First I will give some background details. My training has sucked to put it lightly, and i have put on 13 lbs. Right now I am at 5’11’’ 168lbs. Yesterday was the last straw. I was over 2 minutes per mile off my 7mi pace, which needless to say hurt my place. I know among other things I need to improve my training, but i need to change my diet as well, because I don’t want to put on the freshman 15.
Any thoughts on how to eat healthy in college. Sorry for the long post.
bob
…Bob… the freshmen 15 is usually a female concept (hang-up?)… however, I can see your point about feeling like gaining weight may be slowing you down. But, don’t fret. The fact of the matter is that your body is about to go through some changes that are simply a by-product of getting older.
Proper diet with proper activity is a good combination (with a concentration on activity). Diets are very individualist. That is why most popular diets don’t work well in the long run (outside the fact they emphasize instant gradification). Putting on 15 lbs. won’t necessarily be all bad… it can be muscle instead of fat. You seem to have a negative outlook on bodyweight gain. If all body weight gain was bad then bodybuilders would be in for a big surprise.
My suggestion is simple, maintain or increase your activity level. You might re-evaluate your training schedule. Start concentrating on Long Slow Distances. Or better yet, train for an IM (if your not already). Distance training does one basic thing… it burns a lot of calories for a long period of time. Shorter training session based on speed (such as 7 min mile) is less successful in burning as much calories. Re-evaluate your base building phase of training. Expand your aerobic base through slow long runs, bike, swims. This will go a long way to developing your speed and maintaining your natural body weight.
As you probably noticed, I have concentrated more on training changes rather than diet changes. The reason is because training will have more of a long term effect on your body weight than changing your diet. The diet should become a by-product of your activity. Diet will not determine your goal… however, training will. Allow your activity to dictate your diet - not the other way around.
FWIW Joe Moya
Dude, you are about to embark on a most righteously cool journey. Erudite learning in the classrooms, nubile and willing young women all over the campus (and in your dorm room), and all the Ben and Jerry’s you can scoop up at the cafeteria. OK, the Ben and Jerry’s was my college, but you get the idea. College is a precious gift to young minds and bodies. Make some choices, find new things to try and learn, and maybe even find a path to pursue after you’re outta that unreality in four years, but don’t obsess about your weight when you’re 5’11" and 168 lbs. You ain’t fat.
If you’re already into triathlon why not try to run on the cross-country team in the fall, swim with the swimmers in the winter, and run track or crank with a cycling team in the spring, all the while maintaining fitness in the “off-season” sports? If I could go back in time to my college as a freshman in 1989 I’d run cross-country with all the x-country skiers at my school and get my butt kicked by the swimmers in the winter. Then I’d start a cycling club since our school didn’t have one.
Have fun! Four years in the “real world” can be a boring blur. Four years of college can be the most exciting and precious time of your young life.
To reiterate a point from earlier, don’t kill yourself trying to keep your weight down (unless specifically required by your sport). It’s something in the neighborhood of 85-90% of guys that are not done growing in college. I put on about two inches and twenty pounds in those four years, while I stayed in shape the whole time.
As far as eating goes, don’t take everything in the cafeteria just because it’s there. You can be choosy about what you put inside you. For instance, I used to have a mondo bowl of granola in the morning and 3-4 glasses of juice for breakfast, a big salad and a big deli sandwich for lunch, and then I’d kind of splurge for supper before going on to my next activity. One key: avoid processed foods. The more you have to wonder what’s in the food, the less you really want to eat it.
For college, do everything you possibly can! Unless you’re in a class with a lot of group time, you’ll build faster, longer-term relationships in extracurriculars of any kind. You can always take part in extra-curriculars, even along with sports, just don’t plan on starting your homework before 9 or 10 some days…and power-naps are a good thing! Three sports are hard unless it’s a smaller college. I was a three-sport athlete in a small NCAA DIII school and, while you for sure stay in incredible shape, the seasons overlap, which can irritate coaches and limits the amount of rest time you get, which is an important thing. If you do cross country, swimming, and track, you’ll miss the first part of swimming for post-season CC meets and you’ll be swimming during the entire indoor track season. So, unless you also run during swim season, you’ll be behind the other runners come March. Track is a great lead-in to tri season, though!
I won’t preach. I will give you the benefit of my experience and what I have learned from my coaches/mentors…
1 - Don’t make meals a social time. When I was in college, I would go to eat with a group because it was a social thing, as opposed to being hungry. Try not to fall into this trap.
2 - Make sure you have some snacks or replacement shakes in your dorm room. Get a blender and make a shake like Met-Rx or Ultramet or something after you workout. Good nutrition and good fuel for your tired body.
3 - When you do eat in the cafeteria think greens and protein. Much of the food there is filling, high fat, high carb stuff. Stick with the greans and protein and moderate amounts of carbs. Also, the salad bar is a big mess. stay away from it or be smart and stick with low fat dressings.
4 - Moderate your alcohol consumption. This one killed me. Drinking all that beer is the fastest way to gain 15 lbs. Empty calories and usually ingested at the wrong time (late at night). 3 or 4 beers is about 1000 calories. All carbs too!
5 - As for working out, I am betting your school probably has a masters swim program and a cycling team. Get involved with both. If you can, run cross country.
You are living the closest thing to being a professional triathlete as you ever will. You have an abundance of time and resources at your disposal. You also have a lot of training partners to keep you motivated and challenged. Good luck to you.
Craig
The Freshman 15 is a beer-based phenomenon. 'Nuff said.
matt
Here it is:
Breakfast: pizza with bacon
lunch: pizza with chicken
dinner: pizza with spinach
and a healthy dose of beer to wash it down.
Exaggerating obviously, but a few things to note. By the way, Im 24, only two years out of school, so are speaking from recent experience, and I am a competitive triathlete (not mop or bop).
One, you are only 18 or so, you shouldnt be worrying about weight, nor have a strict diet plan. Dude, you are going to college-have fun, relax and go where the wind (or hottie) takes you. the fact that you are worrying about your diet and weight now is throwing up alarms that could lead to eating disorders (not necessarily anorexia or bulemia, but a disorder nonetheless). because in a college atmosphere stuff like that can get exacerbated (speaking from personal experience and seeing alot of friends go through it)
and as opposed to another poster, its inevitable that eating is a social thing in college. I was also nutrition concious before college, but freshman year, we’d go out for wings weekly, and second semster had pizza every night at 3 in the morning while playing atari. thats what most people do (and I hung out with the athletes of my school-baseball, football players, from a top division 1 school). Just make sure to stick to your sport and it will be burned off, trust me. With training, social life (playing sports in the quad with friends, lots of sex) and spending an ungodly amount of time just staying awake until 7 am for the hell of it, will do more than enough to keep your metabolism elevated. Trust me.
that doesnt mean to eat whatever you want (like the above schedule I gave), but dont worry about it. It seems like you already are concious about weight gain, and are probably somewhat knowledgable about food, so my advice would be to just eat normally (dont binge, just eat what you are compelled to eat), but whenever the opportunity presents itself to have bad stuff, jump right in.
And the freshman 15 is associated with beer intake-not neccesarily from the beer itself, but also from all the snacking that comes with it. You lose all your inhibitions after you start getting a buzz (including that for food) and you can start eating nonstop. Just find a girl to keep your mouth occupied and you’re all good…
Bob,
I agree with everything everybody else said. Craig’s advice is solid (except make sure you bend rule#4). I do have this to add though… I was in the same race (I was bib #53). DUDE, you took second in your age group! Congratulations…and you kicked ass in the swim. That is a tough course. Everybody I know is always disappointed with one portion of their race. You should be proud of your results and more importantly relax and enjoy the college experience.
Where are you going to school?
Come on man. I didn’t say eliminate alcohol. I love beer and wine and the occasional margarita. Just don’t do it every night. Take a night off once in a while.
Craig
Sorry man, you are right. Bob, don’t booze on Sundays! The rest of the week is fair game! And get yourself a tri-singlet that has “COLLEGE” across the front of it.
Big caveat: this ALL depends on your personality and what is important to you.
In college, being healthy was the last of my concerns. My only focus was to have fun and get the most out of the experience. From what I hear, I had a good time.
Now of course I gained quite a bit of weight (I was a stick when I was a Freshman) most of it due to beer. I also became horribly out of shape. The only physical activity I did was IMs and club Lacrosse. Both were mostly social activities. But again, physical fitness was not high on my list of priorities. When I graduated, I was a tank; 6’4" 230, all in the neck. (Settle down ladies, that hunka burning love is no longer with us) I think I started school at like 180 or 185. Obviously, I lived on one extreme of the spectrum, and obviously fitness is important to you. I had many friends who were very fitness conscious and they did a pretty good job of working out and staying fit. They also had killer social lives. My point is that you don’t have to have one at the expense of the other, but you can go off the deep end either way. Now, looking back, I wish I was running or doing something to keep in shape, I’d be better off now. But at the same time, I wouldn’t change a thing about my social experience in school. College is such a unique social experience. You have the opportunity to very easily meet and interact with many different people on many different levels. Your exposure to new things is unbelieveable. IMO, the education is not necessarily the most important part of the benefit of college. You can certainly lead a healthy lifestyle in school, just be careful not to let doing so preclude you from experiencing some of its other benefits.
I’m off my soapbox. As for diet plan, I’m not going to offer any pointers. Not unless you think perogies, hot pockets, buffalo wings, KFC, pizza, beer (to use the term very generously), Mad Dog, and Boones Farm sounds like a balanced diet to you.
Dont worry too much about obsessing over every little detail. I did that 1st year, was really anal about eating only certain things…ie none of the superhigh fat/calorie shit. I didnt gain a lot of weight, but i didnt have any fun either. Last summer/1st semester, i was eating really healthy, but was eating too much. Ive gained 35 lbs (185->210) since highschool (from football to ironman…you explain it to me…i dont understand it!!!). Ive since dropped down 20lbs (190), but im also eating a lot more stuff now. Have your pizza, nachos, wings, but do it in moderation. Dont do it every night, but dont be afraid to have it once in a while. Also, having a couple of beers with the boys while out @ the bar wont kill you, but downing a mickey of hard liquor or a case of beer will definitly add on those pounds pretty quickly.
the key is balance. train hard, work hard and party hard. make sure that you are getting the proper calories that you need, dont go anorexic!!!
@ 168, you definitly arent heavy.
Res food sucks, but you can make the best of it (i eat a lot of pitas/veggie dogs/pasta). if they have the nutritional info listed, read it, understand it, and make the best of it.
Anyway, good luck!
P.s. if you are really worried…sex burns more calories/minute than running does (10 minutes = 150 calories), its a lot more fun, and training with a partner definitly adds fun to the calorie burning 
Bob,
Congratulate yourself for being one of the New Americans who actually cares about what they look like and how their bodies perform regardless of age. I went to my local Target store the other day and it was gross! Fat butts were everywhere! and this is in health-consious California, This is not the politically correct view, so what. The truth is that these fat people will most likely cause serious health problems for themselves, their families and the health care system that they have. This is real. Make no mistake, I don’t believe in discrimination. I believe that everyone has the ability to be healthy AND be as thin as they want to be. It doesn’t have to be the way it is! I say rise up against the tyrany of obesity and brake the shackles of dietary bondage!
I used to follow the carbo-loading diets that are promoted here and elsewhere. Well, thanks to this diet I maintained a weight of 198 lbs., but not lose any fat after training for and completing two marathons and Wildflower Olympic tri in 70 weeks. I had it! I was healthy (or so I thought until I had my blood lipid profile done), but getting fatter if I didn’t train hard all year long. This is today’s health paradox when a dietary calorie deficit is not maintained. I strongly feel that most people can’t maintain this calorie-deficit on a high carbohydrate diet because of the insulin reactions people have. The insulin-sugar roller coaster makes them hungrier and the mind is powerless to stop it. Yes, here’s an excuse as to why people are fat and getting fatter - the sugar is making them mindless glucose junkies.
I’m 37, 6’1", 176 lbs., 14.2% body fat and still losing. I’m loving myself, my health and how I look. This is not a fluke. I’m actively participating in The Atkins Diet, http://atkins.com/. I had my hesitations, but it’s awesome. I’ve taught my body to burn fat as fuel and have not gotten any slower, in fact, I’m faster now that I’m 20 lbs. lighter. I’ve also improved my blood lipid profile to healthy levels. My triglycerides used to be 236, now there 98! These triglycerides are a nasty chemical derived from fats eaten in foods or made in the body from other energy sources like carbohydrates. Calories ingested in a meal and not used immediately by tissues are converted to triglycerides and transported to fat cells to be stored. Hormones regulate the release of triglycerides from fat tissue so they meet the body’s needs for energy between meals. This is what makes people on high carbohydrate diets fat. It’s no mystery. Fat doesn’t make people fat, carbohydrates do if they’re not completely utilized. This isn’t a problem for LA and other TdF riders. They have, what, 5% body fat? They burn what they consume, no problem. Us mortals need to be careful or we’ll get fat.
As for booze, no problem. Tequila and Vodka have no carbs. It’s the mixers that are the problem. Stick to Sucralose sweetened diet drinks. Sugar free Red Bull and Vodka is good. Tequila and Tropical Sobe Lean is good, too. And beer? Michelob Ultra, 2.6 carbs per 12oz. It’s watery, but hey, you look good!
Pizza? Nope, sorry, the crust will make you fat, unless you make it lo-carb yourself. Have a steak and a salad. You look good!
Sean (stepping off my soapbox now)
I would suggest this:
Do not get too crazy about getting on a “diet”. Late night pizza, dorm food and beer (if you do it be careful!!) are loaded with calories. I would opt for increase in activity rather than freaking out on the diet thing.
Understand that you will be going through a ton of changes. You do not need to stress out on diet and speed. Do what you can with training but remember this!!!
You will only get one shot at life in college. It will probably be the best 4 years of your life. Concentrate on good grades, the social fun and the stress free life! You will have the rest of your life to do tris. Stay in shape, do what makes you happy with the diet and make sure you safely live it freakin up! God Da_ n am i jealous. What ya need to do is invite your ST friends over for a weekend! Whoo hoo!!!
BTW, bob I’m curious where you’re heading. I just saw that you’re in PA. I went to Lehigh myself. Ahhhhh Bethlehem, PA…
I went to a Military college and was a varsity athlete along with all the other physical demands of that type of school. The cafeteria was set up to deliver something like 3000-4000 calories per student per day. Needless to say, not easy to keep the weight down. After a lot of note taking, data collection, and analysis, here’s what I took away from college as far as diet is concerned.
You need to decide which is more important to you, “great taste” or “less filling”.
Dark beer has probably got more calories because it’s hard to see through.
Lite beer must have less calories than dark beer because,…because it’s lighter, c’mon, this is easy stuff.
Lite beer is cheeper than dark beer, because beer companies charge by the calorie.
Finding a bar that sells lite beer by the six pack can really ease the burden on your wallet, and, because you’re drinking more of the lower calories beer, it must be a about six times as positive for your waistline.
Mmmmmmm,…beer.
Drink responsibly.
hey andy, im headed to James Madison, in VA. I know WB is a tough course, but i finished 11 minutes faster last year on a trek 1000 and no wetsuit. I wasn’t really disappointed with my swim or bike because of my low miles, but i thought i would at least be able to pound out 7 minute miles. But its a lesson learned. Where in PA are you, maybe we can train together in the summers. I do all of my training alone, so i would welcome some company.
Bob
Have fun at JMU. Growing up in Virginia I had a ton of friends who went there and had a blast. Good luck with your training. Thank God you’re not in my age group, Speedy.
I’m in Mechanicsburg. If you are ever in the area, just hollar! The only race I have planned for the rest of the year is the Patriots Day Sprint in September. Maybe I’ll see you there. Best of luck to you at school!