Everyone has heard of the freshmen 15 right?!? If you haven’t, let me sum it up for you. The freshmen 15 is a “myth” that freshmen in college will gain 15 pounds or just gain weight in general. While yes, myself and many others have put on weight their freshmen year of college I’m still not positive if the freshmen 15 is inevitable. Let’s dive in deeper to my personal experience with the freshmen 15. (pic at the bottom)

My weight gain was for sure a choice. By this I mean that I was choosing to eat those foods that were doing my body no good. I was the one eating the 800+ calorie sandwich from Rising Roll with chips and a soda. I was the one eating both a sushi roll and an order of cheesesticks for lunch. & let’s not forget the cookout trays… hot dogs and chicken nuggets. You get to college and there is so much freedom. Here you are with no one to care about what you are eating and you have endless options. All different types of cuisines are represented on campus and it is hard to resist them. The worst would be the long study nights. I seriously ate ALL NIGHT LONG.

All of a sudden I was at my heaviest weight ever and I remember the light bulb going off. I realized I had gained the freshmen 15(or like 30 for me.) I felt so uncomfortable in my body and I knew that  I had to make a change. I began eating smaller portions and drinking protein shakes. Protein shakes were seriously my life saver. I began “thriving” literally and the progress started happening. I would take my pill, put on a patch, and I would have a shake for breakfast and I wouldn’t be hungry for lunch until later in the day. They totally helped me flip my health around! But protein shakes aren’t the only thing that can help ya out. Just simply eat better foods. You can have treats every now and then but you don’t need chicken nuggets and fries for every meal. Eat some fruits. If you replace desserts with sweet fruits you can still get that sweet fix in. Lean meats are gonna be your bestie as well. Say hello to grilled chicken!! Don’t get me wrong, I still have ice cream, popcorn, and other yummy treats but I mainly eat good foods and I also work out.

Freshman year I was little to not active at all. I started going to the gym around Christmas time but I honestly had no idea what I was doing. It was better than nothing for sure but it wasn’t doing enough. I didn’t enjoy getting on the elliptical and definitely didn’t plan on running anytime soon. I was then introduced to cycling and class styled workouts. I found something that really worked for me. Something that I enjoyed going to and looked forward to it. There are all sorts of places to go but of course but I found myself feeling at home at Cycle You. There are all sorts of classes at different times which makes it so convenient. You just have to figure out what works for you!

The freshman 15 is definitely avoidable. I could have resisted all of the tempting food but I didn’t. I could have started working out right from the beginning but I didn’t. But hey, YOLO! I for sure learned from the situation and I am proud of how I did. I can’t go back and change but I for sure can keep it from happening again… no sophomore 15 for this girl! xoxo, Dash of Pink and Sass