Your friend has just finished her freshmen year in college, and she has gained 15 pounds. Explain to your friend why her weight gain during her freshmen year is quite common, and describe how behavioral dieting will help her lose and then maintain a healthy weight

Question

What will be an ideal response?

Answer 1

Answer will include that many college freshmen gain weight rapidly during their first three months on campus (the famous "Frosh 15"). Factors that contribute to this weight gain include external eating cues, such as the availability and variety of foods, the "supermarket diet," and emotional eating. All-you-can-eat dining halls in the dorms and nighttime snacking appear to be some of the main culprits. One tends to eat more when a variety of foods are easily accessible, convenient, and low-cost as found in what scientists call the "supermarket diet," which includes foods with high fat content, such as cookies, cheese, and peanut butter. College students also eat out a great deal at restaurants, which usually serve high-fat foods and larger portions. The presence of others can also affect whether people overeat (or under eat) depending on how much everyone else is eating and how important it is to impress them. One also eats more when emotionally upset, whether one is depressed or anxious, two emotions that are quite common on a college campus. These young people are also body conscious, so being overweight in a fat-conscious culture will lead to emotional distress and more overeating. Answer will include that if you really want to lose weight you must overhaul your eating habits. The following are some helpful behavioral techniques. (1) Get yourself committed to weight loss. Involve other people in your efforts. Programs, such as Overeaters Anonymous or Take Off Pounds Sensibly can be a good source of support. (2) Exercise: No diet can succeed for long without an increase in exercise, because exercise burns calories. The more frequently and vigorously you exercise, the more weight you will lose. (3) Learn your eating habits by observing yourself and keeping a "diet diary.". Begin by making a complete two-week record of when and where you eat, what you eat, and the feelings and events that occur just before and after eating. (4) Learn to weaken your personal eating cues. When you have learned when and where you do most of your eating, avoid these situations. Try to restrict your eating to one room, and do not read, watch TV, study, or talk on the phone while eating. Require yourself to interrupt what you are doing in order to eat. (5) Count calories, but don't starve yourself. To lose, you must eat less, and calories allow you to keep a record of your food intake. If you have trouble eating less every day, try dieting four days a week. People who diet intensely every other day lose as much as those who diet moderately every day. (6) Develop techniques to control the act of eating. Begin by taking smaller portions. Carry to the table only what you plan to eat. Put all other food away before leaving the kitchen. Eat slowly, sip water between bites of food, leave food on your plate, and stop eating before you are completely full. Be especially wary of the extra large servings at fast-food restaurants. (7) Avoid snacks. It is generally better to eat several small meals a day than three large ones because more calories are burned. However, high-calorie snacks tend to be eaten in addition to meals. If you have an impulse to snack, set a timer for 20 minutes and see if you are still hungry then. Delay the impulse to snack several times if possible. Dull your appetite by filling up on raw carrots, bouillon, water, coffee, or tea. (8) Chart you progress daily. Record your weight, the number of calories eaten, and whether you met your daily goal. Set realistic goals by cutting down on calories gradually. Losing about a pound per week is realistic, but remember, you are changing habits, not just dieting. (9) Set a "threshold" for weight control. Maintaining weight loss can be even more challenging than losing weight. It is easier to maintain weight losses if you set a regain limit of three pounds or less. In other words, if you gain more than two or three pounds, you immediately begin to make corrections in your eating habits and amount of exercise.