Did your child gain weight?/physical wellness in college
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Anonymous
| Over the course of the year, my formerly 190 lb daughter is now down to 150 (she's 5'8) and looking fabulous! She is concerned, however, about the infamous freshman 15 and lack of healthy options. And that she won't have time to work out. Any suggestions? |
Anonymous
| She'll have plenty of time to work out. The big thing is to avoid snacking and heavy drinking. My college had calorie counts and healthy options at all cafeterias. Make sure she knows about some healthy fast food options for when she's super busy (eg, panera has some good options, noodles has salads and whole grain pasta and tons of veggie options, etc). |
Anonymous
| In my era going to the gym was how we socialized. I was fit as a fiddle my freshman year! |
Anonymous
| I suspect the freshman 15 is due to alcohol consumption more than any other lifestyle change. |
Anonymous
| There is definitely time to workout, and all colleges now have fantastic gym facilities. I think weight gain comes from late-night snacking (basically having 4 meals a day) and drinking. Can I ask how your daughter lost her weight? I'm the OP of another thread with an overweight teenage DD going into her senior year and college weight gain is definitely a part of my stress right now. I'd love to help her lose weight (when she doesn't appear to give a crap). |
Anonymous
| Not only do colleges have great gym facilities but kids have much lighter class schedules than in HS. My DCs both worked out or ran nearly every day. Eating is another matter although neither of mine had issues. If your DD has lost 40 lbs she's probably figured out how to eat healthily so she should be fine. There are healthy choices in most dining halls these days. My only concern would be using drugs as a low calorie alternative to alcohol- you may want to talk with her about that. |
Anonymous
| Might be worth looking over the food services menu with her to flag opportunities and potential pitfalls. Access to unlimited soft drinks was bad news for DH, for example. Tasty vegetarian options was a real plus for me. But it depends on the school's offerings and the kid's tastes/habits. |
Anonymous
| I think the "Freshman 15" is a dated concept - a throw back to the days when I was in college (1970s) when the cafeteria food was all starch and mystery meat and very little fresh greens. Both of my college kids are athletes so they obviously stay active but pretty much all of their friends work out regularly on campus. |
Anonymous
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I lost weight in college because I ate and slept much better when I was living at home.
Fucked up sleep cycles, no set routine, terrible diet all made me lose weight in college. |
Anonymous
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I didn't gain weight in college. None of my friends gained weight in college.
We didn't bring cars to campus and walked and biked everywhere. I probalby got more daily exercise in college than I have at any time in my life. |
Anonymous
This. |
Anonymous
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My DS didn't gain weight his freshman year, but he bulked up because of going to the gym all the time. Many universities don't have 'all you can eat' meal plans anymore, so kids aren't able to gorge on food the way they used to. My DS also walks or bikes to all of his classes, which on a large campus, is quite a workout in itself.
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Anonymous
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I lost 40 lbs mt freshman and sophomore years in college because I discovered a love of modern dance, which led to adding ballet and ended up in the dance troupe.
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Anonymous
I lost weight my freshman year because of much more walking around on campus, some going to the gym, and because I didn't like the food and subsisted on lattes and bagels 
Once I could cook for myself I didn't gain weight again because I tend to cook healthy vegetarian food when cooking for just myself. |
Anonymous
| I know GMU has something called Mason Money, so maybe the OP's daughter budgeted her food allowance very well (presuming her college has something similar). |