underwear? Then resist the temptation to buy even the kinkiest one you come across at Victoria’s Secret.

3. Assess your wardrobe style

I’m not suggesting a complete facelift of your style, but rather see if there’s anything you could do to evolve your style in some way. Fashion trends change, and if you want to keep up with it, then you must also update your wardrobe from time to time. This could be done by experimenting with different colors, different cuts, and different fits or adding some accessories to your arsenal. Maybe you already have all the basics, but you’re lacking a pair of bootcut jeans that could add a new dimension to your styling?

4. Decide what needs to be changed

Don’t just go to the mall and grab every skirt you see because you need to add some skirts to your arsenal. Instead decide how many skirts you need. Do this for every shopping item on your list and when you have made that list…

5. Execute

Now that you have a completed your wardrobe check-up, you should be able to confidently do your shopping according to the budget you have set aside for the shopping.

Remember, few personal pleasures are as fulfilling as upgrading your own personal style.

When I ask people about their New Years Resolutions, I always receive the same answers.

-       To get a 3.8 GPA.

-       To lose 15 pounds.

-       To become rich.

-       To get a job.

There are two faults with these types of resolutions. The first is that these resolutions are too broad, and the second is that they are too materialistic. This combination encourages the human mind to not even attempt a shot at completing the resolutions as they become deemed ”unattainable”.

It is imperative that you stop making such broad resolutions. Each of these resolutions are attainable, but everything worth fighting for is only ever achieved through hard work. This is one of the problems with the New Years Resolution, it is something you wish for without planning out thus you always end up falling short upon realization that some effort is actually going to have to be implemented in order to achieve this goal.

In order to achieve your New Years Resolutions there are a few steps that one must plan out.

1. Start now, Start small.

Instead of procrastinating, it is important that you put your foot in the door and begin the process immediately. This is decidedly impossible to do when your goal is so broad and huge, it is of no wonder that your goal to ‘’lose 15 pounds’’ seems to be out of your reach. Instead focus your energies on…

2. Following a system.

In order to achieve your goal to get that 3.8 GPA you need to set, and follow a schedule. Set aside a specific two hour gap everyday for when you are going to be doing nothing but focusing on your studies and Acing your assignments.

3. Break down the steps to the task.

Nobody says ‘’OK, this year I’m going to get a job,’’ and then gets there without having a plan. In order to get a job, one has to do a very specific job search, apply, get through the interviews and network. Even then, it is still very hard to land your perfect job without doing your research and preparing in advance for the job.

4. Avoid setting overly ambitious goals

Make sure that you are realistic about setting your goals. If today you are making no money and by the end of the year you want to be making $200,000/year, I would scoff in your face. This is very hard to do even if you are an extremely gifted individual and are following the rules above. Instead make sure that your goal is challenging but obtainable, then go ahead and create a plan to reach this goal.

In the meantime, here are my resolutions:

-       Spend two hours a day on focused studying for academics.

-       Go to the gym everyday when on campus.

-       Post 2 blog posts per week.

-       Routinely schedule and plan my life.