3 Ways To Manage Your Daily Calorie Budget - Part 3: College Students
In our “3 Ways to Manage Your Daily Calorie Budget” series, we look at how you can divide your daily calorie budget, so that it fits in with your day to day life.
In the third part of this series we look at managing your daily budget in your college life. For this guide, we’re assuming that your Daily Calorie Balance Target is 2,000 Calories.
Weight Management Issues Faced by College Students:
- Lot’s of parties, “some” chance of alcohol consumption
- Lot’s of eating at night, mainly vending machine food
- Irregular sleep & meals
- Chance of “Freshman 15″ - Weight gain by being away from home for the first time in a new environment
- Mostly eating fast food
- From sports facilities at the campus to going from class to class, lot’s of opportunities to get exercise
Let’s look at 3 common scenarios for college students and see how we can divide your daily budget in each:
1. Lot’s of Fast Food:
In this option, we’ve put away 1,100 calories for your fast food meal. We’re also assuming that you’re getting an hour of daily exercise - this includes walking across campus as well as any proactive physical activity you participate in:
- 8:00 am - Breakfast - 300 Calories
- 11:00 am - Snack 1 - 200 Calories
- 2:00 pm - Fast Food - 1,100 Calories
- 6:00 pm - Snack 2 - 200 Calories
- 9:00 pm - Dinner - 300 Calories
- 11:00 pm - Snack 3 - 200 Calories
- - 1 Combined Hour of exercise - 300 Calories
Total: 2,300 - 300 = 2,000 Calories
If you believe you’re consuming more calories during parties, the exact same principle applies there as well. Simply downsize the fast food meal and move the extra calories to the party.
2. Irregular Sleep/Late Night Eating:
In this example you’re not getting regular sleep or you’re staying up late. Either way, this is resulting in eating vending machine snacks late at night. For this we’ve allocated sufficient calories throughout the day for 5 good meals plus 700 for any late night excursions:
- 8:00 am - Breakfast - 300 Calories
- 12:00 pm - Lunch - 300 Calories
- 3:00 pm - Snack 1 - 200 Calories
- 6:00 pm - Snack 2 - 200 Calories
- 9:00 pm - Dinner - 300 Calories
- 11:00 pm to 3:00 am - Late Night Eating - 700 Calories
Total: 2,000 Calories
3. No Set Schedule for Meals:
Finally, if you’re not getting regular meals throughout the day, we recommend trying to eat 300-400 calories every 3-4 hours (this is easy to remember as well: “300-400 every 3-4″). With this method, you should be able to hit your daily budget comfortably:
9:00 am - Meal 1 - 300 Calories- 12:00 pm - Meal 2 - 300 Calories
- 3:00 pm - Meal 3 - 400 Calories
- 7:00 pm - Meal 4 - 400 Calories
- 10:00 pm - Meal 5 - 300 Calories
- 1:00 am - Meal 6 - 300 Calories
Total: 2,000 Calories
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