Body-conscious students must reconcile healthy lifestyle with poor weekend choices

In general, Loyola students prioritize physical fitness as something of substantial importance. While not all of the student population falls into the chosen elite of Division I athletes, or can boast the coveted glories of washboard abs and a five-minute mile, it's indisputable that we are a relatively body-conscious population. This isn't necessarily a bad thing; it's just a fact of reality. Like the society we have been born and bred into, we are fixated on health and appearance, and it undoubtedly plays a significant role in our eating and exercise habits.

Let's take a look at some of the most populated areas on campus. Exhibit A: the dining halls. While most of the guys on campus have no problem scarfing down an extra helping of fries or filling up their ridiculously unnecessary jumbo-sized plastic cups with all the sugary carbonated beverages their hearts desire, a lot of the girls pay careful attention to exactly what, and how much, they are eating. The line at cyclone salad is practically down the block with calorie-counters calculating fat ratios and carbohydrate percentages. The few daring enough to stand in line at W.O.W. and order chicken fingers run straight to the back of Boulder where they continue to eat their food as fast as possible - hardly enjoying it - with the hopes that no one will see them.

While the girls may pay a lot of attention to what they are eating, the guys are more interested in the physical aspects of fitness. Exhibit B: the FAC. The weight room is constantly clogged with hoards of motivated guys who are convinced that they need to get "big" in order to successfully impress one another. The male population is a varied combination of uncertified personal trainers who are well-educated in how each machine works, what days of the week what muscles should be worked on, what protein shake works best, etc. Granted, we're not assembling an army of body builders here, but most of the guys have pretty good background knowledge in how to work out. The ladies, on the other hand, stick to the things they are comfortable with: the treadmills, ellipticals and ab-room. On any given day these areas are filled to capacity and nearly impossible to approach.

These exaggerations may come off as condescending or mocking, but they are quite the opposite. This dedication to staying in shape truly embodies Loyola's mission statement and demonstrates one of our student body's integral values. But there is another thing that Loyola students greatly value: the weekends. And the social life that most Loyola students choose to partake in is the extreme opposite of their health-conscious weekdays.

The most obvious illustration of this is alcohol consumption. When your entire weekend revolves around a handful of dingy bars, it's pretty hard to worry about how many calories are being consumed. The same girls who fidget uncomfortably at the sight of a brownie down shots of vodka and mixed-drinks that are not only "empty" calories but will also undoubtedly give rise to a chain of bad decisions and years of regret. The same guys who spent an entire afternoon working on their biceps find themselves guzzling down beer after beer, pausing only to spew vomit or foul language.

However, it doesn't end here. Once the drinking is over and the bars are closed comes the inevitable: drunken food cravings. The person you found yourself fighting with over the last bicycle at the FAC is the same person you are elbowing out of the way as you throw your body vehemently over the counter at Pizza Mart. It appears that no matter what, we are fighting a losing battle.

In the end, however, it all balances out. The excessive amount of damage we subject our bodies to on the weekend is somewhat canceled out, or at least slightly alleviated, by the good intentions we dedicate ourselves to the rest of the time. Somewhere between all of this ridiculous behavior we manage to end up relatively normal, both physically and socially - although the latter is somewhat debatable. In reality, moderation is the key. We can't rank fitness or social life as significantly more important than the other, because both are necessary for surviving the college lifestyle. Plus, we'll never be able to justify this sort of conduct ever again, so we may as well enjoy it while we can and simply put in our best efforts to make the side effects a little less severe.