Fending off The Freshman Fifteen...

For those in college, or those quickly approaching it, beware!!! The Freshman Fifteen - the bane of college calorie counters everywhere - is ready to take a new group of victims on campuses nationwide this fall!

For those who have felt the pain of the 15lbs of cafeteria food, hanging out in the dorm, not having your highschool extracurriculars, and just being too darned lazy to get out and about, join me in losing that weight! :) As an upcoming junior in college, i'm still waging war against the last 10lbs - who's with me?!?

*EDIT*

August 4th, 2008

To anyone just seeing this topic, please know that you're still welcome to join us! There are voluntary weigh-ins each Wednesday if you're interested. Whether you're headed to college, in it, or leaving it we're happy to have you! :D

Eeek, Heather, I go back to school two weeks from today, so I don't want to gain in the next two weeks!!  There's a good possibility that I'll try cycling once I go back to school, though :).  In the mean time, can you explain to me how exactly you cycle?  I mean, I know the general principles, but can you tell me like what you were doing before and how you changed and how it helped you??  If I eat the same amount throughout the week, and just more on the weekends, is that considered cycling?

Honestly, I feel like I kind of cycle already lol just because I will inevitably screw up at least once every week or so :P.

Lea, don't beat yourself up about it!!  Like Heather said, everyone does that once...or twice.  The biggest thing I had to learn about alcohol last year was that when you're already drunk, it's usually not anymore fun to get more drunk.  I still get trashed on occasion, but it's usually by accident rather than on purpose.  Also like Heather said, make sure you stay hydrated - that's super important!  A hangover is mostly just dehydration, and you can usually avoid them by drinking water.  A good rule of thumb (although I have to admit I don't usually do this) is to drink a glass of water after every alcoholic drink that you have.  This will make you drink more slowly too :).

So yesterday my best friend that I hadn't seen in a little while called and invited me out to dinner.  We were going to go to Applebee's, and I looked at the menu ahead of time and picked a Weight Watchers meal with the best of intentions, but then she decides she wants to go to Olive Garden.  So I thought ok, I haven't seen her in a while, so I'll just go wherever she wants to go.  Well we went and ate soooo much that my stomach was literally sore all night...but it was delicious and way worth it!!  I just can't do that again for a long, long while.  So in order to keep myself accountable, I'm telling you guys my two goals for the next 7 days (starting today): 1) Eat under 1500 calories every day, and 2) Run 3 times.  I would run more, but I have to work 8-6 3 of the next 6 days, and I'm always too exhausted to run after I work 10 hours.

 

Carrie:

Ok, basically, the way I understand it - Your body gets more an more efficient when it consistantly subsisting on fewer calories. So when I was doing 1200cal every day for 4 months (Feb, March, April, May), my weightloss was slowing down reall fast, until suddenly, at the end of june, I couldn't lose anymore. I'd actually gotten myself to the point of only burning 1200cal/day. So basically what cycling does is keep your body used to digesting a larger amount of food a few days a week. It just gives your body a bit more slack as far as the efficiency bit goes, keeping it burning at a higher median number of calories, which means a bigger defecit...

I hope that that makes sense?

I need to be held accountable too. I've been giving myself a lot of slack because I'm walking 1-2.5miles each day with my 30lb backpack, and on 1400cal/day, I'm really afraid that I'm gaining. That's WITH the occasional workout. I think I need to go back to 1200/day with a few days of cycling. I just find it so hard cutting out calories now, because most of the food on campus is so badddddd... /sigh... But, I also think that maybe I'm gaining some muscle. My legs are really getting toned! :D Not crazy toned, but when I flex my thigh, I can see very discernable quads and my calves are really well defined! :D So... I guess I'm just trying to stay healthy, but I'm nervous that I'm giving myself excuses for what is truly weight gain. My body fat percentage is around 19.5ish these days, on the "normal" rather than "athletic" setting. Yay? I'll be happier when its closer to 18 :D

On another note, I'm finally getting my last reward tomorrow :D /nudges Lea - so hopefully that'll help me want to stay in good shape!

Wooo you're going to love it! It doesnt hurt too badly - just a pinch. Just make sure you keep up after it with the cleaner. People tell me all the time how great it looks! So enjoy!

 

p.s. I was a lot better last night. I ate a full dinner (salad with tofu and a hard boiled egg) I still only had about 1300 cals of real food and I could eat up to about 2400 and still be under maintenance (had a REALLY great work out). I had 2 shots of rum and 1 vodka and cranberry. I did a MUCH better job pouring my alcohol, spacing out my drinks, and drinking water between them. Needless to say, I was still pretty damn drunk. But healthwise...I did a lot better.

Lol, thanks :D I think I'll really like it too! By super strange coincidence, my grandma owns sort offf.... a headshop. Weird, I know... but luckily for me, they sell lots of jewelry :) So I went in and got a plain barbell to start out with and a pretty one that I thought just had a neat silver and gold metallic design in it... turns out it lights up XD haha. I'll totally have to try that out on halloween (I know it can't be changed for like 6wks) Anyway :P  I'm nervous but really excited. This is silly, but I've like... pinched myself as hard as I can there and it really doesn't hurt... so I'm optimistic :D I'm going to take super good care of it :) I want it pretty and presentable by halloween. I'm a bit nervous about walking around campus with it Monday, but here's hoping its not too bad, or I'll just have to leave early and catch the bus! :P

*EDIT*

Oh! And randomly... I was thinking of this for a halloween costume (provided I'm still in good shape): http://www.spirithalloween.com/index.cfm/fuse action/products.detail/_p/a/productID/3402a38 0-34a7-421c-8931-43d7fdcb2d0b/product/

(You'll have to remove the spaces) Lol, never would have done that before! But the boyfriend really wants to be Where's Waldo and Carmen Sandiego, so IDK which'll happen :P

Heather that costume's really cute!! :)

Lea, see?  You CAN get drunk without getting ridiculously sick!  Hehe :).  Seriously, I'm glad you had a good time though.  I'm also glad that you learned that lesson this quickly too...you're doing better than me last year! 

Now time for some back to school shopping and a movie with the girls, whoo! :)

Thanks, Carrie!!!

And guess what??? I did it! And it didn't hurt at all :) I'm so excited! I love it, and weirdly, I think that it looks a lot better with it. Maybe it just seems more toned to me now, lol. Anyway, if you want to see, just send me a message on here or give me your email and I'll show you! :)

 

Ooh I wanna see!!  You can email me at carrie317@u.northwestern.edu if you want :).

Sent :)

Awww that's so cuuuuute!!! :)

Thanks Carrie!! :D

Sugar - I'd give yourself until Wednesday, or even Thursday. Try to fit in a workout or two before then, and maybe the scale won't be too shocking. Definitely don't do it now - seeing that water weight show up is only going to make you feel defeated. Give your body some time to burn it off, and in the mean time, stick to as healthy a diet as you can. No worries :) 

Hey guys - I ran into some account troubles so this is Matt on my new account!

 

I'm back now, though! Different goals in mind - I don't really care about weight anymore. I just want to look better - more muscular/toned/ripped/etc. I'm going to be sticking to around 2000 cals per day but I'm going to stepping up the exercise, mainly!

 

Current measurements!

WAIST

36

ARM

14

CHEST

39

Matt

hey guys!! everythings been going good here. i've been able to exercise almost everyday, took my rest yesterday. my weights been stable but the past couple of days i've been drinking a lot. so im gonna cut down on that, because i think im only getting like 1000 worth of food calories, similar to lea, and then drinking. its hasn't been too bad. i know my limits. but i still don't think im eating enought but my roomates arent health conscious like me and i feel weird eating all the time. they already are like omg you work out all the time. so i guess im just gonna have to ignore it!

I must figure out how to break up my usual 3 meals a day into 5 or 6. But I can't go to the cafeteria that many times a day because I'll use up my meal plan. We get a "plate" and 4 sides. Usually I get a plate of vegetables/salad, a fruit, and a beverage. That's using 2 sides. What should I pick up for the other two sides that I can eat at other times without feeing really monotonous? There's the usual fruit, extra veggies, yogurt, milk... what other ideas do you guys have? I feel like I need more protein considering my campus is all hills and I've been walking about an hour everyday so far.

There's no scale anywhere to be found so far.. and I'm not wasting money on one. Hmmm...

Otherwise everything is going great with me.

Hey Matt, welcome back!! :)

Megan, your roommates think you're weird for eating healthy and exercising?  Sounds like they're the weird ones...

Lizzy, the only things that I would take out of the dining hall last year were fruit, cereal, or drinks.  Maybe you could get a salad and somehow wrap it up for later?  I'm afraid I'm not full of brilliant ideas, sorry :/.  I don't know what your financial situation is, but if I were you I'd probably just eat a little less in the dining hall, and then buy some snacks and stuff to keep in your room.

WEIGH IN:

145.6, down from 146.8 last week - that's a loss of 1.2 pounds!  So I guess my pattern of going up two weeks before dropping has been broken.  And I'm even supposed to start TTOM soon, so I expected to have maintained or even gone up a little.  I figure the loss is probably because I was doing pretty bad diet wise last week, so my metabolism probably got a little shock, and then for the last three or four days I've been consistently under my goal.  

Goal for next week: 145.0.  I really want to hit 145 before I move in next Friday!! 

Way to go, Carrie!!! :D

WEIGH IN:

124.5lbs

Weight Goal for next week: Maintain between 120-125

Work-Out Goal for next week: Walk at least 1mile/day with backpack on campus + swim, rock climb, or run 3x! :)

Up 0.5bs from 124.0lbs last Wednesday

Work-Outs since last Wednesday: 1x doing 45-40-15 + Walking at least 1mi per day 5x week w/ 30lb backpack

Still within my range. This week, I've been hopping on the bus and trying to walk less because I don't want to irritate my belly button. I think next week, I'm going to try and be bus free :D I've been eating 1450ish per day, tryyyying to keep it to 1400. I'm going to try and be really good today and tomorrow because I know that I might be out and about this weekend. I feel like I'm fixing my metabolism at least. Having 1400cal seems pretty decent for maintenance at my size.

 

Heather, even though I'm only an inch taller than you, I know now that I could never be as small as you because I could never maintain on 1400 cal, lol!  I would starve!! :)  Right now I'm trying to stay under 1500, but that's to lose weight.  I was doing really good too, and I was under my goal of 1500 five days in a row, but then these past two days I've been a little over.  Not too horrible though.  That's okay because as long as I lose a half a pound or so in the next week, I'll be happy.

lol, I guess its just how I'm built? I think I'm small-medium framed. Probably a bit closer to medium... when I started, my fingers just touched on my wrists. Now they overlap a teeeeny bit. I'm sure if I really counted everything for its FULL value, I'm eating closer to 1500... but this seems to help me maintain :) I'm sure that if I went back to 1200 for a week, I'd end up back around 124 or 123.5... But i'm fine where I am and I like being able to eat a bit more :D Maybe if it were before a formal or something, but for now... naaaaaaaah...

400th post :P woo hoo! :D

Yeah, I'm definitely medium framed...although I've never been more than 10 pounds overweight, I could never see myself being as small as some of my friends.  I think I'd just look weird.  Plus, I'd probably have to eat 1200 calories and exercise for like two hours every day, lol.  I like the size that I am...I still have a small waist, and I get many compliments on my butt, lol :).  I would be very sad if I ever lost it :P.

Wow 400 posts...craaazy stuff.  I'm so glad we've kept this group going and even got some new members!! :D

 

I know what you mean Carrie, I think of myself as small framed but at 115 and 4'11" I could certainly use to lose a few I just don't see it ever happening, it's like, I was made to have a butt and a tummy - but I definitely get compliments on my body so it's just the way I'm supposed to be.

btw I made an appointment to get my body fat tested by the gym on tuesday - wish me luck!