How I Avoided The "Freshman 15"

Hello Sunshines!

Now to clarify, I'm not a freshman, but I started at a large university this year. If there's one thing that adds on in the lifestyle is dining hall food and the endless options towards gaining weight you didn't necessarily plan on.

Ah yes, college has taken on the stereotype, that has become very real, that all college students gain 15 pounds in their first year. Now I don't know about you, but I did NOT want that to happen to me, at least not with food.

Let's be real though, the food offered in dining halls in America isn't necessarily 5 star healthy. It's convenient, fast, and fatty. The epitome of stress food. So how do you even avoid it? Well I'm hear to tell you how I avoided it and give you some tips for the future.

Enjoy!

*Disclaimer* Not saying if you gain the Freshy 15, you're a horrible person or treat your body terribly, just sharing my experience. :)

The Food:

As described earlier, the food isn't the most healthy or nutritious which made it all the more difficult to gauge the weight gain. Here's my tips and what I did!

1. Salads became my best friend. Sounds super awful, I know, but with a pretty decent variety offered at the salad bar, I was able to get pretty creative with them. I made sure to mix up the different toppings and greens to add an extra appeal.

*Don't dump on the dressing though! Keep it minimal, less is more.*

2. Consistency is a winner. I made sure to stick to the same stuff and amounts with each meal. I always made sandwiches for lunch and ate small servings of eggs, hash-browns, sausage, & fruit for breakfast. The only "special meal" was my dinner where I had the usual of salad, but added something else with it (ie: burger with whole wheat bun and little toppings).

3. Less convenient is more convenient for your body. Sure the fast food items every day is super tempting, but going the extra step to find the healthier options in the long run will be way more convenient for your health and performance.

These tips are great and all, but to help put it in perspective, here's a layout of what I ate:

Breakfast:

Scrambled eggs (1 scoop)

Hash-browns/potatoes (1/2 scoop)

Sausage links/patties (2)

Fruit (1 scoop)

Orange/Apple/Cranberry juice (1 cup full)

Lunch:

Bronze Wheat sliced bread (2 slices)

Ham (1 1/2 slices)

Turkey (1 slice)

Lettuce (2 large leaves)

Mayo (drizzled across bread in Z shape)

Slices of dill pickle (4 slices)

Homemade potato chips (small hand-full)

Ginger Ale or water (1 cup full)

Mid-Day Snack:

Green tea

Small hand-full of pretzels

Apple or orange

Dinner:

Salad with a variety of greens (plate full, not stacked too high though)

Italian dressing drizzled on the top

2% milk (cup full)

Burger: 1 patty, whole wheat bun, and ketchup drizzled on top.

Evening snack:

Water

Goldfish (small cup)

This is just an example of what I ate on a regular basis. The snacks would sometimes vary with popcorn or pizza rolls, but I tried to keep those to a minimum (ie: once a week).

Exercise:

Now there's no reason why you shouldn't workout in college. There's more than likely a gym or recreation center you are already paying for, just have to make the time. Here's some tips:

1. Find yourself a gym buddy. This person will keep you motivated and hold you accountable for your workouts.

2. Tell yourself "Yes". The first step to living a healthier life is stop making excuses and to just GO FOR IT! You think about it, make it a reality.

3. Don't give up right away. Visible results usually don't happen after the first few workouts, but don't let this deter you from working out.

4. Stop comparing and stop overdoing it. Trust me, no one cares how sweaty you are because we are all there for the same reason, to better our health. Another thing, if your workout is only 15 minutes and not 3 hours, that's OKAY.

5. Keep it fun! If you're getting bored of the exact same workout, add some variety and different moves to keep it interesting.

Now that we got through all the nitty gritty, here's my daily workout. I do this workout every day, 6-7 days a week.

Here's an example of what a day will look like:

Stretch: 5 minutes

Walk: 3 laps or 15 minutes

Running intervals: walk 1 lap (4 minutes), run 1 lap (3 minutes)

Abs: Bridal Bootcamp (Cassey Ho's playlist) I LIVE for this workout, it kills.

Booty: Bridal Bootcamp (Alternate this with arms, back, and cardio)

Stretch/Cool-down: 10 minutes

(P.S. Recently I started the 100 Abs challenge from Cassey as well!)

That's all I have Sunshines! Now go slay like beasts!!

xoxo Sunshines!