Over the winter break, one of my young clients spent a furious two weeks trying to undo what had happened during her first semester of college: Freedom, beer, pizza, stress and parties...all of which led to weight gain.
If you're in college (or have ever been in college), you've likely experienced the same thing. Exercise often drops down the priority list (or off the list altogether) as the reality of college life sets in.
However, exercise is crucial, not just for managing your weight, but dealing with stress and giving yourself more focus and energy.
There are ways to avoid weight gain in college, but one thing you can do right now is take a look at your schedule and figure out how you can squeeze in some exercise. Some ideas:
- Join the student fitness center - If you have a fitness center on campus, chances are you can get a discount membership or, in some cases, workout for free. Don't forget to check into local gyms. Many may offer student discounts as well.
- Look for ways to move more - Could you jog, inline skate or walk around campus before or between classes? What about P.E. classes? You might be able to sign up for something active and get credit for doing it.
- Exercise in your dorm room or apartment - There are plenty of body weight exercises you can do to work your body whenever you have time. This Boot Camp Circuit Workout is intense, requires no equipment and can be done just about anywhere.
What about you? Are you going to college and, if so, what are your plans for keeping your weight in check? If you've been there, did you gain weight? Leave a comment and tell us about your college experiences.
Good article. A lot of the time its comes down to a matter of choice. Take the stairs or the elevator? Watch TV or go play tennis? Same goes for the food we eat. It’s a conscious choice. We can choose to eat Ding Dongs every day or we can choose salads more often. We can choose to stuff ourselves 3X a day or we can choose to eat 6 or 7 small meals a day that satisfy us. If you focus on the end result, exercise and that choice becomes much easier.
I’m still in higher education as a doctoral student and an academic advisor. So even though it’s been 11 years since I left for college, I see how students behave daily. The biggest challenge for most college students is the dining halls. Our dining hall has some healthy options, but it’s also full of the unhealthy ones like burgers, pizza and cakes. There are salad bars, but salad every day gets very boring very quickly!
Some students complain that they don’t have any time or the ability to get exercise. These are usually the ones I see standing in line waiting on the bus rather than walking the 10-15 minutes to get to class. The recreation center features a pool, basketball and racquetball courts, a walking track, group fitness classes and several exercise equipment rooms (cardio and weight). This is in addition to our campus in a mountain area where there are plenty of options for walking, hiking, rock climbing, kayaking, etc.
I understand that being a student is challenging, but there are options available to students who make the effort to find them.
Good luck to all the new college students!
Unlike most, I actually LOST weight when I went off to college. I came from a very sedentary family and just didn’t know any better! When I went to college it was a small mountain town and we walked or biked everywhere! I went from a size 10 to a size 5 in a few months just from that change alone. Our college cafeteria had good home-cooked meals as well. In High School my mom worked long hours and we rarely had meals together so my sister and I ended up eating fast food a lot between jobs and school. College does not always cause weight gain!
Well, college was a very long time ago, but I gained about 20 pounds that first semester and struggled with the weight all the way through those years. I would take aerobics classes (This was the ’80’s!) when I had time, which helped when I also watched what I ate, but eating at the dorm cafeterias and having the newfound freedom to make my own choices about what to eat and drink, when, where, and with whom really did me in! I was totally unprepared for the buffet, literally, that awaited me. Despite the fact that I went to a very large campus and walked or biked EVERYWHERE, the intake of calories was way too much. I finally got into a regular exercise routine after I graduated and had a more regular schedule without all the grueling, late hours of study, writing papers, and just trying to get it all done. When my daughter someday faces the same thing, I hope I will have prepared her to make better choices about food and that she has firmly established an active lifestyle before going to school. The time crunch is real if you’re serious about studying. You have to find ways to make it work, however possible.