Fun with Fitness - Beware the Freshman 15!
For those of you who don't know, the “freshman 15” is the popular term people use for those college students who gain a bunch of weight. This weight gain is usually due to obvious reasons such as eating poorly, drinking, and lack of exercise. Man! I remember it like it was yesterday. I had just graduated while I continued drinking, eating Reeses Pieces for dinner, laying on my couch all day, still living the college dream. Then all of a sudden my girlfriend of the time told me straight up that I was fat and my mom was talking behind my back to my aunt saying how I was getting nice and plump. All mothers tell their sons they are handsome no matter how grotesque they are. I wasn't getting that special treatment anymore from her so I knew I was doing just awesome with my new physique. I had to dress in some serious baggy gangster gear to fit my new body type. I had let myself completely go for the first time ever and I knew it was time to turn things around.
It's all about balance, and that's the bottom line. Let me give you an example to help illustrate what I mean. When I gained my freshman 15, (sadly it was 20 as I discussed earlier) My main problems consisted of eating a lot of chocolate, eating late at night before bed, drinking pop, not exercising, and eating after the bar. When I turned it around and lost the weight, I avoided all of these as best I could and added 3 hours of exercise a week to my schedule. Eventually I started drinking a bit more and having more fun as we all naturally do, but I maintained all these good habits that helped me improve in the first place. I had finally found my BALANCE. Recently I have lost the balance to the force and have put on some early winter weight. Thankfully I'm lucky enough to have really good friends who tell me I'm getting fat so I'm aware its time to step it up again.
Find your balance and you'll be laughing all the way to the bank.