A spoonful of sugar makes the waistline expand

I’m not a dieter. I don’t like exercising.

And I’m extremely lucky because despite my aversion to maintaining a spectacularly healthy lifestyle, I don’t gain weight that easily.

Plus, even if I do gain weight, I tend not to show it.

Unless, of course, all my friends are lying and I’m blind. In that case, I’m screwed.

But maintaining that everyone is relatively honest with me, I’m fortunate to say that coming to college two and a half years ago has done little to my figure.

Sure, I’ve put on a few pounds. But it’s hardly unbecoming.

We’ve all clicked through photos of our old high school classmates and marveled at the ones who ballooned in size.

It just goes to show that our bodies all react differently when faced with the college lifestyle.

Now, full disclosure. I weigh around 170 lbs.

I don’t keep a scale in my apartment, but holiday season eating habits have made my jeans a little tighter.

And although I’d love to see a six in that number instead of a seven, I’m still happy with my body.

For my height, weight, age and degree of activeness, my healthy weight range is 136 to 178 lbs.

But with the New Year, I thought, well, may as well do more to keep myself healthy.

I attempted running for the first time in months and ended up inflaming the muscle that attaches your heel to your toes.

I took it as a sign.

Maybe I’ll work back up to running once this awful weather passes.

With running out the window, I pondered a new route to a healthier lifestyle, which made me realize what my real addiction is.

Sugar.

I typically drink around two to three cups of hot tea a day and normally an iced tea or two in between.

I usually put around three tablespoons of sugar in each one.

A tablespoon of sugar contains 45 calories.

Once I did the math and found that I consume somewhere between 400-500 calories a day, just in sugar.

That’s nearly one fourth of what someone with my body should eat just to maintain my weight.

The issue is that sugar is an empty calorie.

According to a New York Times article published in 2011, “Refined sugar ... (doesn’t) come with any protein, vitamins, minerals, antioxidants or fiber, and so they either displace other more nutritious elements of our diet or are eaten over and above what we need to sustain our weight, and this is why we get fatter.”

Our bodies simply don’t break down sugar well and it stays in our cells, making us fat.

Since the start of the new year, I haven’t put a single grain of sugar in my tea.

It’s a struggle everyday and I’m still getting used to it.

But it’s bizarre how such a small change has made me feel better.

My sleeping pattern, once as bad as the typical college student’s, is beginning to become somewhat normal.

I feel skinnier and less sluggish, and even my skinny jeans are becoming less of a hassle to get on.

As a college student, it isn’t easy to diet.

Most of us don’t have the time or monetary resources to buy the healthiest food and prepare it.

So consider a small, easy change.

Don’t add that sugar packet to your coffee.

Take an extra helping of fruits or veggies instead of the excess carbs.

It’s the small changes that will pay off in the end.

­— wdmcdona@indiana.edu