“I’d been overweight for so much of my life, ” says Jenkins, who at the time was a 278-pound freshman at East Tennessee State University. “I never had a specific weight goal other than to get below 200. I did want to be a size 8 in jeans, though.”
We’ll spoil the story a bit: She got there. It was enough of a life-changing experience that she changed her career plans midway through college. That she became something of a media darling this past spring didn’t hurt either — it just affirmed she made the right choice.
“My parents didn’t have a lot of nutritional knowledge, ” Hannah explains. “Meals at home were frozen convenience foods like burritos, fries, corn dogs and chicken patties. We always had lots of junk food around the house like Little Debbies and chips and ate whatever and whenever we wanted. In the South, it’s acceptable to be overweight.”
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But she didn’t like the way it felt, inside or out. “When you’re overweight and someone’s talking about someone else who’s overweight, I felt ashamed, ” she says. “You think people are talking about you.”
So she started working out at the campus gym. “I thought you lost weight by exercising, ” she says. “But when I took the time to research, I learned exercise is just one part of it. So I started counting calories in my head.”
Everything clicked when she found MyFitnessPal. Jenkins was able to log her meals and exercise in the same place instead of keeping track of calories, carbs and sugar on her own. And if she had a craving for sour Skittles, her favorite, she could check her sugar intake with a few quick clicks.
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While fellow freshmen were gaining the stereotypical 15 pounds, Jenkins dropped a significant amount of weight between New Year’s and summer — and went home looking and feeling a lot different than she had when she left.
“I didn’t weigh myself until January of the next year, ” says Jenkins, who currently weighs 175. “I’m the kind of person who can be discouraged by the scale if I don’t see it going down as quickly as I want, so I decided not to weigh myself until I was 100 percent ready to see what that number was.”
But losing weight affected more than her health and appearance. Toward the end of her sophomore year, Jenkins decided mass communications wasn’t her path and changed her major.
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“It hit me that I wanted to switch to nutrition when I realized what a huge impact learning about nutrition had on my life, ” she says. “I wanted to share that knowledge with others so I could help others change for the better, too.”
Jenkins’ two favorite classes were human metabolism and nutritional biochemistry, where she learned about how the body breaks down food for energy.
“It was eye-opening to learn how the body can use healthy foods like veggies and what happens when we eat not-so-healthy foods like cheeseburgers, ” she says. “The classes really helped me view food as fuel rather than a source of entertainment or comfort.”
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And they inspired her to keep the weight off. “I realized that, as a nutritionist, people would be looking to me for advice, ” she says. “Nobody would want advice on how to lose weight from a nutritionist who doesn’t look like they’re at a healthy weight themselves.”
Though Jenkins lost the weight three years ago, recent features in People , on MSN.com and SFGate have celebrated her accomplishments — and given her new opportunities to help others.
“I’m almost more appreciative to have the attention now because it shows I lost the weight and kept it off, ” she says. “I’ve had many girls reach out on social media to say I’ve inspired them to lose weight or get healthier. Most had no idea how to lose weight or how important it is to track calories. Most people seemed to want to hear I had some sort of special secret to weight loss, but at the end of the day, it’s all about burning more than you’re taking in.”
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Three people can already attest to her combination of education and experience: Jenkins’ father, twin sister and younger sister have lost a collective 276 pounds, all inspired by her hard work.
“I’m focused on getting stronger and becoming more well-rounded in my fitness routine, ” she says. “Right now, my goal is to be able to do a pullup. My ultimate career goal is to work with overweight children and teens. Going through childhood overweight is not fun and I want to help other children not have to go through what I did.”
Danny Bonvissuto Danny loves words, writing for a living, independent bookstores, chips, salsa and queso, sunshine, jeans, tank tops and running — but only if ’80s rock is involved. Her goals include growing out her gray hair, writing a book of short stories and taking hip-hop dance lessons. Her work has appeared in Food & Wine, Travel + Leisure, Food Network Magazine, HGTV, WebMD and Plate magazine.With a change in willpower and motivation, it is perfectly possible to lose weight in college through exercise and a healthy diet. The so-called “freshman 15” doesn’t have to be a permanent part of the college experience, nor do your diet and exercise have to be so intense as to interfere with your studies and social life. In fact, there are many myths and untruths circulating on the Internet about the difficulty of weight loss or the need for drastic measures in order to lose weight in college. If you’re willing to stick to the basics, and following a few great tips and tricks, you should be well on your way.
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If you are serious about losing weight, one of the best places to start is by planning your meals. Whether that means meal-prepping your meals in advance, or doing the chopping and supermarket shopping only (and cooking fresh food at every meal) is up to you. But knowing what you’re going to eat before you actually get hungry will go a very long way towards making sure you’re filling up on the right foods every time (or almost!).
Try batch cooking quick meals that are balanced in macronutrients (carbs, fats and proteins) in order to give your brain what it needs to study and learn. Feeling hungry or not-quite-satisfied are a fast road to distractibility and poor concentration, things you especially can’t afford as a college student. That’s not to mention that faddy, low-carb diets involve lengthy adjustment periods—and excess protein consumption is not sustainable or healthy for organs like your kidneys.
Phase out bad habits slowly. If you’re used to eating a lot of fat or sugary foods, aim for a gradual reduction, and substitution, rather than a cold turkey approach.
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If you’re not sure how to create balanced meals, turn to what works and is science-based: Canada’s Food Guide is a great resource. The guide is created and reviewed by dieticians whose recommendations come from the available evidence on human nutrition. The Food Guide’s website also contains plenty of easy-to-make, nutritious recipes.
Whether it’s to lose weight in college, maintain your current weight, or achieve a general feeling of well-being (my main reason for doing the following), start including fermented drinks and foods in your diet. Ferments are rich in probiotics, and our species has been consuming them from time immemorial. Some evidence suggests that probiotics play a role in your weight by, in part, modulating your cravings! If you’ve been on a beer and pizza diet, chances are your gut bacteria aren’t the healthiest bunch, either. But there are things you can do to change that.
I personally love to start the morning with a small shot of raw, unfiltered apple cider vinegar, either with a 1/3 cup of organic apple juice or just some lukewarm water. I also enjoy drinking kombucha, fermented tea, and occasionally eating sour kraut and vegetarian kimchi. Most supermarkets now also carry plant-based yoghurts, which are cultured in a similar way to dairy-based ones and are good for your gut!
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Healthy eating and exercising go hand in hand. Not only does exercise burn calories directly, but it also reduces stress—which might make you less likely to crave sugary foods.
Find a type of exercise that feels good to you, is really accessible at the drop of a dime, and makes you feel great (you’ll be more likely to go back to it). The daily exercise recommendation might be something like 60-90 minutes a day, but if you’re just starting out a
You’re not doing just 20 minutes because you’re incapable of going for 60 or 90 instead, but because building habits is really tough business, especially with an important academic commitment in your life. Therefore, set yourself up for success by making your new fitness routine less intrusive to the lifestyle you have already been living! You can do that in a couple of ways.
How To Lose Weight While In College
The second way to make your fitness routine is unintrusive is to tack it onto another habit. This one’s a trick I
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