No. 1: Eating well and staying fit at UNH

Writing an article about all the things you shouldn't do to gain weight this year is counterintuitive in my mind.  I don't want to sound discouraging and put you in a negative mindset about you and your body.  If you're reading this article, chances are, you already stress out enough about your image.  Trust me, college is not the place to feel insecure about yourself.

The trick to keeping your figure is keeping a positive outlook.  Stop thinking about all the ways you can gain weight this year and instead, focus on how you can use this lifestyle change to maintain or even lose weight.  Here are some tips to help you accomplish this.

1) Make activity a priority.  

UNH is an ideal place to be active, because you can walk everywhere. It's not like high school where you have to take a bus.  Here, you walk to class, you walk to meals, you walk to meet your friends, and you even walk to the gym!  Keep this opportunity in mind and try to embrace it.  Walking is great for toning legs, burning calories, boosting metabolism and energizing you.

Your gym membership is also a great way to stay active and physically fit, and the membership price is part of tuition.  Between all of the equipment, machines and classes like zumba and kickboxing, you will never get bored.  

Health Services also offers yoga classes every Wednesday and Friday at noon in the Wildcat Den in the MUB.  If you're not into the gym or yoga, you can take free salsa classes or join an intramural or recreational sport.  

UNH has a really nice pool if you're into swimming, which burns more calories than almost any other activity at over 500 calories per hour depending of your size and intensity.  

If you want to get outside, hit up College Woods. All of the trails are great for walking, running, biking and hiking.

You could also get involved in the Outing Club.  The Outing Club runs trips all year round, from skiing to backpacking, and it's also a great opportunity to meet people.

2) Contrary to popular belief, the dining hall can make you skinny.  

Unlike many colleges, UNH Dining will not force you to eat pizza and fries day in and day out.  You can if you want, but why would you?  There are so many better options that are just as delicious. Each dining hall has an extensive salad bar with tons of fresh vegetables to choose from.  

Along with the salad bar, all of the prepared food options are rated by a star system. If a food has a rating of one star, then it has good nutritional value. If it has a rating of two stars, than its nutritional value is better than the one starred item, and if it has a three star rating, than it has the best nutritional value of the one and two starred items.  If you pay attention and choose foods with more stars, you will eat foods with more nutritional value.

This choice will in turn cause you to feel better and eat less junk.  I say eat less junk instead of eat less because you do not need to eat less.  Eating less is likely to make you hungry, irritable, distracted, slow down your metabolism, and cause you to gain weight later.  Eating plenty of unrefined, whole and healthy foods will speed up your metabolism and you will be able to eat more, concentrate better, and weigh less than if you eat tons of greasy, fried, or processed foods.  UNH also has healthy and convenient options for those who follow a gluten free or vegan diet.

3) Ditch the snacks.

Make your dorm room a place to enjoy things that do not include recreational eating.  Snacking is an effective, yet detrimental method to procrastinate studying. If you really need a snack because you're hungry, not because you're bored, have fresh fruits or vegetables. You can only take one thing out of the dining hall, so take a piece of fruit; leave the cookies for someone else.

4) Don't hate; appreciate it.

Eat, and don't skip meals.  Go to breakfast. Eating breakfast will keep you from eating a lot later at night, when you don't need the energy as much.  One of my roommates freshman year would skip breakfast and lunch and at night she would eat chips and candy. 

Consequently, she was unhappy about her weight and she gained the dreaded freshman fifteen.  Towards the end of the year she corrected her diet and her weight corrected itself.   

5) You don't have to go Solo.

We all like to party, but put down the red cup: it's easier to dance without it!  You do not need to drink every time you go out.  Drinking, especially beer, on a regular basis will catch up with you.  A 12-ounce beer runs between 140 and 180 calories. Now, multiply that by the number of drinks you have and the number of nights you drink.  It's fun and completely acceptable to go out and have a fantastic, even wild weekend, without drinking.  You'll appreciate it more on the rare occasions you do choose to drink and you'll thank yourself the next morning.

UNH is the perfect place to get active and eat healthy if you allow it to be.  This year is what you make of it.  As long as you remain positive and proactive, you'll be healthy and happy.