weight loss or gain?
 

do students typically gain weight or lose weight when traveling/studying abroad? ;P

It's been a while since I was a student but I always drop a few pounds when away because of all the walking.

Beginning of the trip you will gain weight from spending to much money on beer.

End of the trip you will lose the weight you gained because you are broke from spending all your money on beer.

For Americans studying abroad, they lose weight.

For everybody else coming to study in the US, they gain weight.

What's the age range of the "student"?

When I was in Italy in college I gained 10 pounds in 3 months- too many plates of pasta- and excellent pastries!

My neice lost weight both times she was living in Europe. She was working in London about three years ago and came home thinner, gained the weight back, and then spent a year in school in Copenhagen and lost the weight again. She had to have her parents ship her "skinny London jeans" over to Copenhagen about two months after she got there. Her pants were falling off her. It was the walking and the fact she was poor and lived mostly on salads. Meat is VERY expensive in Copenhagen.

I suppose it depends where you live, and what is abroad to you. I live in Europe, and when I went to US as an exhange student I gained massive 18 kilos in one year. Came back home, did not diet but just ate normally, and lost it in 4 months.

I lose weight in France and Italy; gain weight in the UK, Austria and Germany; come out even in Scandinavia.

((I))

I gained at least 15 lbs, although I did not have a scale to confirm it. Instead I had a french mother who told me that I had gained weight and should watch it, all of this in French, which since it was in the middle of my 6 month stay I was not so fluent. I had to look up some of the words!!!

The most embarassing experience of my life happened shortly thereafter. I was travelling with a friend and we met some cute boys. They did not know I spoke French and said that I was pretty but
"Elle est trop grosse!" Which means I was too fat!!!! Horrid!!!!

So the morale of the story is do not eat chocolate croissants every day, along with ice cream and a ton of wine. I walked my butt off there but still managed to put on some weight.

But, I will say I lost it all and now continue to lose weight when I visit Europe. Must have been a student thing!

I gained weight. Too much time in the library and little or no exercise.

My friend studied in Europe for about 5 months. She had to carry her backpack & books starting in the UK, then Scandanavia, Eastern Europe, Greece, Italy, France and ended in Spain. She lost a bunch of weight and bought some terrific "skinny clothes" along the way. She looked GREAT when she got home. Then she gained all the weight back.

My kids lose weight while traveling. They didn't study abroad.

If significant weight loss would occur while studying, I'd think of health or emotional illness.

Everyone I knew gained weight, except my friend that went to Australia. She used some of the money that her parents gave her to get a personal trainer - ha! They drink so much and eat like crap, just like most other college students.

I went to school over in Switzerland this summer and then did a homestay in Italy and I gained weight.
After the six weeks I probably gained 5-10 lbs.
I've gotten rid of it all just by going back to school and getting in my regular rhythm.
I usually exercize everyday but in Europe I didn't, although I did walk alot. The gelato really got me.

I lost about 10 lbs during my year in Florence. We ate quite well (food was included in our tuition at the hotels we lived at) but I walked EVERYWHERE. I wish I could live like that again and be forced to walk! :)

I think most students lose weight when travelling.
I always lose weight in Paris, ( maybe its because I walk the legs off myself), but I always gain weight in Spain and Italy, (I guess its all the wine they force me to drink:) )

it's far too difficult to say. i'm sure there are plenty of both outcomes with students. europe is a big, varied place. for instance, here in the UK we have a lot of very fatty foods and if you associate with british students you might pick up on their bad eating habits.

i think your lifestyle will greatly change but it's impossible to say what will happen. maybe you drink a lot in university and you will go to a place where students drink less or maybe just the opposite. maybe you will start smoking (or less likely, stop). maybe you eat poorly now and you will go to a country that typically eats better...or just the opposite. maybe you now work out in a gym or run with friends and you will find yourselves without a gym and with few friends that run. or maybe you will take up a new team sport, or give one up.

in summary, there is absolutely no way to say what is typical.

It depends on many things if you're talking about travelling for a few months etc. If you're talking long term that is another matter. I was an exchange student in Sweden for slightly over a year and lost weight though eating more there than I ever did in the states. Came to find out there is no cane sugar in their diet (or wasn't then) add to that the fact that all excange students coming from the Scandinavian countries as excange students gained weight while living in the U.S. for a year. The Scandinavians use fructose rather than cane sugar. I saw very few over wieght Swedes while living there.

I am currently an exchange student in Austria and man oh man have i gained weight. Its sad because i had lost so much weight in South Africa prior to coming here, just to gain it all again. They have so much starchy food, too much pork, beer,and very few fibre rich foods. I was pretty much constipated when i was in my second month and now i have started jogging to lose this weight and hopefully i succeed!

My understanding is that the weight you gain is determined by your total caloric intake. Perhaps try just eating less. And selecting more salads and vegetables (there wasn't any lack of either when I was in Austria. And water is easily available as well as beer.

Oh - and I lose weight every time I go to europe for any length of time on vacation - even though I eat - and drink more than I do at home. Since I am on vacation I walk much more than is possible when sitting behind a desk 10 or 11 hours a day.

I started to write basically what nyt has and stopped myself until I had 5 minutes to kill.

You control your mouth, you control your legs. If you are the wrong weight, take every opportunity to not put stuff in the former and to to use the latter. Don't go in for crazy diets, (tomatoe, Grapefruit, technical diebetes etc). Do go in for a sensible life style and stop letting others make decisions for you.

The core question for the parents of students sending them off to college is "did I teach her/him to eat properly, exercise properly and make their own decisions. If not remedy it soon.

Now as a real test of understanding; are you typing your input sitting down or standing up? Those sitting down have made a decision as well as those standing up. If a student cannot see that they have a problem.