31October 2021
Staying fit as a student in college can be a difficult endeavor as the stress of college life weighs you down, but by implementing a few small changes to your routine, watching what you eat, and having an accountability partner, you can manage your fitness and your student life easier.
Easy Ways to Stay Active
Staying active during college doesn’t mean you need to drastically change the way you do things or join a gym. It can be as easy as making small adjustments to your daily life to get in extra steps.
Walking or Biking to Class
When you’ve got a class a little bit away, don’t take a bus or a ride there because it’s quicker and more convenient. Take the extra time you have to walk or bike to your next class. This is an easy way to burn calories and help with weight loss because it gets you moving and keeps you in shape. Obviously, this is only reasonable if you have the time between classes and your next class isn’t far away.
Take the stairs instead of the Elevator
If your class or dorm is up a flight or two of stairs (or even more), don’t take the elevator. Stairs are an amazing way to burn calories and work on any weight loss goals to keep you in shape. It may be difficult to get into this, but can be very rewarding.
Do Small Exercises when You have a Few Minutes
Knowing a few basic exercises that don’t require equipment or take up a lot of space can be one of your greatest assets during your student life. Knowing how to do lunges, squats, and push-ups can help keep you fit. When you have a few free minutes in your dorm or after a class, take the opportunity to get a few exercises in.
Be Conscious of What You Eat
Being aware of what you’re eating and drinking can play a big part in maintaining your fitness in college. Eating unhealthy food carelessly can lead to unhealthy weight gain and the resulting weight loss process requires more work than simply being aware of what you’re eating.
Avoid Stress Eating
Stress eating is an easy habit to fall into during student life, but you should avoid it. Talk to friends and family when you’re stressed or find other alternatives to get some relief. When stressed, it’s easy to go for a sugary drink, or even an alcoholic one, but you should stay away as they’re high in calories. Do your best to get 8-10 glasses of water or tea instead. While avoiding stress eating, it’s important not to avoid your regular meals. If meals become difficult to manage, you can always have a simple protein shake or smoothy.
Keep Healthy Snacks on You
It’s easy to eat junk food when you’re craving a snack, but you should substitute it with healthier snacks, some of which you can keep on you. Keep granola bars, fresh or dried fruit, and even cheese sticks on you as a great alternative to unhealthy snacking.
How to Balance a College Schedule
Balancing student life on a college schedule can be tricky, especially if you try to include fitness as well. It’s important to plan out a schedule and balance your studies, fitness, and extracurriculars.
Create a Schedule
Making a schedule helps you keep track of what you need to do and what you’ve already done. It allows you to see if you’re spending too much time on something you shouldn’t and helps you plan for larger assignments. Having a smaller weekly schedule can help you manage your day-to-day student life in more detail.
Break Down Large Tasks into Manageable Parts
When you have large assignments or tasks to do, make sure to break them down into smaller parts so it’s more manageable and not as daunting. For example, a 40-page paper is intimidating, but breaking it down into choosing a topic, areas of research, creating an outline and writing a draft help break the work up into parts you can do more easily without feeling overwhelmed.
Prioritize Your Work
It’s important to prioritize things in your student life. Make sure you prioritize the important things, such as assignments, over excessive clubs or extracurriculars. Having extracurriculars or clubs isn’t a bad thing, but make sure to stay on top of what’s most important. Knowing when to say no is an important tool to have. You may feel bad about skipping outings with friends, but getting things done is more important.
Create a Support System
It’s crucial to have a support system of friends, family, and mentors in your college life. Having a support system and using it can help keep you on track both in your studies and fitness and keep your stress to a minimum. They can help you exercise, study, and offer emotional support.
Accountability Partners
Accountability partners are great during student life, as they can help keep you on track with all sorts of things. They can be a new friend, a roommate, or a classmate. Having an accountability partner can be a great source of support in your student life at college. Accountability partners can help support you in your studies and your fitness and weight loss journey.
They’ll Keep You on Track
Accountability partners are there to keep you on track, checking in with you and encouraging you to do your tasks and focus on what you need to.
They’ll Make Things More Comfortable
When it comes to fitness and exercising, it can feel weird and awkward to go about it by yourself, especially if you’re in a public area. Having an accountability partner there with you to join you in your exercises can help make things feel less awkward and give you the motivation you need to push through and keep up with your fitness. When it comes to managing your student life and fitness in college, it’s not as difficult as you think, and becomes easier as you add accountability partners to help you out and keep you on track.