I have put the start of school as the start of my diet plan, as my food intake should stop varianting as when I was back in China. So now I'm starting school at a local college, but I want to prevent myself from gaining the Freshman Fifteen (in other words, a lot of Freshmans gain 15 pounds or more from college food (or so they say).) Last time I checked, I was still around 180 pounds, but I need to reduce it. So far though I think everytime I goto the Dining Hall I feel attracted to all the great tasting foods like omellete, bread with gravy, pizza, pastas, and all the like. We do have a good salad division but I was always attracted more to the other foods than I should have with the salads.... So what should I do to prevent this urge from making me experience the Freshman Fifteen or even more?!

EXERCISE!!! I'm sorry to say, but the freshman 15 is almost inevitable. my first year of college, i gained about 5 lbs... i was lucky, but only because i was exercising at least an hour every single day!! and exercising HARD!! My advice is to stay away from the dessert table! Try to have a balanced meal and eat less carbs. Good luck!

HI there,

I agree with cutiepie....exercise is the key, but not just exercise...just go to the salad bar and eat the salad first...and then every once in a while, when you are really, really, really hungry, give in and have something else.
When going for pizza, try to get a thin crust without a million and a half toppings, and stay away from the ones with additional cheese in the crust. When in the mood for burgers or something like that, try having some barbequed chicken or steak and go easy on the pasta...only take a little bit and add veggies and salad. It doesn't take huge amounts to satisfy a craving.
I guess, selfdicipline is the key....don't lose sight of your goal to lose weight, rather than gaining it.

Alright I have started going to my school's gym. I have allocated a one hour time to do the work, every other day. So far I have split it up this way: 20 min Treadmill, 20 min Bicycliing, 20 min Rolling Cycle. When I finish Im soaked in sweat..... So far I weighed myself and it's 186 pounds..... hope this goes down (and not up!) Any advice on my excercising routine?

I've heard that the right amount of food to have is veggie portions the size of your fist and protein portions the size of your palm or no bigger than. Limit the sauces, gravies and eat the lite dressing on salad, too. Try to eat no more than a plate full of food and not to stack the food up high either. Read the calories on the drinks you buy. I usually get the diet sodas with 0 calories or water. Try to just eat the normal foods you would eat at home and splurge only once in awhile. Exercise is good too, like taking a walk every day or 3 or 4 times a week for 20-30 minutes hellps.

hmm, i lost weight in college ... only having a couple breaks in the day from 8 - 4 didn't allow me to eat that much and the stress kept me from getting too hungry. However, 3rd year, I managed to eat properly, which included going to the cafeteria only for breakfast (can't turn down a $2.50 breakfast) and making a lunch of soup/sandwiches/etc .

along with your excercise which is great cardio... add in 30 mins of weights like 3 times a week... weight training is very important and can help burn more calories and lose weight...

I actually lost a few pounds in my freshman year. Well, but then the following summer I gained everything back, so I was back to square one, but that's just to show not ALL freshmen gain 15 lbs.

Hey. I gained the expected 15 pounds my freshman year and I think most of it came from pop. I was not that into soda when I was at home...it wasn't around. However, when it is free and freeflowing, it is hard to pass up. I remember drinking 24 oz. of it with each meal! I can not even imagine doing that now. It was cheaper than milk, juice, or bottled water; I think it is a shame that colleges make healthy choices so much more expensive for students than they should be.

My suggestion would be to eat a salad with every meal. I like to use a small amount of dressing diluted with whatever vinegar is available. The vinegar makes the salad less dry and helps the little bit of flavor that comes with the dressing spead around. I would not completely deny yourself of the tasty things you want or else you will find yourself bingeing on them. Maybe you could eat a large salad and a small side of whatever you have the strongest taste for. Watch out for fatty meats though! When I stopped eating meat in college (and I was already limiting my red meat and high fat meats), I dropped 15 pounds without trying. It is amazing how many more calories a beef burger has than a soy burger.

Ok ... I'm going to tell you all about the freshman 15 ... me and all of my 8 roomates gained the freshman 15, including one who is a cross country runner. This is what causes it ... drinking and school food. I'll start with school food, my school has a buffet style "commons" and then a fast food style "cx". Though the commons seems healthy, the biggest mistake always made is overeating. It's a big social place so while your sitting talking to friends you just keep eating. If you think about a meal you would eat at home, usually one plate full, and then compare it to what your eating there, you'll realize that it's much more. Then the cx type ... you order food by price given a certain dollar amount equals one meal, the bad thing is, this is all unhealthy food, and if your not careful it can be just as bad a mcdonalds. The way to fix this ... I lowered my meal plan to the minimum, forcing me to eat out of my house, we are lucky enough to have full kitchens, because I found my portions are much smaller at home then at school. If you live in a dorm with no kitchen, this is a problem because your more limited, I would still try to eat there more because it may still same you calories.
Next is the alcohol, it doesn't matter what you drink, it's all metabolized as fat. It's like trying to diet and then everytime you drink is like injecting fat right into your system. Doesn't help at all. SOmetimes no matter what you eat you'll gian weight because of how much you drink. The best thing I found to do is find ways to drink less. I know it's not healthy, but often I would just eat a REALLy light dinner so the alcohol had nothing to absorb into, allowing me to drink less then normal. For me, my freshman year I started out weighing 150 lbs, went all the way up to 178 and a year later am just now getting back down at 155. Exercise will help, but if your increasing your calorie intake more than your exercising off. So watch the school food, try to stick to ONE plate, and drinking two cups of water before you eat will fill your stomach a little, try to drink less per night, and don't come home and eat when your drunk, I bet that's where at least 5 of the freshman 15 come from.

My freshman 15 happened to be 25 pounds.... it happened because in high school I weighed 155 and I was playing soccer basketball and running distance in track. Then I graduated high school and I did not have a team sport. It was extremely hard for me to motivate myself to do any physical activity without a coach or a team to encourage and depend on me. Also I commutted to school from home, giving me an additional hour of sitting. Some people would think that because I was living at home I would have been eating healthier, but I brought a lot of snacks with me, and found a lot of new fast food restaurants to hit up. So in my first year I gained 25 pounds... how sad. But this is my sophmore year, and I joined the marching band, I play the cymbals, and I love it, in the first week of practice I lost 5 pounds and since then I have lost 5 more, so now I have the classic 15 pounds on me, but for the past 2 weeks I have begun to walk/jog 6 miles 5 times a week. I am also eating fiber filled cereal instead of omlettes for breakfast. For me the hardest time of the day to be disaplined is after 9 30 pm. all I want to do is eat - cookies, chocolate, popcorn, pizza - I think I should consider making my bedtime earlier.

HI there,

may I ask when you have your dinner? It could very well be, that you blood sugar drop right around that time which makes you crave the junk food. Maybe you should have a snack around 9.00PM, something light - I like having some fruit or Yoghurt or a piece of Turkey Bacon and cheese, it shouldn't be a sandwich or something else with a lot of carbs.

Also, what I noticed on myself is that I drink a lot during the day at work, but I tend to forget it in the evening. And it is a known fact that often when you think you are hungry, you are actually dehydrated.

Maybe this helps a little

Hey Lisa good advice, I'm going to try that from now on, I'll have a small snack at 9, and some herbal tea (with skim milk) and see what happens! Thank you

hopfully it works - let me know

Yes, it has been working, having a snack at around 9 has been helping. I have been chosing fruit and a cup of tea, I also have to report that I lost a pound this week! I am going to start having smaller snacks throughout the day.