During my junior year of high school, both of my parents were on Atkins. I would wake up in the morning stifled by the smell of bacon creeping into my bedroom. At night, I would come home to a house overpowered by the fumes of steak sizzling on the grill.
Then there was my friend who decided she'd mimic the stars and pick up smoking in hopes of looking like Mary-Kate. The following year, I witnessed another friend try the cabbage soup diet. As I munched on my Dodger Dog, she snacked on carrot sticks she had smuggled into the stadium.
Diets have never worked for me. Whenever I try to restrain myself, I always end up wanting more. During my year abroad in London, I decided I wasn't going to eat any sweets. The week-long attempt only resulted in a sickening binge of ice cream, brownies and Kit-Kats.
Instead of crazy diets, I now have become aware of what I put into my body. As winter approaches, many of us lose the drive to maintain our toned summer bodies. But nobody wants to return home over Christmas ten pounds heavier than when they left. The following are guidelines on how to keep off winter weight.
Social dining: Dining halls can be a social experience. During my sophomore year, I would sit at Sunday brunch with my friends for hours, chatting about our weekend festivities while munching on bagels and waffles. Looking back, I wish I did more talking and less eating.
Instead of gorging on carbs for three hours, I should have had one meal, then munched on healthier foods. If you treat the dining hall as catch-up time with your friends, start with a single meal. After you have one plate of food, snack on healthier items such as carrots, broccoli or fruit while you discuss weekend hook-ups. If you keep eating fro-yo and breadsticks for three hours, you probably won't be hooking up come spring.
"Healthy" foods: I used to have an overweight friend who was trying to lose those extra pounds. She thought that if she ate healthy foods and worked out, she'd be fit in no time. The exercise was great, but what she didn't understand was that healthy does not equal low-fat. Sure, those granola bars at Hodgdon are healthy, but they still have six grams of fat and 180 calories.
Then there are the Odwalla smoothies at the campus center: they may have antioxidants and vitamin C, but drinks like Mango Tango and C-Monster have over 200 calories! Even "good fats," such as peanuts and avocados, are only good in moderation.
So next time you pick up a "healthy" snack, make sure to glance over the nutritional information. If you're going to eat a sports bar with ten grams of fat, you might as well indulge in that brownie you've been craving all week.
Cold nights: It's easy staying thin during the summer: It's too hot outside to fathom eating anything but salads, smoothies and sushi. But as the frosty air sets in, most of us crave comfort food. We put Espressos on speed dial and head to Costco for boxes of Top Ramen and Easy Mac.
But after a month of indulging in creamy cheese and steaming hot dough, we begin to notice that our favorite jeans are a bit too snug for comfort. Before the habit of comfort food becomes an addiction, try to stock up on lower-fat versions to warm yourself at night. Instead of consuming the six grams of fat in a single serving of Easy Mac, you can sate your sweet tooth with some warm maple syrup-flavored oatmeal that contains only two grams of fat.
Or, refrain from ordering a slice and stock up on filling soups. You can get the same taste with Campbell's microwavable Soup at Hand, now in Pizza Soup flavor. Instead of the 20-something grams of fat in a single slice of cheese, the warm tomato base will only cost you one measly gram of fat and 160 calories.
"Low-calorie" tricks: My freshman year, I was thrilled to see the non-fat frozen yogurt at Dewick. I would end each dinner with some soft-serve, which unfortunately started a horrible sweets-after-dinner habit. I figured since the dessert was non-fat and low-cal, it couldn't be that bad. My freshman 15 proved me wrong.
Sometimes, low-calorie foods can be tricky, causing you to eat more than you usually would. Last weekend, my friend devoured an entire pint of Ben and Jerry's frozen yogurt, figuring that it was the same as eating a quarter-pint of full-fat ice cream.
The Phish Food binge still cost her 20 grams of fat, which she tried to make up for by eating nothing but salad for a week. It made me think: Wouldn't it just be better to get a scoop of ice cream? Before you become a frozen-yogurt-holic, remember that no matter how low-calorie a food may be, portion control is still the answer to maintaining a healthy weight.
