Whether you are attending a traditional college or not, the same bad habits can creep into your lifestyle. The addition of feeling rushed, overwhelmed, tired and stressed can alter a person’s eating style the most. Eating foods such as salads, Organic, and fruit have turned into eating fast food, burgers, and drinking soda. These poor eating habits could turn what used to be a healthy lifestyle into one that relies heavily on greasy, fatty foods that are not only detrimental to your health, but helps you pack on the pounds as well. This is only augmented by the fact that you are spending all of your time sitting in a computer chair while you’re attending class. So follow our 8 easy recommendations to help you keep those pounds off, help you eat healthier, and keep you more attentive for school.
- Be sure to set a good eating schedule. Eating at odd hours of the night, or eating lunch at 3pm is not good for your body. Try to eat dinner before you begin class at 6pm, or eat a small snack to hold you over. If not, you end up throwing off your metabolism schedule, and end up sleeping when you’re supposed to be active, therefore contributing to weight gain.
- Create a set time for exercising. Most likely you will be attending online classes at night, so instead of a break, take 15 minutes between lectures to exercise. Nothing too strenuous, but still something that you can feel.
- Prepare healthy snacks. Keep away from calorie ridden, processed foods. Stock your refrigerator with yogurt, fruit, and vegetable snacks, so that you can grab them before you get online.
- Stay away from soda or alcohol. The main culprit in contributing to weight gain, this is true when taking online classes. With hours spent sitting on the chair, you don’t need to be filling your body with the building blocks for diabetes. Instead, grab for water or electrolyte enhanced sport drinks.
- Stand up and stretch when needed. Don’t stress your body out by confining yourself to a chair. The professor can’t see you, so stand up every 30 minutes just to stretch, all while paying attention to that online lecture. This definitely helps circulation, and helps keep you attentive for longer periods of time.
- Look for support. Your online classes have bulletin boards where you can interact with other students. Obtain their information, and when its time, a friendly text message reminder to stretch or exercise can go a long way in maintaining your weight.
- Don’t worry about missed days. If you obsess over a missed day, you spend more energy obsessing needlessly, where you could have applied that energy online in class. So if you miss a day, just make sure you go back on that schedule the next.
- Sleep. Sleep is the only way your body recharges. Even if you have an exam or report due the next day, at least 6 hours of sleep a night, while not the optimal 8 hours, is still better than any lack of sleep. This also helps you be more refreshed in the morning, so you can finish your task at hand.
