Second semester of my first year, I decided to fix my eating. I was carrying a few extra kilos from late-night instant noodles and skipped meals, and I thought the solution was simple: eat less, move more.
What the plan actually looked like
I dropped to roughly 1,100 calories a day. Breakfast was black coffee. Lunch was a small salad. I told myself I was being disciplined. Within three weeks I was exhausted during lectures, struggling to retain anything I read, and bingeing on whatever was in the college kitchen at midnight.
Research from the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition suggests that severe caloric restriction increases cortisol levels, which already spike during exam periods. I was adding fuel to a fire I did not understand.
The pattern I kept repeating
Restrict hard for five days. Collapse on the weekend. Feel guilty. Restrict again Monday. My weight barely changed, but my relationship with food got noticeably worse. I was obsessing over numbers instead of studying.
The lesson was not that dieting is impossible for students. It was that timing and method matter. A modest 200-300 calorie daily reduction, built around protein and whole foods, is far more sustainable than dramatic cuts. I only figured this out after speaking with a university dietitian in my second year.
This article reflects personal experience and does not constitute medical or dietary advice.