Everyone has heard of the freshman 15, the phenomenon that claims first year college students will gain 15 pounds due to lifestyle changes and stress. This idea is extremely prevalent online with dozens of articles, YouTube videos and crazy diets in order to avoid the weight gain. Most of these diets involve calorie reduction to the point of starvation. They are marketed as “get skinny quick” diets and claim that you could lose up to 15 pounds in under a week. What may seem like a miracle is actually borderline starvation and can even develop into both physical and mental health problems later down the road. In order to maintain a healthy lifestyle college students must be conscious of their health choices and avoid these harmful diets.
One of the most popular of these particular diets is the military diet, which claims you can lose ten pounds within the span of a week. The most appealing aspects of the diet is the fact that it doesn’t involve supplements, lifestyle changes or long term commitment as well as all the foods needed for the diet can be easily found in your local grocery store. The diet, according to Joe Leech, MS, involves reducing caloric intake to 1,100-1,400 calories a day for three days, eating a dangerously small amount of food. The second part of the diet, which takes place over the last four days of the week involves the person eating whatever they want as long as it doesn’t exceed 1,400 calories. Though the low calorie intake doesn’t seem unhealthy, the recommended calorie intake for a moderately active man between the ages of 18 and 25 is 2,400-2,600 calories a day, while a moderately active women between the same ages should be eating 2,200-2,200 calories a day.
There are healthier alternatives for avoiding the freshman 15 at DU that involve eating healthy and doing exercise, but students have to be willing to put in the time and effort. One of the many resources available on campus is MyPlate, a government service focused on promoting healthy eating. Their goals are to “focus on variety, amount and nutrition. Choose foods and beverages with less saturated fat, sodium and added sugars. Start with small changes to build healthier eating styles. Support healthy eating for everyone”. They are responsible for the pie chart-esque pictures of plates divided into separate food groups that you see in the dining halls. Though those diagrams seem childish in nature, they are very helpful, especially for students who are not used to planning out their own meals. Their website gives more in depth information on how to set up your plate, as well as more resources specifically for college students.
Another huge part of being healthy is doing exercise in order to burn calories. On campus, you could go to the Coors Fitness Center, which is free for students, in order to get in your daily workout. Besides the gym, they offer dozens of fitness classes from yoga, to zumba, to cycling and much more offered everyday of the week at different hours of the day to best accommodate your schedule. If fitness classes aren’t your thing, then they also have open lap swimming, open recreation basketball, tennis, ice skating, hockey and more. There are also ice skating and swimming lessons for adults if you want to improve your skills or pick up a new one.
In your journey to better physical health you mustn’t neglect your mental health, which is just as, or more, important than your physical well being. If you find yourself in a downwards spiral for whatever reason, especially during finals season, don’t hesitate to ask for help. The The Health and Counseling Center has dozens of experts who specialize in different areas from depression and anxiety to loss and even eating disorders. They offer therapy in English, Spanish, Portuguese, Arabic and Mandarin if you feel more comfortable talking to someone in your native language. Don’t hesitate to call the counseling center at 303-871-2205; they are even available after hours if you need someone to talk to.
Though they may seem appealing, many viral internet diets can be unhealthy and even harmful for the participants. Fortunately there are various alternatives to these diets that can be found on campus at little to no cost for students. With time, hard work and effort students can avoid the freshman 15 by eating right and doing exercise. There is no one right way for a person to lose weight since everyone has a different lifestyle, schedule and physical abilities, but there are many wrong ways for someone to lose weight. The important part is that students make sure they are staying healthy and not going to either extremes of over or under eating.
