Healthy eating tips for a student?

[Gradschooler]

Hello folks!

 

So I am going to start school next month. Right now I am about 20 lbs over my desired weight and on the way to lose it. In the next 2-3 months, I might not have the time/opportunity to work out everyday like I do right now. So I'd very much like to stay at my current weight, if not continue the weight loss regimen.

 

Any tips? This just worries me to hell! I don't want to gain weight with junk diet as a back to school student. I'm a vegetarian, in case that helps. Any suggestions on how should I plan my meals/what to eat more etc?

 

Thanks!

[USMCHokie]

Hello folks!

 

So I am going to start school next month. Right now I am about 20 lbs over my desired weight and on the way to lose it. In the next 2-3 months, I might not have the time/opportunity to work out everyday like I do right now. So I'd very much like to stay at my current weight, if not continue the weight loss regimen.

 

Then make the time/opportunity. You have to schedule it into your daily routine much like going to class. You have to prioritize your training time just as high as going to class or doing schoolwork. If you use a daily schedule, set aside a block of time for fitness. People who say they don't have time to workout are generally full of sh*t and are just too lazy to make time for it.

 

 

Any tips? This just worries me to hell! I don't want to gain weight with junk diet as a back to school student. I'm a vegetarian, in case that helps. Any suggestions on how should I plan my meals/what to eat more etc?

 

Thanks!

 

Don't eat crap...it's really that simple...

[Gradschooler]

Thank you for that!

 

So if I schedule an hour everyday, what all should I be doing, optimally? Right now its mostly the elliptical + treadmill + aerobics. And weights once a week.

[USMCHokie]

Thank you for that!

 

So if I schedule an hour everyday, what all should I be doing, optimally? Right now its mostly the elliptical + treadmill + aerobics. And weights once a week.

 

First, you should browse through some of the past threads in the physical fitness forum. There's a wealth of good information from a lot of knowledgable posters (tman always comes to mind...).

 

I don't know if you are male or female, but it's generally irrelevant to my training philosophies...completely switch your routine...which means you should be doing weight training most of the time and doing "elliptical + treadmill + aerobics" once a week.

[tman666]

I agree 100 percent with Hokie's assertion that people saying they "don't have time" for training are just making ****bird excuses.

 

There are many ways to make excuses. Some people excuse themselves from training because they supposedly don't have time. Everyone's got 24 hours in a day. Some people excuse themselves from working hard and pushing themselves while training. Some people make excuses for themselves when in comes to diet.

 

At the end of the day, excuses are detractors from the end result. The more excuses one makes, the more results are minimized or negated all together.

 

There. Now that we have that little tirade out of the way...

 

First of all, I don't know what to tell you when it comes to making sure your diet is up to snuff. As a vegetarian, you might have difficulties achieving the levels of protein and fat that you might need in your diet to optimize performance and aesthetics. However, to each their own. I'll assume that you already know how to get sufficient quantities of each macronutrient into your diet sufficient to achieve your goals. I could go into greater depth about this, but without more info about you (your gender, current weight, desired weight, and height), it's hard to say what your dietary needs are.

 

Training wise, your best bet for keeping your workouts short and your training sessions effective will be to start using high intensity interval training (HIIT) methods coupled with compound, explosive weight training movements.

 

Compound exercises involve more than one muscle group at a time. They burn more calories, build more balanced musculature, aid in developing functional strength, etc. Whenever possible, choose compound movements. Some good ones to make part of your training are squats, deadlifts, cleans, various pressing movements, rows, pull ups, push ups, and lunges. Just be careful to learn proper form on each of these before attempting them. When you progress, start light and progress SLOWLY. This will help you keep your form in check and build a solid foundation. It will also help minimize the chances of injury over the long term.

 

Conditioning wise, HIIT will help you lose fat and increase performance better than steady state cardio. There is some debate on this, but almost everyone that I know who is strong, powerful, and lean does some form of HIIT consistently. This can be done with sprints, calisthenic intervals, rowing intervals, air fan bike intervals, and various weight training complexes. There are almost an infinite number of variations you can do to accomplish this. Experimentation and a little research will help you figure out what works best for you.

 

Both your conditioning workouts and your weight training workouts should be accomplished within 45 minutes, including warm ups. This is accomplished by keeping your rest periods short. Try to shoot for 1 minute rest periods between sets. This will keep your heart rate up too.

 

Basically, if you pick exercises with good training economy and train frequently, you'll be headed in the right direction. Start into it slowly, and listen to your body. Always warm up sufficiently. Training to failure is generally a poor idea, especially if you're on the beginner end of the spectrum.

 

For the record, sitting in a steam room or sauna is not warming up... Warming up needs to increase circulation and probably include some semblance of dynamic stretches. Just my 2 cents...

Edited July 22, 2010 by tman666

[Mikki Mars]

very simple: no non-diet soda, no Gatorade except for Gatorade G2 (low calorie), no ice cream, candy, cookies, avoid french fries and unnecessary and white bread, a lot of salad, meat, and absolutely no regular beer, only lite beer. Also, try at least 10 mins cardio a day, and move up your time by 5 minutes when you think you can. This is how I lost 25 lbs in 3 months, tho I went high on diet soda and dip tobacco (which sped up my metabolism with nicotine).

[Green]

Drink only water. Don't eat processed food and avoid bread.

 

Just eat fruits like bananas, blue berries, avacados ect... and enjoy things like sweet potatoes (without butter or sugar added.)

 

Eat raw nuts of all kinds.

 

Enjoy some humus and carrots. Eat pinto beans and lentils.

 

Have some salads with a greek dressing (watch for unatural ingreadients like High fructose corn syrup) in the dressing maybe make your own if you can't find natural.

 

Enjoy onions, garlic, brocoli, scalion, beets, corn ect.

 

If you are really busy and have no access to a gym just do push ups, sit ups, squats in your room and research some dumbell excersises you can do. You could probably get away with doing that as little as 2-3 times a week... and just make sure you take nice brisk 40 minute walks atleast 4-5 times a week.

 

Remember just have fresh fruit and nuts around to snack on and enjoy sweet potatoes and lentils as filler. Use spices to make things taste good.

 

I personaly love meat so I would recomend rethinking the vegetarien thing.

[Gradschooler]

Thanks Tman! That was great!

 

Green,

Thanks for the tips! Thats what I was looking for. I am a vegetarian and I don't have sodas/alcohol, thats one less temptation to fight I'll get working on your list of foods!

 

USMCHokie,

Let me clarify before you brush off my food question - I'm moving to the US for gradschool, and where I come from, our food patterns are totally different. What I eat right now, I'd never get there. So I need to know what would be a healthy option in that new world of food.

[Kamille]

I survived grad school. Keep working out, not because you want to lose weight as much as: It will keep you sane. Make the time to work out. It will relax you and it will keep you focused. Not to mention, I found I had some of my best reflexion time on the treadmill.

 

Tricks for food: When you have time to cook, double the recipe and freeze some up.

 

On Sundays, boil a big bowl of rice and the bean of the week. Make salads from the basis of these two healthy grains. Example: Bulgur + red lentil + arugula+mint+ lemon+yogurt.

 

Get familiar with tofu steaks if you haven't yet. Marinate tofu in one part soy, three parts water and crushed coriander seeds. Throw in the salads, over pasta, etc.

 

Eat lots of fruits and nuts.

 

Bread and peanut butter are your best friends.

[spirowilliam]

In fast generation Student has no time for the exercise and not much eat. Another thing is that student has lot of pressure about the reading, exams, result and so on. So, I suggest that do the Yoga to develop the brain and save the time. As the meal eat green leaf vegetables and fruits daily to increase the sharpness of the eyes. Also eat the dry fruits early in the morning.

[reservoirdog1]

In terms of diet:

 

Be sure to eat a healthy breakfast every morning. It doesn't have to be a lot of food, but you need something to fuel your body first thing in the morning.

 

Carry a refillable water bottle with you, and drink it empty at least twice a day.

 

Before heading off for the day each morning, pack a piece of fruit and a plastic container of baby carrots. Or a handful or two of nuts. Snack between meals on those foods.

 

Eat whole wheat bread. Avoid white bread like the plague. For a quick dinner in your dorm, keep a bottle of tomato pasta sauce and some whole wheat pasta.

[vhaukl]

If horses are being tested (especially in jockey racing) they will be put on a specially constructed treadmill. Large treadmills can also accommodate cars. Treadmills can also be used to exercise dogs that are accustomed to running on a conveyor; however avoid tying the leash to the treadmill as it can cause serious injury.

 

 

Löpband

[loverofloveandstuff]

Here are a few of my favourite quick/healthy meals...

 

BREAKFAST: Oats, water, half a banana. cut up apple all microwaved for 4-5 minutes(ends up being like porridge/oatmeal). Then I add berries, almonds (and whatever nuts I have in the kitchen), slice up the rest of the banana and add honey, brown sugar or sometimes even peanut butter. yumooo. Sorry, I have to share my new found porridge love with everyone. Favourite breakfast ever.

 

Soup. Buy some vegetable stock (I like to use miso paste), add boiling water and add a whole heap of vegetables and tofu, some cayenne pepper (I like it spicy!) and you're good to go. I'm lazy with cooking so I'll often just use the microwave.

 

Sea vegetables are SO high in nutritional value and a really good thing to add to your diet. Nori is the stuff that's outside of sushi rolls and a really good thing to add to your diet, especially as you're vegetarian (nori is high in iron). I like to wrap spinach, brussel sprouts, carrots, and whatever other vegetables in the kitchen in nori - you don't even need rice. Soy sauce for flavour and done.

 

Oh, and I love celery and peanut butter to munch on after a work out.

Edited October 17, 2010 by loverofloveandstuff