Have You Ever Heard Of The Freshman 15
By Jess Shaw
It’s a fairly accepted ‘fact’ among college age women that they will gain weight their first year away from home. It’s so well accepted, in fact, that nearly anyone will know immediately what you mean when you refer to the ‘Freshman 15′. The research doesn’t quite bear it out, though. One study conducted 15 years ago found that incoming freshman did gain weight at higher rates than their peers who did not attend college, but the average weight gain for the stressful freshman year was 7 pounds, less than half the mythical 15 pounds they’d been told to expect. Even more encouraging is that a more recent study of college weight gain monitored the weight and body fat of freshman women. More than half the students put on weight, but for most it was less than five pounds. One third of the students lost weight. Interestingly, those students who most worried about gaining weight believed that they had gained weight even when the scales showed that they hadn’t. If you’re concerned about gaining weight in that first year away from home, here are some concrete suggestions that can help you avoid the dreaded Freshman 15. Adopt a Healthy Attitude Toward Food.
Researchers place part of the blame for the Freshman 15 on the tendency to turn to food for comfort. In an unfamiliar setting, with new stresses and new worries, students may turn to the familiar foods that make them feel good to help them get through. Train yourself to eat when hungry - and deal with stress through other means. De-stress.
The corollary to the statement above is that the less you allow changes and worries to affect you, the less stress you’ll have to deal with. One of the best ways to stress-proof your body is by eating a healthy diet. Regular exercise and making sure you get enough sleep play a big part, too. When you’re body is well-nourished and well-rested, you’ll find it much easier to deal with stress without resorting to major snacking. Watch out for the parties.
Away from parental supervision for the first time, many college age students give in to the urge to party. Try to keep in mind that beer, even light beer, has 100 calories per every 12 ounces that you drink. You’re also a whole lot more likely to snack on high fat junk food like chips when you’re drinking. As for other drugs - there are all sorts of reasons not to smoke. Add the fact that it’s fattening to the list. Exercise.
Take advantage of the gym facilities and any student privileges you might have by getting regular workouts. Swimming, tennis, aerobics - any sport that you play, any activity that you do will both burn calories, and help reduce the stress of your first year at school. Socialize.
Find a group of friends and be a part of it. The more you feel like you belong, the less you’ll be missing home, and the less you’ll be snacking to make up for it. The Freshman 15 isn’t inevitable. Just remember to eat healthy, exercise, sleep well and have fun. The weight loss will take care of itself.
Learn about temporal arthritis and spinal arthritis at the Health And Nutrition site.
Yes To Limiting Top Executives Compensation
By Debra L. Morrison
I was particularly encouraged by the top executive compensation limits set forth in the Stimulus Plan, yet dismayed when they were eliminated or watered down.
The Stimulus Plan passed by a 246-183 and a 60-38 margin in the House and Senate respectively. Although Republicans Collins, Spechter and Snow all were instrumental in hammering out several compromises, nary a House Republican cast a FOR vote; some predicting ruin if it passed.
Are we not IN a ruinous condition? Haven’t these same Republicans asked an unemployed person, uninsured family or elderly citizen eating cat food recently how they’re doing?
If it wasn’t such a serious situation I might have been amused to read of worry there’ll be a brain drain on Wall Street, if top level executive comp was limited. Recently insiders’ voiced concerns that excessive taxes being voted upon AIG’s & Merrill Lynch’s top officials’ retention bonuses were somehow unfair.
Responding to our government’s attempts to reclaim $4.4 million of retention bonuses for Freddie Mac & Fannie Mae’s four top executives, Federal Housing Finance Agency Director James Lockhart said, “We run a great risk of these same employees deciding this is the last straw and walking away.”
Many Americans who do theirs, and also the work of those laid off, could easily cop the “last straw” excuse, but do not. Yet according to their annual Securities and Exchange Commission report, Fannie Mae apparently paid their Deputy Chief Financial Officer a tidy $1.1 million retention bonus AND an additional $160,000 cash bonus for filing their financial statements on time. Call me old fashioned, but I remember times when if you didn’t do your job on time you were demoted or fired.
With all due respect, Mr. Lockhart, just where would these overpaid executives of failed agencies “walk” to? Last I looked, a fair amount of unemployment has set up camp, and hedge fund managers-the once easy fall back position from corporate America-are in line to buy tents.
Apparently there is a growing belief that there aren’t any top level executives out there with a desire to return to some semblance of integrity, who would gain pride-yes other types of gains do exist besides the almighty greenback–in being instrumental in breathing new life into our once proud, now dilapidated, financial institutions.
Michael S. Melbinger, an executive compensation lawyer at Winsteon & Strawn in Chicago commented on the Stimulus Plan’s proposed top executive pay limitations, “There is no pay for performance in this.” Have we not already issued FAR too much pay for FAR too little performance for FAR too many years on Wall Street?
Are there no motivated individuals whom may be enticed with the near promise of fame and future book or movie deals (that would surely provide more wealth than an annual salary OR bonus) when they put their shoulder to the grindstone and lifted their companies out of the ashes and into a Phoenix state? Might even a few talented individuals remain of the Warren Buffet ilk-in 2008 he received the same $100,000 of base salary he has for 25 years, and $25,000 of director fees– that would be motivated by their good name being upheld, or their not-so-good name being raised up a notch or two, when they performed?
Yes, President Obama’s admonition for us all to “pitch in” applies even to top executives. It’s time they use their brains for a tiny bit more than their family’s luxury ski trips and ultra (not-green) fleets of bling-bling cars and otherwise opulent life styles, and roll up their sleeves to restore even a modicum of consumer confidence in the system.
Not only would this be smart, it may better ensure that we don’t touch off class wars. The middle class is shrinking rapidly. There’s a clearer distinction between the haves and the have nots; and the have nots are restless.
So not just is it moral to provide hope for hard working Americans, it is economically essential to stop the horrifically steep increases in unemployment. Let’s get people back to work. Some of them are downright hungry; some justifiably angry. For those of us with jobs and food, we’re looking for some measure of controls on those whose appetite for unlimited personal gain is apparently unrequited.
As a financial advisor, I’d be grateful for some signs that our government is strengthening Wall Street, so that I could encourage people to “invest in the stock of America” again.
Absent that confidence, the employed Larry Lunch buckets and Nancy Nurses will park their 401(k) or 403(b) in a fixed income sub-account. Not only will that not hasten the stock markets’ recovery, but it will be damning to their long-term purchasing power; very possibly translate into them having to work another 10 years just to make up the lost performance compared to that of stocks, at least historically speaking.
Apparently the big fear is that companies whose executives are greedy beyond words (OR works) will seek to repay TARP monies soonest so they can be out-from-under the new executive compensation restrictions. Then, the fear continues, particularly banks could restrict the flow of loans, etc., that were designed to increase liquidity into the system-you know, Main Street.
Clearly they forgot to insert the “instructions for use” page into the TARP check envelopes; the ones where the banks were supposed to be lending to mom and pop America, not sucking up other foreign or domestic financial institutions to buttress their balance sheets, or worse yet, pay themselves big year-end bonuses. Remind me, how then would the non-flow of monies stop if TARP monies were to be repaid?
Failed companies’ top execs need to admit to themselves and their families they weren’t worth those groups of zeroes, nor will they receive such disproportionate compensation for horrific performance going forward. They’ll perform in a fiduciary capacity and take what the shareholders feel is commensurate to their performance for the next 2 years. They’ll acknowledge this will indeed involve a lifestyle adjustment–something they could receive free training on, from droves of other executives laid off even since September 2008.
There’s no silver bullet; yet there’s a hole in our collective row boat. We can’t waste time fussing about whose end it’s in; start bailing. The votes have been cast; a Stimulus Bill has passed. There’s no time for smug, “I’m not responsible cause I didn’t vote for it” excuses. If there’s anything I hate it’s a quitter, worse yet a sore loser, or a person who refuses to entertain an idea that didn’t originate in their own corpus collosum. Let all that rationale comprise your campaign rhetoric next election. In the meantime, roll up your sleeves as elected politicians and work till the job is done.
What history will report on, is who did what to contribute to sound legislation to monitor the use of these Stimulus Plan funds; best ensuring that the end result is not perfect, yet the most favorable, towards solving America’s biggest problems.
This country, its citizens, and their financial health and hopes rest on your bi-partisan cooperation.
Debra L. Morrison, CFP, MS, AEP is a sought after international motivational speaker who motivates audiences of mature women to master their finances, through generous helpings of humor and analogy.
