How To Avoid The Freshman 15 at the University of Missouri

Let’s be honest here fellow Tigers, freshman year is hard and scary. Especially the first couple of months, when you feel lost two-thirds of the time and you literally are lost the other one-third of the time. You are trying to make new friends, taking college level classes, adjusting to a new location, feeling homesick, getting used to the newfound freedom and what not. Now on top of all that, stressing about gaining 15 pounds? No, you don’t need that in your life, you just don’t. So keep reading for six ways as to how to avoid the freshman 15 – Mizzou style. Don’t worry, you can still get the late night Domino’s every now and then, though.

1. Drink water instead of juice or soda and make sure you eat a little bit of each essential food group with each meal.

Eat healthy. This is probably the most obvious one you would expect from this list. Believe it or not, it’s not that hard to do. Whether you dine at the all-you-can eat Rollins, or use meal swipes at Sabai, make sure you get the proper proportions of all the essential food groups (carbs, proteins, vitamins, fiber) in each meal.

Seriously, college is the only time you will have the privilege of eating well cooked healthy meals without putting any effort, so make it count. In case of drinking, instead of soda or juice that has high amounts of sugar, get water. This will also keep you hydrated throughout the day and you will wake up with a fresh face every morning.

Of course, the occasional indulgence is allowed. So feel free to grab that chocolate chip cookie from Plaza!

2. (As much as you can) Reduce your alcohol intake and watch what you’re mixing drinks with.

Be smart about drinking. We Mizzou folks love to drink, but let’s be wise about it. Decrease the frequency and the volume. Don’t pregame; Greek Town is pretty impressive when it comes to carrying alcohol, so just drink at the parties.

Mix it with juice rather than soda. Yes, going to Roxy’s on Thursday nights with a fake is very tempting, but avoiding that helps you avoid the sugary cocktails. A classic 8.5 oz. margarita has about 740 calories, whereas a cheeseburger from McDonald’s has 300 calories. You do the math.

3. Choose three days out of the week where it fits into your schedule to visit the gym and make yourself go.

Hit the gym. Come on guys, when else in your life do you think you will have an opportunity to use a gym for free? Never. Plus, have you seen the MizzouRec? It is A-M-A-Z-I-N-G. You don’t even have to go everyday but try to hit it for an hour or so at least 3 days a week.

No, you don’t have to follow those people who wake up at 5 in the morning to work out and then go to classes and attend club meetings and also get 8 hours of sleep AND have a social life. No, they are superheroes. You don’t have to be a superhero. So just go when it fits your schedule and mood, be it 8 am or 8 pm.

4. Hate going to the gym? Then make sure you exercise in another way during this time you blocked off.

….Or do anything else athletic! You don’t have to exercise at the gym to stay fit. You can literally do anything else. That is what college is all about, finding out what you love and going for it. You can join the running team, or the swim club (don’t even get me started on our Aquatic center with the 50m pool and the hot tub) or the dance club.

Do what you know you will enjoy and exercise won’t be so dreadful anymore.

See Also

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Pro tip: to get a little more exercise on the side every day: ditch the car and walk or bike to class instead.

5. Make sure you eat breakfast, it jump-starts your metabolism for the rest of the day.

Get breakfast. Not only it energizes you for the long day ahead, it also gets your metabolism going. That way a) you don’t have to get a huge lunch to stop yourself from starving, b) your body burns the calories faster instead of holding them in since you are not depriving yourself of the required energy in the morning, and c) you don’t feel like death walking from Hatch Hall to Engineering Building West for your 8am on Friday. Win, win, win!

6. Set aside health(ier) midnight snacks for yourself before you go out.

Be careful about those midnight snacks. All right I will admit, we all do it. We do it when we are pulling an all-nighter, we do it when we are just staying in with friends, we do it when we are back from those parties late night and are starving. Those snacks are the best!

So I am not going to ask you to stop, but I will ask you to do it less often. An easy way to do this would be to go to bed early and getting breakfast in the morning rather than pulling an all-nighter and making the midnight snacks your third meal of the day. Also try not going crazy while shopping at the Mizzou Market!

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Featured image source: familyshare.com, kcur.org