College Horror Story: Gaining Weight

The thing that scared me the most about going to college was not big scary lectures or not making friends or having to attend really lame frat parties. It was gaining weight. That was my biggest fear. Since before even leaving my house to get on a plan and fly all the way to the University of British Columbia, I had my mind set that I wasn’t going to let myself be that girl. That girl that ate midnight snacks, that girl that would exercise twice in the entire semester, that girl who would gain the infamous Freshman 15. I had already experienced that in boarding school. But that’s a whole different story.

Truth be told, I ended up following a pretty healthy life style. I exercised 4–5 times a week. I ate well. Stayed off sugary sweets and fried foods. I was doing well. Until I stepped on the scale every two weeks. The scale started going up 1–2 kilos every month. It must be muscle weight, I thought, It can’t be anything else, it just can’t. My clothes started getting smaller, I started getting bigger. It scared the living sh*t out of me.

So I went back home for the Christmas break. Turns out I had gained 7 kg in a mere five months. Well I screwed up, didn’t I? I turned to be that girl that I didn’t want to be. It was hard to stay positive about this situation. Because I had done everything I could have done. Even my nutritionist didn’t understand what was happening.

So I ended up with a really doctor. Turns out my hormones messed up when I moved from Mexico to Canada, and therefore my metabolism slowed down. A lot. I am now under treatment but this whole situation inspired me to become really aware of what I was eating, what it meant to be healthy and how I could improve my life style. Even though I am a Media Studies student, my experience has inspired me to inspire other in healthy life styles that are sometimes seen as dull and hard to follow.