With the start of the new year, it is highly likely that City College students are planning weight loss resolutions, but are stuck on where to start, especially with the hectic chaos that comes with the new semester. Imagine how many students had to keep circling the parking lot with no guarantee of a spot, waited 30 minutes in line to buy their books, only to walk to class in a hurry to find themselves out of breath and passing by the windows of the Life Fitness Center in the North Gym seeing students getting their sweat on, realizing that in all this craziness, they’re not keeping up with their New Year’s resolutions.
“Working out is not an easy thing,” says kinesiology professor Paul Carmazzi, who runs the Life Fitness Center (LFC) and its corresponding class Fitness 371. “We’re human beings and we have a tendency sometimes to not find the time to take care of ourselves.”
The LFC, which opened in 2009, has made improvements in about half of its students’ body compositions each semester, according to Carmazzi. Much like a typical gym, the LFC can help its users attain greater fitness through a variety of free weights, weight machines and cardiovascular workout equipment.
According to Carmazzi, most of the people who take the class are not frequent gym-goers who want to learn how to become a self-motivated exerciser.
“You’ll see people that are serious about [working out] and they’ll absolutely make gains [in fitness],” Carmazzi says.
Carmazzi also says he believes the most important part in becoming a self-managed exerciser is to write everything down.
“People are notorious for having great ideas and a great goal to get to, but they don’t write it down,” says Carmazzi. “We kind of equate it to an educational plan that students have to have with a counselor.”
Writing everything down is also important to another aspect of losing weight: what you eat.
According to nutrition professor Jessica Coppola, she says she believes that making a log of everything you eat, even logging that double-double with cheese, can make a junkie realize they need to become a fitness junkie.
Coppola directs any nutrition newbie toward myplate.gov, the reincarnation of the more commonly known food pyramid of the past. This website, Coppola explained, shows how much of the of plate should be filled with what kind of food.
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“The government does a good job of emphasizing what is the current state of nutrition,” Coppola says.
The first key point for those who want to lose weight, Coppola stresses, is to find out how much calories a person should take. This depends on the gender of the individual as well as the nutritional goals of the person.
“So the 1,200 to 1,500 [calorie range] is for the average woman trying to lose weight, and 1,500 to 1,800 is for the average man trying to lose weight,” says Coppola. “To build extra muscle tissue requires extra calories. So for example, if it takes 2,000 calories to stay even and not gain or lose [weight] then to start gaining lean muscle mass you’re going to have to eat 2,500 [calories].”
The next step, Coppola explained, is after finding a caloric intake range is to find out what kind of food is healthy to eat and how you are going to spread the calories from these food throughout the day.
“You’re getting some calories from vegetables, some from grains, some from proteins, some from fruits, a balance of different types of foods. Also some source of calcium and vitamin D,” Coppola says.
Coppola says she believes that main food resource for students on campus, The City Cafe, does a good job at providing healthy options for students. Things such as, vegetarian pizzas, fruit and sandwhiches made with whole grain bread.
Eating and exercising adequately are ultimately up to the student to make the right choices to keep up with a weight-loss resolution that can maintain a healthy lifestyle.
“The whole point of college is really to have a balance,” says Carmazzi. “ If I feel good about myself and I’m in better shape I’m going to do better in my math classes, my English classes, my science classes. There’s no question about it.”
For more information on the LFC, go to http://sccpanthers.losrios.edu/lifefitnesscenter/ or for more information on basic nutrition, go to www.myplate.gov