Freshman 15

Freshman 15

For me, gaining 15 pounds would have been a dream come true. Instead, I gained a nightmarish 50 pounds, despite working out and trying to eat healthy and walking everywhere. The food options in the dining halls were “unbelievably” narrow. There was a lot of fried foods, greasy meats and sweet desserts. The salad bar was an extremely poor excuse for a healthy alternative with wilted lettuce, soggy vegetables and high fat salad dressing. The salad bar was literally the only healthy option in any of the three dining halls.

Working out was a joke. The gym was always crowded, unless I got up at the crack of dawn to go to the gym, but that was never going to happen with my 8am classes. When I made it to the gym, I could only work out for short periods of time before I had to move on from the equipment to allow someone else to use it.  I also hated the gym because I felt so judged.  I felt as if everyone was watching me or mentally thinking that I was doing it wrong. I didn’t want to ask the staff for help because they were mostly students as well so how was I sure they would know either?

I walked everywhere. I didn’t use a bike or a skateboard. My classes were all over the campus, which was built into the mountains. My dorm was on top of a hill so every time I had time between classes, I would wait on campus until my next class instead of being late because I walked home.

So of course, I would gain weight and a lot of it. And I steadily gained weight over my 4 years of college with not much I could do about it. When I moved out of the dorm, I had an apartment but I had to shop cheap, so buying a lot of fresh food was not an option.

I was really down about my weight gain for a long time. I looked back at my high school pictures where I had run track and played basketball, weighing in at 135 pounds steady. I kept telling myself I would never lose the weight again and I will never look like I did when I was 18.

But at 22 years old, I am starting to come around to having more confidence in myself. I’m starting to lose my weight, very slowly, but it’s happening. I have accepted that I won’t look how I did when I was 18 because I’m not built like that anymore. I’m no longer a multisport athlete and that’s OK! I’m working on myself in so many ways that the weight concept is just a part and not the entire focus anymore.

So that’s my advice. If you are trying to lose weight, don’t let it be the sole focus. Have other goals that aren’t weight oriented.