College is arguably the best time to start developing healthy habits that you can follow for life.

Among these habits are exercise, healthy eating, developing meaningful friendships, etc. College can also be a good time to start working on culinary skills, learning how to manage stress, etc , especially around exam period. 

While learning to become self-sufficient, healthy and independent does require some effort, I have compiled a list of tips for college students to become fit-adults that are real-world ready and mentally prepared for a life-long journey of gains and longevity. 

Fit College Student Tip #1: Develop health-related goals early. 

If your goal is to become physically strong or to lose weight, write it down and start working towards it at an early age.

 There will always be a little voice at the back of your head telling you to start later, I suggest that you ignore it as that voice will always be there regardless of age/training experience. Just start, future you will be louder than the voice and you will be thankful that you did. 

Fit College Student Tip #2:  Stress is the enemy of improved performance, reduce it any cost. 

When I was in college, I realized how exam-related stress really hindered strength performance in compound lifts, primarily, stress  reduced my ability to recover from my previous workout. 

My Advice: A healthy lifestyle should feel nurturing, if it feels wrong and even painful to follow a particular training program or a fat loss endeavor suggested by a friend, my advice is to trust where the pain is coming from and stop.

College or not, stress will always be an uncomfortable friend waiting to pounce at you so consciously aim for a balanced and healthy lifestyle by nurturing yourself above the training program.

College Student Tip #3: Have a Vision. 

Once you become very specific about how you want to look, and how you want to feel about yourself, take it seriously. Do not get side-tracked by fads on Instagram as they come and go. 

Relating to fitness and lifestyle, your vision should be of you at your best. How does your best self perform? How often does he/she train? Are you process or result-oriented? Ask yourself these questions all of the time, never stop questioning your process. 

Fit College Student Tip #4: Make every meal about nurturing your body, not about starving/over-feeding it. 

Whether your goal is to shape your muscles or to lose fat, make your body a safe place, and make sure that your meals are centered around cooked and unprocessed foods. 

If you are on a budget, try to make at least one healthy food choice on that day, and build from there. Eat one piece of fruit, or drink 8 glasses of water the whole day, make your goals small and achievable.