Many high school students engage in some sort of fitness-related activity, whether it’s a varsity sport, a non-varsity sport, exercising just for fitness reasons, or working a job that requires physical activity. Maintaining the fitness that you’ve built throughout high school once you get to college, however, can be difficult. To stay on track, you’ve got to make a conscious effort to make staying fit a priority. Here are a few tips to help you avoid gaining weight and losing fitness.

First, it’s important to intentionally make exercising a priority. Set aside a specific amount of time every day, at the same time of day, to go for a walk, lift some weights, get on your bike, or play some pick-up basketball. If you can’t do it at the same time every day, plan your week in advance and mark the times that you’ll be physically active. It doesn’t have to be a large amount of time—the ACSM recommends 30 minutes of moderately intense cardiovascular exercise (like running, swimming, cycling, cross-country skiing, or playing a fairly intense sport) five days a week, or 20 minutes of very intense exercise three days a week (you can see the rest of their guidelines here).

Setting goals can also be a great motivator. If you know that you need to lose some weight (if you’re not sure, ask your campus nurse or consult a body mass index chart), choose a date that you’d like to complete your weight loss by. Then set intermediate goals along the way to make sure that you stay on track. Recruit your friends to help keep you focused.

One of the best ways to stay in shape is to try several new activities to keep you active and doing things that interest you. Have you ever played ultimate before? Or racquetball? Boot hockey? Give intramural sports a shot and try some things that you’ve never done before. You’ll burn a lot of calories, make some new social connections, and maybe even find a sport that you love to do.

There are many important concepts to keep in mind when trying to stay in shape—but one of the most important ones is one of the simplest. It is, in short, “Little things add up to make big differences.” Keep this in mind in your day-to-day life and you’ll find that staying in shape might be easier than you expected. Walk to class every day, instead of driving, if you live close enough to campus. If you’re going off-campus to study, walk to a nearby coffee shop. Take the stairs instead of the elevator. If you’re meeting with a classmate to talk about a project, and don’t need a computer or a great deal of paper, go on a walk instead of sitting in the library. It’s things like these that seem insignificant, but make a big difference over time. It’s all about making fitness a part of your life in college.

Getting sick during a semester can be very difficult. Not only do you miss classes, but it can be very difficult to recover, as taking time off of homework and studying isn’t really an option. Because of this, it’s important to try to stay as healthy as possible. One of the most overlooked contributors to illness is stress. Stress relief can go a long way in keeping you healthy throughout the school year. Here’s a short guide I’ve prepared for you:

1) Take time out—every day. It can be difficult to take time off of studying, paper-writing, homeworking, and socializing. In fact, if you’re not doing any of these things, you’re probably sleeping. However, it’s important to take some time out for yourself and just relax every day. Even if it’s only fifteen minutes, it can make a big difference by keeping you mentally fresh and prepared to take on the rest of your day.

2) Don’t let things get out of hand. Trying to catch up on a big pile of homework can not only be extremely stressful, but it can also keep you from getting enough sleep. The combination of these things will very often result in illness. If you stay on top of your homework assignments in the first place, you won’t have to deal with this problem. While it’s not always realistic, try to get homework done as soon as possible so that you’re not scrambling to finish it the night before it’s due.

3) Sleep. On a related note, make sure to get enough sleep. Being sleep deprived can make you irritable and less productive, both of which can contribute to stress. Getting enough sleep is often left out of students’ stress relief strategies, but it’s important to consider sleeping when you’re starting to get stressed. Even a short nap can make a big difference.

4) Find a place to get away from it all. This can be a place where you spend the time that you set aside for #1, or it can be for different occasions. Either way, make sure that you have at least one place that you can go to where there are very few people around, it’s relatively quiet, and you’re not tempted to do a bunch of things. If your campus is close to a forest or lake, these can be very good places to spend some time relaxing. Even if your campus is in the middle of a metropolis, though, there’s always somewhere that’s quiet nearby . . . you just have to find it!

5) Be aware. Perhaps the most important aspect of stress relief is staying on top of how you’re feeling. If you pay attention to how you’re thinking and acting, you can catch a buildup of stress before it turns into illness. When you feel yourself starting to get stressed, make an extra effort to take the above steps to engage your stress relief strategy. You’ll be healthier and happier for it.

Once you’ve decided (or been forced) to live on campus, you’ll need to decide if you want to buy a meal plan or make your own food. While this may seem like a simple decision, you should put some thought into it before you choose one or the other. Consider the following things when thinking about whether you should buy a meal plan.

First, think about how much effort you’re willing to put into making food. If the answer is “not much” or “none,” you’re probably better off buying a meal plan. You’ll be able to get your meals from the cafeteria without having to worry about making anything at all. This can be especially convenient during really busy times during the semester, like around mid-term and final weeks. If you choose not to buy a meal plan, be sure to understand that you’ll need to put at least some amount of effort into your meal-making (unless you plan on eating out all the time . . . which gets really expensive really fast). One of the best ways to prepare meals without feeling like you’re always in the kitchen instead of doing homework is to take a couple hours out of a Saturday or Sunday afternoon and make large batches of food. Put meal-sized portions in some plastic containers and pop them in the freezer. Whenever you need a meal, just take a container out and microwave it

Second, it’s important to understand exactly what you may or may not be getting from your meal plan. Many schools have different types of meals plans—if you plan on buying one, make sure that it fits your needs. You can usually find a variety of three-meal and two-meal-per-day plans at any school; however, your schedule may not match up with the hours of the cafeteria (especially at a smaller school where the hours may be more limited). If the meal plan just doesn’t look like it’s going to work out, think about making your own food.

Lastly, it’s important to consider the cost of buying a meal plan. This can also vary greatly between schools. Some colleges’ meals plans are very affordable, while others can be quite expensive. While it’s difficult to estimate how much you’ll spend on food if you make your own, you can try to make a rough guess and see if it will save you money (it’s fairly likely that it will). You can then decide whether saving money or saving time is more important to you.

Like many things, deciding if you should buy a meal plan is a personal decision that requires some thought. Think about the above three things, do some research, and you should be able to make a well-informed decision. Asking upper classmen is a good way to get information about your school’s meal plans and whether or not they’re a good deal.

It’s two o’clock in the morning. You’re half-done writing your paper. You’ve completely run out of ideas. It’s going to be a long night. And you’re starving.

If you haven’t found yourself in this situation yet, you probably will in the near future. And while I can’t turn back the clock, write your paper for you, or give you ideas to write about, I can certainly help you out with the last part. While you may be tempted to go to the nearest vending machine and get a candy bar or break into your last packet of ramen noodles, making a healthier choice will be much more beneficial; it’ll keep your energy up without making you crash really hard right before you write your conclusion (and the sun comes up).

One of the most under-utilized health dorm snacks is trail mix. You can buy bags of pre-mixed mix, or make trail mix yourself, which will give you a healthier (and more customized) result. Unsalted peanuts, M&Ms, raisins, dried cranberries, pretzels, pieces of cereal . . . you really can put in whatever you’d like. Just try to balance really sugary items with healthier ones that contain fiber, like the peanuts. Trail mix can be very calorie-dense, but it’s also very filling, so grab a handful and keep writing!

Although they’re probably not your snack of choice, it’s hard to deny that vegetables are very effective in curbing midnight hunter cravings. Because of their high water and fiber content, vegetables make great healthy dorm snacks. If you have a refrigerator in your dorm, throw a bag or baby carrots or grape tomatoes in a plastic bag and snag a few when your stomach starts rumbling. They’ll keep you satisfied until you finish your paper and go out for a celebratory pizza.

Fruit is just as effective as vegetables are—when you need a quick pick-me-up, grab an apple or a banana instead of something with a lot of refined sugar. The natural sugars will give you a little energy boost without the extra calories and preservatives that you’ll find in more processed alternatives.

If you were to poll every college graduate and ask them what they couldn’t have lived without in their dorm, I would be willing to bet that one of the top answers would be peanut butter. On bread, a tortilla, a piece of fruit, or straight from the jar, peanut butter is a wonderful healthy dorm snack. It’s a little high in fat, but as long as you moderate your intake, you won’t have anything to worry about. Like the above items, it’s filling and provides you with a few essential nutrients. The biggest benefit of peanut butter is the protein that it contains; this will fill your stomach and help keep your energy up. You can put peanut butter on just about anything. If it’s edible (and in many cases, even if not), trust me, peanut butter has been put on it.

This is just a small list—healthy dorm snacks can be found all over the place. You’ll quickly figure out which snacks keep you in the energy boost-crash cycle; avoid these and go for healthier options.

While getting sick is never any fun, it can be a lot worse if it comes at a bad time. Some of the worst times include spring break, the day before a big test or presentation, and, worst of all, during finals week. Being sick during your finals can be very detrimental to your grades, as it’s difficult to study and concentrate on your tests. If you want to make sure that you stay healthy during finals, keep the following tips in mind.

Although you can pick up an infection at any time, you’re much more likely to if you’re stressed. The weeks leading up to finals are some of the most stressful of the year, increasing your chances of contracting an illness. During these weeks, then, it’s very important to keep your stress in check. Make sure to get outside every day for a little while, to take breaks from studying at regular intervals, to spend time with your friends, and above all, not to cram. Staying up really late studying for a test coming up the next day not only stresses you out, but also makes you tired, doubly increasing your chances of illness.

Make sure to get enough sleep. Just as too much stress weakens your immune system, so does a lack of sleep. Try to get eight hours every night; if you can’t get eight, then get as many as you can, and catch up on the weekends. If you’re really tired, you won’t be able to properly function, severely limiting your both your ability to stay healthy during finals and the effectiveness of your studying.

Pay attention to your diet. Diet is always important, but when you’re doing everything that you can to keep from getting sick, you should pay special attention to it. Make sure that you’re getting enough B and C vitamins; have at least three servings of fruits and vegetables each day. Taking multivitamins or supplements such as Airborne or cod liver oil may be effective in preventing the contraction of a cold.

Many students are unable to stay healthy during finals; because of this, you may be exposed to many people who are fighting an infection or have already developed a cold. It’s important to minimize the risk that these people pose to you by limiting your exposure. Try to avoid being very close to others, especially if you know that they are or have recently been ill. Being in close quarters with a large number of other people should be avoided. Places like libraries and coffee shops, unless you can maintain enough space between you and the others studying there, can be dangerous.

If you think that you may have caught something, check your symptoms on sites like WebMD. If you have symptoms indicating a common cold, take DayQuil or Tylenol Cold and get as much rest as possible. If your symptoms indicate something more serious, see a medical professional immediately. Most campuses have nurses or nurse practitioners onsite to help students with issues such as this.