Your first year in college is a time for new experiences. Adjusting to living in a dorm, learning how to share living space, failing your first mid-term, and even adding weight. Away from the watchful eyes of your family, you’ll be free to eat and do whatever you want. Not everyone makes the best decisions with this newfound freedom.
If you are not a fan of cooking, you’ll probably be eating many takeouts, which is essentially fast food. Don’t be surprised when that number on the weighing scale starts going up. The good news is that you can turn things around before it is too late. If you are looking for tips on how to lose weight in college, then you have come to the right place.
Easy Steps On How To Lose Weight In College
Plan Your Meals
The food options in many colleges across the country are more or less the same. The college dining hall is not the best place to make healthy food choices.
There are always fresh bakery items, fried foods, cheesy pizzas, baked fish, and some steamed vegetables. No one will force you to eat a particular item. You are free to fill your tray with whatever your heart desires. However, doing this blindly will lead to bad eating habits and poor health choices.
It’s up to you to train your mind to pick healthier foods regularly and go for treats once in a while. If your school posts a weekly menu in the cafeteria or online, take note of that in advance and plan your meals. Planning means you will make an objective choice based on your nutritional needs. Depending on sights and smells to make a decision is a poor move.
Take Healthy Snacks
Healthy snacks can keep hunger pangs at bay which ensures you don’t overeat. However, if you are doing this too often and making poor snack choices, you will definitely gain weight. Don’t keep unhealthy snacks like candies, sodas, or chips in your room.
Feel like having a treat? Just go out and enjoy it with your friends; let it be an intentional choice. If junk snacks are your default choice then your dream of losing weight will always be just that. Some of the healthy day-to-day snack options include: apple slices, Greek yogurt with fresh fruit, celery stick paired with almond butter or peanut, whole-grain crackers, tuna packed in water, veggies with bean dip, hummus or salsa, baked tortilla chips, string cheese, etc
Avoid Multi-Tasking
Eating while engaging in other activities is likely to cause you to overeat. Mindless eating is one of the reasons why people keep adding weight unaware. You are likely to reach out for snacks when watching television, studying, or when you are stressed. However, mindless eating is that you are not conscious of what you are eating or even the portion.
On the other hand, when your mind is focused on eating without other distractions, you can concentrate on the meal. You’ll be mindful of the activity hence a lower chance of eating more than you need.
No Late-Night Snacking
Trips to the refrigerator in the middle of the night should be nixed if you hope to lose weight while in college. Studying late might make you hungry. If you have to snack, keep it at a minimum. Don’t snack while studying, but rather take a break for this purpose. After the break, your brain will even feel refreshed, and you won’t be preoccupied with hunger.
Going for a short snack break helps prevent a night-long mindless snacking in front of your laptop. Besides, when you are thirsty or tired, it presents itself like hunger. Before you reach into the snack jar, take a glass of water and see whether you are still hungry. Water or rest can give you the much-needed energy boost, which prevents you from mindless snacking. Also, studying while tired isn’t going to help you achieve much. It is better to go to bed and finish up your work later when you are well-rested.
Take The Time To Eat
When you don’t settle down to eat the meal will be over before you feel like it has even started. This will have you looking for snacks or extra helpings all through the day even if you are not necessarily hungry.
It takes about 20 minutes to feel full when you sit down to have a meal. While eating, make sure you put down the utensils you are using after every bite. Take time to chew and taste your food to slow down the process. Take sips of water in the process too. Intentional eating and taking pauses allows the brain time to register when you’ve eaten hence helping you feel full faster. You won’t end up consuming more calories than necessary which allows you to lose weight.
Limit Your Alcohol Intake Or Eliminate It Completely
If alcohol intake has become a regular thing since you joined college then the extra weight you are piling might be due to that. One beer has about 200 calories.
Two beers have calories equivalent to what a single meal contains, and don’t forget that they will have no nutritional benefits. If you have to take alcohol, limit the number of bottles and the number of times you drink. Please eliminate alcoholic beverages from your diet altogether.
Remember that it isn’t just the alcohol intake that contributes to gaining weight but also the unhealthy snacking in the process. Drinking usually happens later in the evening, and it can go all the way late at night. Also, you will be feeling hungover in the morning, which means you won’t work out.
Conclusion
If you wish to lose weight in college, the first culprit you have to eliminate from your lifestyle is alcohol. This goes a long way towards putting you on the path to a healthier lifestyle, and you’ll see your weight coming down. These are not difficult steps to follow, and if you master them, you will have hacked the art of losing weight in college.
Is it normal to lose weight in college?
15% of the students actually lose weight in college than gaining it. This mostly occurs during the first semester.
How can college students lose weight without exercise?
Eat plenty of proteins, store unhealthy foods out of site, eat foods rich in fibre, drink water regularly
Can we lose weight in 3 days?
This is highly unlikely, Fat loss is a slow process if you are consistent with healthy lifestyle.