{"id":598,"date":"2013-09-04T21:03:43","date_gmt":"2013-09-05T01:03:43","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.yoursash.com\/blog\/?p=598"},"modified":"2013-09-04T21:03:43","modified_gmt":"2013-09-05T01:03:43","slug":"15-ways-to-avoid-the-freshman-15","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.yoursash.com\/blog\/uncategorized\/15-ways-to-avoid-the-freshman-15\/","title":{"rendered":"15 Ways to Avoid the Freshman 15"},"content":{"rendered":"

\t\t\t\t\"WorkoutBot\"<\/a><\/p>\n

It\u2019s a common tale. When you start your first year of college you can expect to gain weight. Often to the tune of about 15 pounds, hence the popularity of the phrase, \u201cfreshman 15.\u201d But here\u2019s a bit of good news. There is growing research showing that that in the first year of school, the average amount of weight gained by students is only between 2.5 and 3.5 pounds.\u00a0A Social Science Quarterly study from 2011 found, instead, that over a four-year span college men will gain a total of 13 pounds and college women will gain 9 pounds.<\/p>\n

Of course, whether you will or won\u2019t gain weight during your collegiate years depends on your habits. There are a number of things you can do to keep extra pounds off. Here are 15 ways to avoid college weight gain:<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Use the student fitness center \u2013\u00a0The majority of schools have an onsite recreation and fitness center that students can use for free. Use it.<\/li>\n
  2. Get enough sleep \u2013 Try to get at least 8 hours of sleep each night. Lack of sleep has been shown to promote overeating.<\/li>\n
  3. Walk or bike \u2013 Try to walk or bike as much as possible, whether it\u2019s to classes or social functions.<\/li>\n
  4. Say no to the frappuccino \u2013\u00a0\u00a0Fancy coffee drinks with whipped cream, milkshakes and sodas contain high numbers of calories. Instead of these choose water, regular coffee and if you must \u2013 diet soda.<\/li>\n
  5. Get on schedule \u2013 Get on a regular eating schedule and don\u2019t skip meals. Skipping meals negatively affects your metabolism.<\/li>\n
  6. Don\u2019t stress \u2013 Undue stress can often trigger overeating tendencies.<\/li>\n
  7. Split it \u2013 If you go out to eat, split meals with friends. Doing so saves both calories and money.<\/li>\n
  8. Eat your fruits and veggies \u2013 About 2\/3rds of your plate should be filled with fruits and veggies at each meal.<\/li>\n
  9. Avoid junk foods \u00a0\u2013 Junk foods are empty calories that help you pack on the pounds but not feel full.<\/li>\n
  10. Join a team \u2013 Join an intramural sports team. Not only will you burn calories, it will also help eliminate stress.<\/li>\n
  11. Stock up \u2013\u00a0Even if you live in a dorm, you can still stock up on healthy foods like fruits, nuts and seeds that don\u2019t have to be refrigerated.<\/li>\n
  12. \u00a0Treat yourself \u2013\u00a0When you have a healthy week of eating, treat yourself by buying yourself something. Maybe that cute t-shirt with your school logo on it.<\/li>\n
  13. Hydrate \u2013 Drinking water throughout the day will make you feel full and less likely to overeat. Invest in a reusable water bottle to take with you to classes and to study sessions.<\/li>\n
  14. Don\u2019t party hungry \u2013\u00a0\u00a0Eat before going to social functions otherwise you might be tempted to hang out by the snack table and eat junk food.<\/li>\n
  15. Join a sorority or fraternity \u2013 Surrounding yourself with healthy, active people is a great way to keep your weight in check.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    Photo Credit:\u00a0http:\/\/www.flickr.com\/\t\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    It\u2019s a common tale. When you start your first year of college you can expect to gain weight. Often to the tune of about 15…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,5,1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-598","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-college","category-college-fun","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.yoursash.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/598","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.yoursash.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.yoursash.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.yoursash.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.yoursash.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=598"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.yoursash.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/598\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.yoursash.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=598"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.yoursash.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=598"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.yoursash.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=598"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}