Losing weight is a struggle many college students encounter at some point in their college career.
For some, it’s losing the freshman 15. But many students struggle with finding a healthy way to lose weight even after their freshman year.
Many count calories or turn to fad diets to achieve their goals but find little success.
Jessica Newby, registered dietitian-nutritionist at the Auburn University Recreation and Wellness Center, said to eat only when hungry, rather than counting calories.
“In our practice, we tend not to encourage calorie counting, because calories can be made up of a lot of different things,” Newby said. “If they’re eating all the food groups, it tends to balance your calories naturally.”
Newby said it’s not really the freshman 15 students gain their first year.
“We try to educate them about the fact that it’s not really about the freshman 15,” Newby said. “On average, it’s [more] like the freshman 5.25 or something of that nature.”
Newby said they encourage their clients to focus on having a balanced plate, or a plate with protein, grain, dairy, fruit or vegetable presence.
“We want as many food groups as possible present at each meal,” Newby said. “That’s how we judge the balance.”
Anne Penrose, graduate in exercise science and nutritionist at the Recreation and Wellness Center, said the hardest thing for freshmen is adjusting to college life.
“Often times, they’re coming in from an environment where meals are already made for them,” Penrose said. “Mom and Dad tend to help a lot more, so sometimes it’s the knowledge base [that] is not there.”
Newby said having a space to prepare meals for yourself gives students the chance to control what they eat.
She said this can help them lose weight.
“They can learn how to prepare their own foods and become responsible for the foods they take in,” Newby said.
According to Newby, students with food allergies and food intolerances are able to cater their meals to their preferences by preparing their own meals.
Penrose said students often struggle with deciding whether to eat out or make food at home, which adds to the challenge of balancing their plate.
“There’s so much freedom [in college], which is a good thing, but I think just navigating toward how to build that balanced plate ... while allowing room for enjoying the foods you really enjoy [helps],” Penrose said. “Keeping that in there, keeping it balanced, I think, is the biggest obstacle.”
Newby said one problem students have is a lack of variety.
Many students fall into the pattern of eating within a certain radius of where they live.
“I have students that, it’s their senior year, and they don’t even know what’s at Foy,” Newby said. “They’ve never ventured out of the Village, or whatever their general area is.”
Newby also said if students forget to eat a meal at their regular time, they shouldn’t rush to find the first snack available.
She said students will grab whatever’s there instead of making a balanced plate.
“It’s kind of lackadaisical or an afterthought,” Newby said. “It’s not intentional on a daily basis.”
By making small changes in your diet, long term success in weight loss can be achieved.
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