We've all seen it. Freshman year means gaining weight in the form of unwanted body fat.
Yesterday's bounce becomes tomorrow's jiggle. The second looks that were so common in high school become fewer, and further apart. Sure, you still get invited to parties... because you're funny, or have a car.
Or maybe it's not obvious to the world around you. Maybe you hide those extra pounds well, or wear them in not-so-unappealing areas. But you know. And it's not so much about what you see, it's how you feel.
The energetic, positive attitude that got you to college, doesn't seem like quite enough to actually push you through. You're tired, sore, and sleep deprived. You're having fun, but just getting by, and your body is the victim.
So what seems to be causing that sneaky weight gain, that transforms you from svelte to squishy before your sophomore year? I have a few ideas. And I know why I now look and feel better at 28 than I did at 22.
But let's start with the key differences that came with transitioning from High School to college, and the rigors of the Freshman year.
1) Sleep habits.
So you've always liked to stay out all night with your friends. This started long before college. But there were rules in place. A level of accountability. Now, there's just too much to do. So, you take on the, "I'll sleep when I'm dead," attitude, and then see if that will work.
One major problem with your new approach is that sleep is absolutely vital to all of your bodily functions. That's when your body recovers from the day. Your muscles rebuild, all of your vital organs are restored, your body works to eliminate toxins from its systems, it works to flush acid from your cells. The list goes on and on.
When you do not sleep enough, many of these processes are slowed, or even stalled. Your body has a build-up of waste, toxins, and acidity that it must store somewhere, so while it is breaking down good tissue like skin, hair, vital organs, etc, it holds onto the fat cells and even makes more of them, so it has a place to store all of the toxins it hasn't been able to eliminate.
We could say a lot more about sleep, but let's move on.
2) Diet
This on-the-go lifestyle also makes no time (or money) for proper nutrition. Let's make this simple. Some foods are designed to make your body healthier. Others are absolutely nutritionally bankrupt. Of course, the crap food is usually cheaper and faster.
The problem is, crap food makes your body more acidic. That means, along with all of the body wrecking acidity that you are naturally creating by your restless lifestyle, you are literally pounding it full of extra acid, which goes right to work attacking every healthy cell in your body.
So what does your body do? Well, it has to protect those vital organs. So, it makes the best use possible of what you're giving it to work with. You're giving it toxins and empty calories. So, it builds excess fat cells to hide the toxins in.
Ladies, ever seen cellulite? Yeah, you know, the hip-and-thigh craters you love so much! That's thousands of toxin-packed fat-cells that are swollen and inflamed because you keep feeding them!
Somebody told you that cellulite would never go away didn't they? They lied! But we'll get to that in a minute.
Or guys, ever seen a beer-belly? Yeah, that super-unhealthy heart killing, penis shrinking problem most of us will battle in our thirties or forties? Same crappy toxin-infused fat cells.
Speaking of beer:
3) A lot more alcohol
Now, I enjoy the occasional libation, don't get me wrong. But during my formative early-adult years we took it to a level that really took a toll on my health.
You've seen the studies. Some alcohol can be good for you... in moderation. The big problem is that alcohol does cause elevated levels of acidity in the body. Usually, because it is combined with the other issues we discussed above, this acidity is too much for your body to process out. So what does it do? You guessed it. More little storage cells that look a lot like fat!
The other problem is that alcoholic beverages actually have their own breed of empty calories. ALCOHOL. Alcohol calories are pretty much useless for nutrition, because your body basically just converts them to sugar. And you gain more weight.
Let's talk about one more issue briefly
4) Exercise
Let's be honest. The percentage of high school athletes is a lot higher than the percentage of college athletes. Most of us don't continue to play sports regularly or competitively in college.
So you have to make a concerted effort to work out. But, with this no-sleeping, eating crap, drinking too much lifestyle you're living, who has time for that?
You may have noticed, the problem at its core is pretty simple. You gain weight because of three main issues.
Calories in
Calories out
Acidity/toxins (they run together and steal your life like Bonnie and Clyde)
And you know the risks associated with staring down the slippery slope of an unhealthy lifestyle. But let's just see a couple of the immediate potential problems.
Confidence issues
Problems with focus and study (acidity attacks the brain and nervous system)
Sexual attractiveness, desire, and performance (oh yeah, it attacks THAT too)
High blood pressure
Early onset of heart disease, heart attack, stroke
But do not lose heart! There are some simple ways to help yourself out! Here are some biggies.
1) Make time for sleep
2) Try to get hold of some fruits and veggies
3) Moderate your alcohol intake
4) Find an affordable product that naturally helps your body become more alkaline balanced (as opposed to acidic)
5) Go for a morning jog or do 10 minutes of calisthenics
There are all-natural products that will dramatically improve your body's ability to operate efficiently, find balance, ingest far fewer empty calories, and burn hundreds more calories. There are also all-natural products that will clean the toxins out of those fat cells (smooth out those legs ladies) so that your body will eliminate them, and bring back the energy and vitality that you had in high school.
