When you pictured your college experience, I bet you never imagined dieting, constant calorie counting, and endless hours on the elliptical.

Instead, you were excited for tailgating, parties, making new friends, and, in short, discovering yourself and having the time of your life while doing so. But somehow almost the entire time I was in college, my friends and I were almost constantly on some diet or another.

How did diet culture get so intertwined with the college experience? For many college is the first time you’re really in control of your choices about everything, including food and exercise. Plus, diet culture has its own term just for body changes when starting college – the Freshmen 15. Combine these and you’re set to struggle before you’ve even really started because your environment is nearly impossible to build long-term, healthy habits in.

Every restrictive diet you have ever tried has purposefully set you up to struggle and fail. The diet industry needs you to fail so you keep coming back for more. Ever notice how every few months there’s a new miracle diet to solve all your nutrition and body problems? Of course you have! And you’ve probably tried them all too.

Rather than restricting and hopping from one diet to the next for the rest of your life, building sustainable nutrition and movement behaviors around your ideal lifestyle is the long-term solution you’re looking for. This is exactly what I do with my clients.