College is a time that is full of stress, fun, deadlines, parties, cramped quarters, and not enough time to get everything done. You may love college in a lot of ways, but there is no doubting the surge of panic that comes when you realize you forgot to do that homework assignment, or that deadline came a lot faster than anticipated.
In addition to this, as much as everyone likes the endless food available in the cafeteria or the midnight runs to the store for ice cream, everyone regrets those choices as soon as they realize that the freshman 15- or 20- or 50 has stacked onto your gut in the matter of a couple of semesters.
Don’t worry about it…or don’t let it happen in the first place is what should really be said. Here are simple things and fitness routines you can do to keep yourself from putting on that freshman 15. The routines don’t have to be time intensive. Just incorporate them into your day whenever you find yourself checking Facebook or taking a cat nap.
Use Whatever is Around You to Work Out
In the middle of a study session? You don’t have to stop studying to work out, just use what you have around you and incorporate it into a simple strength exercise to kill two birds with one stone.
This could achieved by using your desk as a pushup surface, using your books as stretching blocks, or simply using your own bodyweight to do squats, leg raises, tricep dips and other things of the like while you have a friend quiz you or you memorize a concept. The movement and blood flow will actually help things stick in your head much faster.
Keep Healthy Snacks Around
It’s like a broken record and you’ve heard it a million times, but simply keeping healthy snacks around will help you from putting on weight in college. Instead of going to the vending machine and grabbing a bag of chips or cookies, have a mini fridge in your room and keep vegetables or other healthy alternatives around.
Limit the Partying
In addition to this, the majority of weight put on in college is due to alcohol. To avoid this, either change your drinks to simple vodka, soda, lime, or limit your partying to once every couple weeks or once a month. It’s fun, but ultimately partying just causes trouble.
It might do you better in the long run to cut it out entirely, but it is college, so have fun…but also have some discipline. You don’t need to drink excessively to have fun.
One last thing you might want to consider getting is a fitness tracker. This way you can calculate how much you’re walking in a day. So much about keeping fit is just being aware, so try it out and hopefully you’ll be successful in keeping the weight off during college.
