The Freshman 15

In my experience, this term is as just as much a part of the freshman year experience as the harder coursework and bad roommate.

I started hearing 'freshman 15' talked about in high school when my friends would ask if we had seen Angelina's* latest post on Instagram [usually we all had]. Someone in the group would then say something along the lines of 'she really did gain that 15 didn't she?' or 'boy did she get thick'. This stuck with me more than I realized. In fact, it became a fear. I made it one of my main missions for freshman year to do the opposite. Without ever thinking it consciously, I wanted people to say something like 'wow Lydia looks so good, she definitely didn’t gain the 15’.

So, with the help of the other disordered things I had already picked up along the way, the desire of keeping off the weight had the correct tools to make itself a reality.

As most of us know, each freshman is required to be on a university meal plan, and oftentimes the unlimited plan. Honestly, I loved that. I was, and still am, a super frugal person- so not having to worry about how many swipes I used in a day was awesome. Unfortunately, because of the fear already instilled, no one would have known I had the unlimited plan. Don't get me wrong- I ate for sure. I was never one of the anorexics that stopped eating for days. With that said, I am a rule follower so whether someone else created the rules or I did, I follow them.

You may ask 'okay so what do you mean by rules?' Glad you asked. These were the self-created rules I put myself through each day of fall semester of freshman year unlimited meal plan:

• No food before I'd done a bike ride to a walk that was at least 1 1/2 hours long (I had no car so I got everywhere by bike)

• Even if I got the bike ride and walk done in the morning, I had a rule of no food until at least after 1 pm (just had to make it to the dining hall before it closed lunch at 2 )

• I made myself a vegetarian so no meat

• I did not eat cheese or drink anything besides almond milk because of the fat content… was basically vegan without ever calling myself that

• Lunch was small (I had the same thing almost every day): raw tofu, peas, mushrooms, water chestnuts, carrots, and broccoli topped with either sweet chili or ginger garlic sauce and then I would choose two other vegetable sides to go with it- typically sauteed green beans and roasted broccoli

• I had a no carb rule unless it was a snack item like goldfish or dessert in which case I would get the peanut butter and chocolate chip cookies (this was my weak point and fueled the continuous cycle; I'll get more into this in a future topical post)

• Take a 3-4 mile walk ("on the way" to get dinner)

• No one food item I got from the dining hall could ever have more than 200 calories per serving

• My big meal was dinner and I would get a cup of fruit to go along with my cookies for dessert

Can you find any parallels between the things I mentioned from my last post in this list?

I'm not sure what you're thinking at this point, but whatever it is, let me stop you there and say that spring semester got worse. All the same food rules applied, but the exericse standards were heightened.

I had switched campuses from Tampa to St. Petersburg, Florida, so I was now closer to the beach- which was super exciting as a water-lover!

It became something that I had to do each day. I biked to the beach (around 10 miles each way). But, I never actually spent any time on the beach. It just became a reason to bike the 20 mile distance. I followed the same formula- bike ride to walk. So there I was, riding to Treasure Island or Madeira beach, and then walking. The sand slowed me down too much, though, so I’d walk 5 minutes on the sand and the other hour and 25 minutes one street over from the beach.

One of the approximately 100 days I was at Treasure Island without fail

These rituals/rules or "routines", as I called them at the time, drove my entire freshman year of college in Florida. And having this kind of regimen did not leave much time for friends. No wonder I went back to New York to finish college after that year.

Sadly, for anyone reading who has also learned the hard way, you know that changing location did not mean that my problems went away. My mind and body moved back to NY with me believe it or not!

Hey, I had success though! Upon returning to NY, I had not only avoided gaining the freshman 15, but lost close to 20.

~Another day, another slay~

Lydia

*made-up name for privacy