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I know it’s early in the program, but I already feel ten times better than I was last semester. Then again, last semester I ate HORRIBLY.
I will never forget the moment my roommate walked in on me at my lowest point. I was sitting in my dorm, wearing a pink bathrobe and Zelda tiara, while eating copious amounts of Oreos. I was in the process of scraping the cream off of about a dozen cookies to make a giant cream ball when she walked in.
“Oh my god, Nikki. What are you doing?”
It was like this for two weeks and as the semester progressed, my meals usually ended up being fast food when my boyfriend wanted to be sweet and help me out when I was busy to ease my stress. Stress dominated my life. No wonder I gained 15 pounds.
That is…I gained 15 pounds since last semester.
I had a situation with another student on campus, which I never really wanted to admit was out of control or had the potential of going out of control. But when things got very real one day, the University stepped in. For about two weeks I wasn’t allowed to work in the pool hall I’m the manager for, and they had me work out of sight upstairs. At times, I even had police escorts. In the end, I was “strongly encouraged” to basically have the University’s equivalent to a restraining order.
No one really knew how upset or scared I was about this whole ordeal. I made a point to tell everyone about what was going on, cracking jokes and everything. In fact, when it was official, I threw a restraining order party where everyone bought me drinks to “celebrate.” Only my boyfriend who went with me to therapy to talk to with my “risk case counselor” knew how disturbed I really was. And because I just tried to get through it all as quickly as possible, I ate my feelings.
It’s pretty normal to gain weight while in college. But usually there’s an underlying problem that causes you to either overeat or eat the wrong things or just stop taking care of yourself. We don’t just wake up one day 20 pounds heavier because we didn’t know cookies and cakes aren’t the healthiest. Sometimes those reasons can be small. Other times, not so much. It is important for everyone to understand that sometimes your weight gain isn’t necessarily THE problem. It’s just a symptom of a problem that needs to be dealt with before you can effectively lose the weight.
That’s why just dieting and working out isn’t always the 100 percent fix or why sometimes people bounce back to their original overweight selves.
But not this time for this girl. I’ve dealt with my issues, and I’m taking my life back in full swing. SELF magazine’s Jump Start diet came at the perfect time for me. Won’t you join me? Do some soul searching and understand maybe why you’ve gained the weight you have. It could be stress from school or the lack of money or time. Regardless, realize what makes you tick and sign up for this amazing program. Together we can be the change we want to see in ourselves.
P.S. The best part of this diet is you’re not depriving yourself! Watch my video on how to make YUMMY banana pops. Let me know if you try them yourself!
Email me at NikkiRoberti@HerCampus.com or tweet me any time! @Nikki_Roberti