• Lowered grades
• Lower motivation to Study
• Increased Laziness
• Dependence on Alcohol for Socializing
• Poor Decision
• Health Problems
• Alcohol Intoxication
• Weight Gain

While I’m sure you’re already familiar with these risks of college drinking, you may not have realized how negatively alcohol consumption affects your health and “physique”.

College Drinking and Your Weight

The more alcohol you drink and the more often, the more likely you’ll start gaining weight. Alcoholic beverages tend to have a decent amount of calories in them. Beers usually have at least a hundred calories per drink! Having five drinks is the same as eating a big mac. While drinking once a week may not affect your weight, any more than that can lead to fat gain and other health issues.

When I was back in college I used to drink every thursday-saturday. It became a habit of mine and although I didn’t gain weight or have any immediate health problems at the time, it soon came. One day after a hard “partying” session the next week my stomach began to hurt. It then continued hurting more and more until I finally started spitting out blood. I ended up having a stomach ulcer from the excessive alcoholic consumption. I ended up having to follow a very boring and limited diet for two months to get rid of the problem. After that I finished college never to binge drink again.

College Drinking and Social Skills

Many college students drink for the social ease it gives them. People that are drunk tend to be more social and fun around others at parties, social gatherings, etc. There are negative aspects to this as well, though. Drinking for social skills makes you eventually become dependent on the substance to have a good time. What ended up as a “social lubricant” (no pun intended) can easily become an addiction.

I recommend instead of doing this, learning basic social skills. There are many resources that provide this such as Social Dynamix.

College Drinking and Your Sanity

There is a good argument for college drinking that basically uses the defense that college is stressful and drinking provides relief. While I am no major proponent of “don’t drink in college” and do agree that it does ease stress, there are many other venues of stress relief.

One such idea is to start exercising or doing yoga. Most colleges have clubs or groups that do this on a regular basis. You can even make friends or meet someone “special”!

College Drinking and Greek Life

If you’re in a fraternity or sorority then college drinking is one of those things that is…well…expected. Some greek organizations drink excessively and others focus more on academics. There will always be individuals in these systems that are both excessive alcoholics and those that have been sober their whole lives.

Because of the high focus on drinking in these greek organizations, I recommend against joining one unless it is a more “academic” group. The excessive drinking can lead to many health problems and weight gain.

Overall, drinking in college is something I don’t recommend especially in excess such as binge drinking. If you’re going to drink, moderate yourself and make sure not to drink too much, too fast. A couple drinks won’t kill you or make you fat. It’s when you start drinking often and heavily that health issues start taking effect.

Chris Herrin is the creator of the College Lifestyle Diet, a diet for college students.

Going to college can mean a very unhealthy lifestyle. College student diets consist of many unhealthy foods such as junk food, energy drinks filled with nothing but sugar, overly processed foods made to last for twenty years, and foods packed in grease and oil. Still, however, college students eat this food because of many reasons from a lack of time, not having parents to cook for them, and the need for a quick boost of energy to get their work done.

Not only is the college students diet awful but their lifestyle can be extremely unhealthy as well. Drinking lots of alcohol filled with empty calories, smoking with friends, and staying up all night to study for tests every single week.

Here are three keys on how to lose weight in college. If you follow these you will be much healthier than many of your peers.

Success Tip 1 – Limit the amount of sugar you eat

Sugar is filled with very simple carbohydrates which will give you a quick burst of energy. After that energy burst ,however, your energy levels will fall and this they will do very drastically. It raises blood sugar levels and then causes them to crash. Although sugar is a major favorite of college students wanting that boost of energy, it will always make you feel worse.

Success Tip 2 – Eat More Veggies

Remember how your parents always told you to eat your vegetables? If you don’t then you’re probably eating extremely unhealthy! Going to college can make it very difficult to go out and buy fruits and veggies at the grocery store. They are also very expensive and can put a major hole in your wallet.

If you have a cafeteria at your college and have meal plans or something similar be sure to get at least one serving of fruits a day.

Implementing the tips on how to lose weight in college is all about making more “healthy” decisions and vegetables are one of them. Sure, they may not taste that good compared with other more fattening foods. However, over time you may actually enjoy the taste of healthy foods more.

Success Tip 3 – Order Healthy When Going Out

In college, you are able to go out with friends whenever you wish. For most people, going out places means going to eat somewhere. When you go on a date most likely you are going to go to a place that has food. It is what our society is built around. The average person eats half of their food every year from dining places and restaurants.

When you go to these outings to eat be sure to order what is the healthiest. You don’t always have to order salads. You can order chicken wraps if they have them. Avoid the extremely greasy foods and especially fries.

During college, it is not that hard to learn how to lose weight in college. It will take some change in your diet but after a few weeks you’ll be used to it and can be feeling much better than if you were basing your energy levels on the newest energy drinks. Follow these three simple success tips and avoid some weight as well!

Chris Herrin has a great college student diets program specifically for the college student that gives an easy to follow diet and how to avoid the freshman 15.

It’s expected that when one enters college they will have to sacrifice some amenities that living back home offered such as:

• Home cooked meals with natural healthy ingredients
• A consistent time to go to sleep
• Never having to worry about paying for your own food, you got your parents!
• Easy transportation from your family

When left out in the real world and having to save extra money for books, paper, pens, and gas…little money is left for buying food. As a result, most college students opt for the cheaper alternative and sacrifice staying healthy in college.

Is there another way?

Fortunately you can still eat healthy with low money. The key is to purchase natural and healthy foods over the unhealthy alternatives. There are many junk food items out there in the stores. In fact, most foods in grocery stores are junk foods. Opt for more natural and unprocessed foods as a way to staying healthy in college.

The Cafeteria

I’d have to say that the biggest reason I started struggling with health and staying in shape during college was the fact that I had a meal plan. Eating at the cafeteria is very convenient as they have a wide variety of food choices. You’re also very close to other friends and can meet new people, socialize, etc there.

The problem I had with eating at a cafeteria and staying healthy in college was the wide amount of junk foods they had there. Yes, they had a healthy foods section but the size of that section was radically smaller than the other foods. In general, they catered to eating “average” foods such as hamburgers, hot dogs, fried chicken, etc. These types of meals, although better prepared than fast food restaurants, still are very high in calories. Eating this type of food on a daily basis is almost a guaranteed way to start adding weight.

I recommend that if you have a meal plan to start avoiding these main entrees and being more creative. Most of these cafeterias have other less glamorous options such as cereal, sandwiches you can make yourself, tuna, fruits, vegetables, and a salad bar. Go for these options instead and avoid those large meal options that were just mentioned.

Staying Healthy in College is hard but if you are armed with the right knowledge then it will be much easier to make wise decisions for your health.

Although this is just the first post, and if you’re reading this and there are no other posts, don’t be distressed! I plan on writing many more articles on weight loss, health, nutrition, college living advice, and basically anything and everything that has to do with living the college lifestyle!

I plan to focus heavily on social influences and how they affect our food choices and the way we eat. This seems to be one of the biggest reasons college students end up gaining weight. They can’t say no to invitations to go get food at the popular local food shop!

I’m also going to provide guest articles and videos that I find online that I feel would provide value to this site!

So, be sure to stay tuned for more updates on this blog!

Chris H, the College Lifestyle Diet “operator”.

Staying in shape and avoiding weight loss in college is…difficult…to say the least.

With the constant bombardment of homework, tests, midterms, and the constant “social” vibe that college campuses have, no wonder so many new college students end up gaining extra pounds after their first year away from home.

Learning how to eat right while still trying to manage a full course load is tough. Add the additional social pressures of eating out with friends, having the occasional “drink”, and making late night runs to the nearest fast food joint and 15 pounds of weight gain actually doesn’t sound too unbelievable!

the College Lifestyle Diet is the Answer…

For most college students trying to stay in shape, a usual Diet or Fitness program is usually the weapon of choice. Unfortunately, there are two major problems with both of these

1. Diets are hard. Add all the stresses listed above for college students and you’ve got a very difficult task
2. Exercising can only do so much to correct constant junk food consumption. Eventually, the junk food will win the war.
3. College Students are Poor! Paying for expensive healthy foods, gym memberships, etc make college living quite expensive.

That’s why I wrote the College Lifestyle Diet - a solution to college students trying to get or stay in shape but without all the time and commitment, or money!