College Student Health (Out of Class story article)

College, most would say it’s a good time. But can simply living on campus affect your weight? The change in one’s exercising lifestyle while on campus, college students say, is challenging.

                

The lifestyle change between living at home and coming back to campus after the summer is over, or even coming to a college campus for the first time, is a process that some students and trainers would consider to be difficult.

Students may feel that the abundance of food or lack of routine is responsible for the common dilemma.

               

  Hunter Cusick is an NASM Certified Personal Trainer at IM West on the Michigan State University campus in East Lansing, Michigan.

                

He says that he receives a “surplus of clients” during the school year. He states that he usually receives no more than five clients during the summer months and receives and ‘influx of clients,” once the school year starts back up again.

                

Cusick credits the trends in clients to students who may feel more obligated to make an “impression” when back on campus and surrounded by other students.

                

Though Cusick believes that being at school adds more of an incentive to exercise and eat healthy more so than being at home, some students themselves also note the abundance of food on campus may hinder that as well.

               

Malcym Carroll, a Sophomore at Michigan State University, says “I’ve heard of the Freshman 15,” a term that describes the weight gain struggles that students fresh out of high school may face when adjusting to life on a college campus.

                

Carroll however, talks about how he’s “surprisingly,” lost weight since attending college. He describes how he personally was more “cautious” of the foods he ate when he came to campus.

However, according to Carroll, he felt more obligated to lift in high school and now doesn’t lift weights as much because of the exclusivity of college sports as opposed to high school sports takes away some of the incentive to do so.

“I actually lifted a lot more in high school because I did a bunch of sports… when I got here sports are kind of exclusive,” Carroll says

Although Carroll believes there is more access to healthier foods on a college campus, he also recognizes that it requires more self-discipline to eat the right foods in order to reach or maintain a goal weight while on campus.

                

“I would say for two reasons…It’s extremely easy to get food at whatever time you feel like you want it. Second, would be self-control…at home kids have parents looking over their shoulders… when they get here…. they can eat when they want, how they want and a lot of people don’t know how to control that.” Carroll says.

                

Johnathon Finch, a Sophomore at Michigan State University, believes there’s an abundance of foods on campus that “inhibits” students from reaching or maintaining their ideal weight.

                

“The café has tons of healthy food… but then the café also has a lot of good tasting stuff like French fries and dessert and ice cream which kind of inhibits the ability to reach my fitness goals.” Finch says.

                

Finch also highlights how being able to buy his own groceries when at home may factor what is available to eat and therefore keeps him from buying what he describes as the “bad food”

The surplus of food, although a large factor into the weight fluctuation of students when on a college campus, is not the only factor according to students.

                

Finch believes that lack of obligation to exercise and to eat healthy stems from other “distractions” on a college campus that aren’t necessarily food related.

                

“School of course is always something that gets in the way… during the summer I work a structured shift… it’s really easy to plan my workout.” Finch says.

               

Finch compared living at home over the summer to living on campus.

                

“On campus I guess it’s a little more difficult because Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday I have a different kind of schedule everyday… it’s hard to get into a flow of working out and eating healthy.” Finch says.

                

In terms of access to things that provide you with physical activity however, students and trainers believes that there is more access to it on a college campus than at home.

                

“I definitely feel like there’s way more access here,” Finch says referring to Michigan State University. “I can go to the gym anytime, I can go to the café anytime and get the healthy foods,” Finch says.

                

“People have an extensive amount of walking here,” Says Cusick in reference to students who may have to walk to their destinations on campus more so than they would at home.

                

“The amount of calories burned at college alone, regardless of physical activity, at a minimum is increased substantially as opposed to the summer,” Cusick says.