weight loss or gain?

Old Jun 8th, 2006, 01:26 PM
  #1  
Original Poster
 
Join Date: Jun 2006
Posts: 10
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
weight loss or gain?

do students typically gain weight or lose weight when traveling/studying abroad? ;P
1crystal is offline  
Old Jun 8th, 2006, 01:46 PM
  #2  
 
Join Date: Jan 2006
Posts: 1,880
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
It's been a while since I was a student but I always drop a few pounds when away because of all the walking.
laartista is offline  
Old Jun 8th, 2006, 01:51 PM
  #3  
 
Join Date: Feb 2006
Posts: 846
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
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.

saps is offline  
Old Jun 8th, 2006, 01:54 PM
  #4  
 
Join Date: Feb 2004
Posts: 23,073
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
For Americans studying abroad, they lose weight.

For everybody else coming to study in the US, they gain weight.
rkkwan is offline  
Old Jun 8th, 2006, 02:07 PM
  #5  
 
Join Date: Jun 2006
Posts: 186
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
What's the age range of the "student"?
mikeyb is offline  
Old Jun 8th, 2006, 05:50 PM
  #6  
 
Join Date: Feb 2006
Posts: 66
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
When I was in Italy in college I gained 10 pounds in 3 months- too many plates of pasta- and excellent pastries!
mamaj is offline  
Old Jun 8th, 2006, 06:04 PM
  #7  
 
Join Date: Mar 2004
Posts: 37,415
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
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.
crefloors is offline  
Old Jun 9th, 2006, 01:02 AM
  #8  
 
Join Date: Jan 2003
Posts: 1,705
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
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.
elina is offline  
Old Jun 9th, 2006, 04:22 AM
  #9  
ira
 
Join Date: Jan 2003
Posts: 74,699
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
I lose weight in France and Italy; gain weight in the UK, Austria and Germany; come out even in Scandinavia.

ira is offline  
Old Jun 9th, 2006, 04:48 AM
  #10  
 
Join Date: Nov 2005
Posts: 722
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
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!
StephCar is offline  
Old Jun 9th, 2006, 06:38 AM
  #11  
 
Join Date: Feb 2004
Posts: 6,134
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
I gained weight. Too much time in the library and little or no exercise.
historytraveler is offline  
Old Jan 5th, 2007, 12:08 PM
  #12  
 
Join Date: Sep 2006
Posts: 1,069
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
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.
halfapair is offline  
Old Jan 5th, 2007, 12:23 PM
  #13  
 
Join Date: Apr 2003
Posts: 19,419
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
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.
FainaAgain is offline  
Old Jan 5th, 2007, 12:24 PM
  #14  
 
Join Date: Nov 2005
Posts: 2,674
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
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.
lizziea06 is offline  
Old Jan 5th, 2007, 12:44 PM
  #15  
 
Join Date: Dec 2006
Posts: 34
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
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.
coffeetoffee646 is offline  
Old Jan 5th, 2007, 01:27 PM
  #16  
 
Join Date: Sep 2005
Posts: 140
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
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!
stellamarina is offline  
Old Jan 6th, 2007, 07:09 AM
  #17  
 
Join Date: Sep 2005
Posts: 794
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
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 )
lucielou is offline  
Old Jan 6th, 2007, 08:00 AM
  #18  
 
Join Date: Aug 2004
Posts: 4,667
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
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.
walkinaround is offline  
Old Sep 13th, 2009, 05:04 PM
  #19  
 
Join Date: Sep 2009
Posts: 1
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
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.
Sunflyer40 is offline  
Old Sep 8th, 2012, 01:46 AM
  #20  
 
Join Date: Sep 2012
Posts: 1
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
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!
GeraldineDladla is offline  

Thread Tools
Search this Thread

Contact Us - Manage Preferences - Archive - Advertising - Cookie Policy - Privacy Statement - Do Not Sell or Share My Personal Information -