|
Four
years later, did she avoid the 'freshman 15?'
Sept 04, 08
Suzanne Havala Hobbs
Fear of gaining weight is foremost
on the minds of many college freshman.
So says Anna, my niece from Asheville who four years ago this
month was an entering freshman at UNC-Chapel Hill. I wrote
then about her plan for avoiding the dreaded “freshman
15.”
So how did she do?
She did great. She did it by working regular exercise into
her daily routines, and by being mindful of her eating habits.
“It’s all about the lifestyle you lead,”
Anna told me.
For instance, when other students took the bus to get across
campus, Anna walked. “I never started riding the bus,
so it didn’t become a habit,” she said. “So
when it rained, I walked. I wouldn’t have even known
which bus to take.”
With the benefit of four years of experience adjusting to
life away from home, what other advice does Anna have for
students struggling to keep their weight under control at
school?
Plenty. She says there are several keys:
* Get more physical activity than you got at home. Freshman
year, Anna increased her level of activity by walking everywhere
she went. “If I wanted to get frozen yogurt with my
friends, we walked to Franklin Street and back,” said
Anna.
She used the time walking to class to catch up on phone calls.
“It saved time, and it was easier, since I didn’t
have my own space when I was a freshman,” she said.
Another bonus to walking instead of driving: It was easier
than having to hunt for parking spaces on campus. Often it
was just as fast, too.
* Immunize yourself against overeating. “A lot of people
gained a lot of weight, because they ate late night food,
especially Chinese and pizza,” said Anna. “They
did it on top of everything else. It’s like a whole
extra meal each day.”
Anna didn’t eat late at night and only ordered pizza
a handful of times during her entire college career. She kept
a limited amount of snack food in her room, mostly fresh fruit.
She also resisted the temptation to gorge on the food available
in the dining hall. “You don’t need all that food,”
she said.
“If you’re overwhelmed by all the food that’s
there in the dining hall, remember that it’ll be there
tomorrow,” she said.
* Cap the alcohol. In addition to extra food, a lot of students
gained weight from liquid calories. “Even if you only
drink two or three times a week, it can add up to a tremendous
number of calories,” she said.
Like fat, alcohol contains a concentrated number of calories.
Sweet mixers add even more. And beverages go down so easily
that you might not even be conscious of how much you are consuming.
* Socialize strategically. In her senior year, Anna and her
friends used walking as a social event. “We’d
walk and talk,” she said. Or she and a friend would
go out for an easy run and gab.
They also took advantage of the free pool and gym memberships
at school. “We jumped rope and swam at the gym to mix
it up,” she said. “I made it a social thing.”
It’s advice that worked for Anna.
It’s lifestyle advice that could work for the rest of
us, too. Find ways to be more physically active more often.
Condition yourself to avoid excess calories from snacks and
drinks. Socialize on your feet instead of sitting at a table.
Take a lesson from a college undergrad and you, too, may avoid
an extra fifteen pounds.
|
