When I first arrived in Bloomington in August 2005, I was fresh off soccer season and 18 years of balanced meals. In my svelte, toned mind, I was invincible. My metabolism chuckled at the threat of weight gain. I’d managed to glide through the first semester of my freshman year without any substantial weight gain, despite the late night pizza and junk food galore. I thought I had won. The myth, the legend, the tall tale that is the Freshman 15 had not struck me ... yet.
It wasn’t until the middle of my second semester when I realized how naive I had been. When my favorite jeans stopped fitting me one day, I wrote it off as a fluke and treated myself to some bread sticks. When I returned home for summer, the look my mom gave me said it all: I had succumbed.
So how did this happen?
1) Two words: meal points. Even the smallest meal plan gives you 2,800 of those little suckers, and all I can say is spend them wisely. Resist the urge to frequent the C-Store every day for a pick-me-up in the form of king-size M&Ms or an entire box of Donettes. When my parents turned me loose, the first thing I indulged in was a case of soda, a forbidden drink in my youth. One can only imagine the rest of the rebellion that occurred in the dining halls: popcorn chicken for breakfast, 700-calorie white-chocolate mochas for lunch and ice cream for dinner. “Fresh fruit” and “salad bar” were foreign phrases to me. The healthy options are out there, so try to make some room for them next to your deep-fried everything.
2) Weekends do a number on your body. By the end of the week, dorm food starts tasting pretty terrible, so eating out becomes something to look forward to. Additionally, alcohol has a ton of calories in it and impairs the little part of your brain that normally tells you ordering pizza at 3 a.m. is a bad idea. Unfortunately, there are a host of delivery places that capitalize on this concept. For $10, you can get a pizza, bread sticks, dipping sauces and two cups of soda until dawn. Too picky for pizza? Well, you can also get sandwiches, breakfast, cookies and ice cream delivered right to your door. It always seems like an excellent idea at the time, but after a few months of these late-night binges, you’ll start to notice three inches delivered straight to your gut.
3) Napping is not exercise. If I had worked out a quarter of the time that I spent napping between and after classes, I wouldn’t have gained as much weight. It’s easy to be almost completely immobile freshman year. The Campus Bus system makes the rounds from all the dorms to the largest academic hubs, so the only exercise you have to do is run to catch it. Three years later, I wish I had just walked the 20 minutes to Swain West from Northwest neighborhood; that way I could have at least burned off some of the Hot Pockets I inhaled between classes. If you do make it to the gym, try not to go between the hours of 5 and 8 p.m. when it is the most crowded. If you’re into team sports, grab a couple of people from your floor and sign up for intramural anything – basketball, soccer, kickball, ultimate Frisbee. As long as you’re moving around, your odds of beating the Freshman 15 increase.
I’m still recovering from the consequences of all that food, reckless weekend activity and lack of exercise from my freshman days. Three years, two personal trainers and countless Pizza Express deliveries later, I’m still working on getting my weight down. So take it from me: It’s easier to fight the Freshman 15 during your freshman year, before it becomes the Sophomore 20 and the Junior 30. Spend your meal points on bottled water and your nap time at the gym. And whatever you do, just remember that you are stronger than pizza.
