Being college students and living on-campus, we are bound to experience the infamous Freshman 15 during our first year, or at least I did. Coming from a routined diet at home with properly home cooked meals all week to open buffet and random eating schedules is no joke when it comes to weight gain. However, Freshman 15 doesn’t always have to be a bad thing. Find ways to embrace this little bit of weight gain and make it work for you like I did. If you prefer to lose that little bit of weight, discover ways to go back in time and drop the weight.
Noticing Things aren’t Fitting
The little bit of weight gain was obvious to everyone around me because I would get comments like, “Oh you’re getting thicker!” However, to me I couldn’t tell… until things stopped fitting. I noticed this from the jeans not moving past my thighs to the shirts that felt like they were suffocating my arms. I knew I had a little stomach fat but not enough for it be uncomfortable to wear a crop top. Mind you, crop tops were my thing.
When my friends wanted to go out I had nothing I felt comfortable in to wear. While they felt beautiful and didn’t have to worry about their stomach looking pudgy. I sat down trying to cover mine and kept my jacket on all night.
All my favorite outfits stopped looking good on me and I knew immediately I was a victim of the Freshman 15. The comments went from “getting thicker,” to “you need to lose all this weight” real quick. If that wasn’t enough the lack of clothing that actually fit in my closet was enough to tell me I needed to do something and fast.
Losing the Weight vs. Embracing the Weight
I went through a serious funk for a while because of all the negative comments persuading me to get rid of this new found weight. It got so bad to the point that I didn’t want to be around my family as much because I knew the ones that haven’t seen me in a while would jump straight to the weight topic. My solution, or so I thought, was to lose as much weight as possible before I went home to visit or for holidays.
I tried everything from the excessive research on workouts, to the clean eating phase. I wanted to go back to my original weight so bad and when it didn’t work like I thought it would I went into an even worse funk.
Since the odds were against me on this weight loss journey I took some time to really think about what I actually wanted for my body. I blocked out all the negative comments and considered the positive ones. I always wanted thicker thighs and I finally got them. Although crop tops were my thing at one point, it was time for a change. Rather than letting the negativity ruin my self-esteem, I allowed it to build the new me.
Starting off with my wardrobe, I did a sweep of all the clothes that didn’t fit anymore and just went on a shopping spree. I finally started embracing my little bit of curves and found a way to feel beautiful with an added 15 pounds.
Moving onto my eating habits, I had to make smarter choices. Although I wanted to still embrace the weight, I had no intentions of gaining more as a personal preference. So I found a diet routine that allowed me to indulge while maintaining my weight. Knowing my limits was a huge factor in me feeling better about myself.
Lastly, I worked on focusing on what’s best for me and not what everyone else thinks is best for me. The negative comments took time away from me loving my new self. I needed time to adjust to my new body and find ways to feel beautiful on my own terms.
Beauty from your perspective
Freshman 15 can be a good thing because it allows you to appreciate yourself and love yourself without the contribution of others opinions. You learn to adjust to new changes and embrace them. If your choice is to lose weight then let that be a choice you make for yourself not a choice others make for you.
We have the right to love our bodies 15 pounds more or 15 pounds less. The way you go about it is how you build your self-esteem.
I had to go through trial and error to love the new me but the journey could be different for everyone. As long as you’re happy with the result that’s all that matters.