Set the Tone for a Healthy Lifestyle During and After College
When it comes to health and fitness, many college students are too wrapped up in the demands of their academic pursuits to pay much attention. Even those that have been athletic in the past or are currently members of sports teams on campus might neglect their nutrition when they’re in a rush to get to class or they’re cramming for a test.
In case you hadn’t heard, unless you are practicing Intermittent Fasting, breakfast is the most important meal of the day. The reason for this is that it sets the tone for your metabolism, your satiety, and your level of energy throughout the rest of the day.
What you eat (and how you go about eating it) could have a major impact on your overall health and vitality. Keep in mind on test day, that your brain operates on carbs. Having some fruit and oatmeal before a big exam is scientifically the best way to exam prep.
As you can see from the picture of the girl on the right, breakfast does a college body good.
Here are just a few breakfast dos and don’ts to observe in college if you want to optimize health and fitness during your time on campus. Practice these tips now, and you will be more likely to carry them through the rest of your life.
Whether you’re burning the midnight oil to cram for a test, you’re enjoying your precious moments of freedom with friends by partying until dawn, or you’re one of those 24 hour-a-day computer programmers (yeah, we don’t sleep) you may find yourself wolfing down high-calorie snacks that give you the fuel needed to power through your fatigue. Unfortunately, this can have a slew of unfortunate side effects, from simple digestive discomfort and heartburn to weight gain and all of the problems associated with it.
If you’ve gotten in the habit of staying up late, eating into the wee hours of the morning may have become routine. However, you can get back on a normal schedule where your diet is concerned and avoid late-night binges without too much trouble so long as you follow a few simple guidelines.
When you are done with those, take a look at this fun graphic:
So if you don’t know, well now ya know. Planet Fitness may judge you as being a Lunk if you carry a gallon of water around, but have you seen their employees? Yeah, if you want to be a pasty skinned ShitFitness employee, don’t drink water. Otherwise – carry your gallon jug around with pride. =)
You might think that the notorious freshman fifteen is nothing more than a fairy tale, but consider for a moment the contributing factors. For one thing, most college students are away from home (and the watchful gaze of mom and dad) for the first time in their lives. And without parents around to make sure you’re getting three square meals a day, you might fall into bad habits like scarfing pizza and burgers at the cafeteria for breakfast, lunch, and dinner, skipping fruits and veggies, and snacking from vending machines the rest of the time.
Pile on top of that plenty of stress, a distinct lack of sleep, a lot of high-calorie alcoholic beverages, and likely, little to no exercise. The true surprise is that the standard fifteen pounds are not double that. So if you’d like to avoid the unwanted extra pounds that plague the average student, here are just a few strategies to maintain your weight, keep your energy levels high, and ultimately look and feel as good exiting your freshman year as you did going in.
In today’s society, many people put premium on being thin. Many factors, especially the media, contribute to the notion that what is beautiful is a well-sculpted body that doesn’t show the slightest hint of fat. This has led many people to interpret fitness as looking like those sexy models as an epitome of ideal body. Some has been into different weight loss plans, such as the Medifast, and other crash dieting just to get rid of their extra pounds.
The results of crash diets are dire. Those people trying to lose weight by sacrificing their nutrition are actually punishing themselves. They are constantly living in a condition of hunger which eventually leads them to feel exhausted all the time. Worse, it can lead to collapse and many other health risks. Crash dieting can literally make someone crash.
Those who intend to shed those extra fats in their body must realize that there are weight loss plans which do not lose the essential nutrients of the body. Healthy choices in food and proper exercises are the major keys in losing weight the healthy way.
For beginners, it must be understood that a variety in the foods a person eat is actually essential. One should not be easily taken by the low carb/high protein diet mindset which some fitness people propagate. Maximizing protein intake, in and of itself, is not a balanced diet. Sure low carbs and high protein can help retain and build muscle while simultaneously losing fat, but a diet consisting of, for example, 5 meals of chicken and broccoli each day, is not a healthy diet and can actually make you sick.
Whether you’re trying to lose those 20 pounds or just looking to fit into your old jeans, steering clear of weight loss mistake is of upmost importance for long term success. Let’s face it, we all make the odd mistake—and when it comes to burning the flab, it’s all too easy.
Without further ado, here are the 3 most common weight loss mistakes and how to avoid them.
Mistake 1: the Fat Burning Zone
Though when exercising at lower intensity level, the body relies heavily on fat as the main source of energy than when doing high intensity exercise, the total calorie burn at the end of the training will be lower, thus leading to more weight loss plateaus and setbacks.
Transitioning from bulking to cutting can be complicated. Most often, the transition is done improperly and we end up either losing precious muscle mass during a cut or gaining too much fat during a bulk. I’ve been there and so have you, don’t kid yourself.
When switching from cut to bulk, we might overestimate the rate at which we can gain muscle, which results from a lack of knowledge about the human physiological response to dieting. Some inexperienced bodybuilders might make an immediate switch from a strict diet to free eating, which results in the immediate reversal of any recent diet progress.
Of course strategies will differ dependent on the individual, but the basic concept should remain the same. You will have to accept that your first couple attempts at bulking will result in either very little muscle gain or unnecessary fat gain. It is all a matter of trial and error.
Let’s examine a couple different diet transition strategies.
Since the late 1990’s Dr. John Berardi has published 8 scientific abstracts; 15 scientific papers and textbook chapters; presented at nearly 50 scientific, exercise, and nutrition related conferences; and published countless articles online.
His first articles at Testosterone Magazine so many years ago, provided me with the basis for everything I know about nutrition today. Over the past couple years I have published Dr. Berardi’s popular nutrition tips with much success. Today I want to give you a link to his extremely interesting review of the Intermittent Fasting diet protocol.
Basically, Dr. Berardi sets about to lose 20 pounds of fat by following an Intermittent Fasting diet. He tries the following popular IF programs:
Alternate day fasting (ADF) – 36-hour fast/12-hour feed
Eat Stop Eat – 24-hour fast, 1 or 2 times per week
Warrior Diet – 20-hour fast/4-hour feed
Leangains – 16-hour fast/8-hour feed
Random meal skipping
As the experiment spans several months, Berardi logs his meals, moods, workouts, and even 23 health markers including blood glucose, cholesterol, tryglicerides, and testosterone level. You can see his final progress pics as well – check out the back shot, his back is simply shredded at the end of the experiment.
Dr. Berardi ultimately decides that a combination of the different programs works best for him. He liked 5 days of Leangains followed by a Warrior Diet weekend, and he liked Eat Stop Eat with a 1-day per week fast but hated the 2-day per week fast.
Trust me. Read the whole ‘book’. You will learn more than you might think.
How to Drop Weight If You Are Tired of Restrictive Diets
If you’ve had trouble following your current diet plan, you might do well with a diet that is tracked on a weekly basis.
It’s hard to follow a strict diet plan every day. The demands of most popular diets require users to keep a log of everything they consume and keep constant track of calories – and many times, people fail at their diets because they don’t fee like they’re able to keep up with all the details. Constantly monitoring caloric intake is simply too tedious for most individuals.
Strict Diets Often End in Failure
Here’s an illustration: An article published in the International Journal of Obesity in 2007 shared the results of a study of several diet plans with strict calorie tracking requirements. The study gathered 311 overweight females and randomly placed each of them on either the Atkins Diet, the Zone Diet, the Ornish Diet, or the LEARN Diet.
Many trying to maintain a healthy diet struggle to understand how good nutrition works and/or how it should be applied. This confusion is often compounded by conflicting “expert” nutritional advice. However, the simplest approach to good nutrition is remembering that all nutritional substances should be ingested to promote health and prevent disease.
It’s also important to remember that food choices aren’t just about weight, as food choices can greatly reduce or increase the likelihood of a person developing cancer, diabetes, and heart disease. As far as overall health, food plays a major role in energy, memory, mood, and sleep.
Since good nutrition hinges on life-long lifestyle choices, it will never involve starving, cutting out vital food groups, or completely depriving yourself from food that is enjoyable. None of the above is congruent with sustainability, and is the main reason that “fad diets” never result in good nutrition or a maintainable weight. Good nutrition has everything to do with eating smart foods…in a smart way. Try the following nutrition tips to get you on the path to smart eating:
Start Slow and Simple
Don’t abandon unhealthy choices all at once, as this will usually lead to binge eating. Focus on slowly replacing unhealthy food sources with healthier choices. For example, one might gradually replace tater chips with fresh vegetable chips. Try to take existing unhealthy recipes and alter unhealthy ingredients one at a time. For example, a recipe that calls for butter or vegetable oil might be amended to utilize olive oil. Even a simple sandwich can be altered to be more nutritious by changing white bread to whole grain, ham to turkey breast, and mayo to mustard. Eventually, you will be able to make every food choice nutritionally sound.
Don’t Mindlessly Eat
Stop and think about the food – Am I eating this to sustain me or soothe me? Food is too often used as an emotional crutch or mindless action. It can be helpful to disassociate food with cars, television, and computers. It’s easy to just gulp something down when your mind is on driving vs. actually eating. It’s also easy to mindlessly eat when distracted by a television and computer. Whenever possible eat at a table and take the time to properly chew and savor food. Keep in mind that it takes 20 minutes for the brain to realize that the stomach is full; so, eat slow and stop eating before actually feeling full. Plan meals out to include several small meals throughout the day, which will help keep energy and metabolism up for weight loss.
Think of Fitness as an Essential Food Group
Fitness training is just as essential as any of the food groups and dieting tips. Optimal health can’t be achieved through exercise without healthy eating or healthy eating without exercise. A simple routine strength training program should be included in all exercise regimens. It’s important to start the training with the proper resistance size. A good guide is a size that fatigues you after about 12 repetitions. If you aren’t able to use correct form, that too is a sign that the weight is too heavy. Start out with a twice a week fitness plan with 4 to 5 sets of 12 reps with or without fitness equipment. Many professional trainers recommend aiming for muscular failure, where the muscle can’t possibly do anymore, after the first month of strength training.
A lot has been made about the importance of protein in building muscle, but more could be said about the importance of fruits and vegetables in this regard. The fact of the matter is that fruits and vegetables contain a lot of important vitamins and minerals that facilitate muscle growth.
Vitamin C
One of these vitamins important to muscle growth which is often times overlooked is Vitamin C. Vitamin C is found in fresh fruits and vegetables such as oranges, pineapples, grapefruit, cabbage, broccoli, okra and spinach to name a few.
Vitamin C speeds up recovery of your muscles after an intense workout, and prevents injuries and inflammations that might keep one away from the gym.
During weightlifting your body is placed under a tremendous amount of stress, but Vitamin C present in fruits and vegetables help to boost your immune system to fight against possible infections and muscle damage.
Another great benefit from Vitamin C is the reduction of cortisol levels. Cortisol is a hormone produced when the body undergoes extreme stress like weightlifting, and is responsible for the breakdown of muscle tissue. Therefore, the less cortisol your body produces the better.
Attention Hard Gainers and Dudes Who Want to Gain 10 lbs of Solid Muscle!
You use protein shakes. You eat lots of food. You workout like a maniac. Yet you still weigh 50 pounds less than your goal weight. Sick of skinny wrists and stick figure calves? Stop making the mistakes that compromise your weight gain strategies.
There are several components that go into a proper weight gain cycle. Nutrition is most important, exercise is next, and lifestyle can make or break you. Today we will cover some nutrition mistakes you might be making. Fix them today so you can gain muscle tomorrow! Here are the first 5 points in my list of 10 mistakes you could be making to sabotage your weight gain. (more…)
A couple days ago I posted the first 5 reasons you are not losing weight. Here are 5 more reasons you are not losing weight. Check out the first article if you missed it: 10 Reasons You Are Not Losing Weight Part 1
Peep these second 5 five items in my list of 10 possible ways you could be sabotaging your diet. (more…)
Everyone likes a good diet post once in a while. Something to remind us about those small dietary habits that ultimately sabotage our efforts to look good naked. This is one of those posts.
You want to drop a couple dozen stubborn pounds of fat. You know what to do and how to do it. You figure in about 2 months you can complete your transformation by eating healthy foods but fewer calories, and adding an extra hour of exercise each week. On paper and in your brain it all makes sense. But how’s that working for you?
Typical Diet Progress
Let me guess. After two months of eating fruits and veggies, and hitting the treadmill with fierce dedication, you step on the scale and find that you’ve lost a whopping… 2 pounds. What could possibly have happened? Would could have gone wrong?
5 Ways to Improve Your Chances of Sticking to a Strict Diet
Your research is complete. You have a blank food log ready to go. You know exactly how many carbs, proteins, fats, and calories to eat each day. You even have an alarm set to go off every 3 hours to remind you to eat a snack or drink a protein shake. You’ve got anywhere from 10-20 weeks to reach your target body fat, but you know full well that cheating can be disastrous.
You know from experience that after 2 weeks your body is going to demand that you feed it some of your favorite tasty treats. But this time is going to be different. This time you are going to stick it out. So how are you going to stick to your diet for the required time? How are you going to hit your goals?
It is far from impossible. In fact thousands of bodybuilders do it every day, and you can too.
Here are 5 strategies to help you stay disciplined on a strict diet. (more…)
Justin Woltering of JustinWoltering.com writes today’s guest post. Justin has years of experience perfecting his exercise and nutrition program. He has spent countless hours mastering training flexibility, core strength, power and speed, cardiovascular fitness, and meditation. Having trained, and trained with, powerlifters, martial artists, bodybuilders, and various athletes, Justin knows what it takes to gain muscle, lose fat, or get into peak physical condition.
I just finished a cleansing program, and I am feeling better than ever!
The meals were delicious, and these supplements allowed me to do this as naturally and efficiently as possible. This seven-day plan will cleanse your body so that you can more easily shred unwanted body fat and increase lean muscle mass.
If you are feeling lethargic, slow, bloated, or ill; or if you are experiencing problems with your digestive system, then a 7-day detox might be just what you need.
Recently at Project Swole there has been some discussion of post-workout nutrition. I typically recommend Biotest Surge but several people in the last 6 months or so have suggested chocolate milk. The reality is that chocolate milk really might be the best and cheapest drink you can use post-workout.
The Study
In a recent study, novice weightlifters who trained to failure with 3 sets of 6 exercises each day and drank a post-workout supplement immediately after training, gained 5 pounds of muscle in only 8 weeks.
The proof is out there, experts have been touting it for years, and now you just have to accept it: post-workout nutrition is a necessity to maximize muscle growth.
Make sure you drink your post-workout shakes within 20 minutes of finishing your training, in order to take advantage of the most optimal anabolic window for growth. By doing this you will immediately reverse catabolism and kick-start protein synthesis, which puts you in the fast lane, on the highway to muscle recovery.
So, what are your options for a post-workout shake?
Since the late 1990’s Dr. John Berardi has published 8 scientific abstracts; 15 scientific papers and textbook chapters; presented at nearly 50 scientific, exercise, and nutrition related conferences; and published countless articles online.
His first articles at Testosterone Magazine so many years ago, provided me with the basis for everything I know about nutrition today. Now I will turn some of that knowledge over to you in the form of Nutrition Tips written by Dr. Berardi himself.
Since the late 1990’s Dr. John Berardi has published 8 scientific abstracts; 15 scientific papers and textbook chapters; presented at nearly 50 scientific, exercise, and nutrition related conferences; and published countless articles online.
His first articles at Testosterone Magazine so many years ago, provided me with the basis for everything I know about nutrition today. Now I will turn some of that knowledge over to you in the form of Nutrition Tips written by Dr. Berardi himself.
Since the late 1990’s Dr. John Berardi has published 8 scientific abstracts; 15 scientific papers and textbook chapters; presented at nearly 50 scientific, exercise, and nutrition related conferences; and published countless articles online.
His first articles at Testosterone Magazine so many years ago, provided me with the basis for everything I know about nutrition today. Now I will turn some of that knowledge over to you in the form of Nutrition Tips written by Dr. Berardi himself.
Today’s Topic – How to Meet Fat Intake Recommendations
