Going into my freshman year of college, I was all about my fitness. I was NOT going to be a victim of the freshman fifteen. I had many older friends fall to the horrid fate of the fifteen, and I wanted no part of it.

Sadly, my fate was shortly decided. I became a member of the freshman fifteen club, then the freshman twenty, and before I knew it I had graduated into the freshman ninety club. That’s right. NINETY POUNDS. By the beginning of the fall semester I had put on a whopping ninety pounds, despite my countless diets and trips to the fitness center. Hills became steeper, stairs longer, and clothes tighter.

Even though all of this was happening, I never really thought about it. I knew I was gaining the weight, but that’s all it was to me. Weight. It wasn’t until my mother had “subtly” mentioned it, that I really thought about it. A few weeks later I went to the doctors, and that’s when it all went downhill. I have a chronic disease, hypothyroidism. Typically, it is genetic. But lucky for me, I was the trend setter in my family. I was the first one with this diagnosis as far as we were able to date back. Look at me go! Along with the lovely weight gain, there was the lists of chronics -- fatigue, dry skin, jaundice, sciatica. Then there were the fragile nail beds, the thinning hair, the constant chills and the list goes on and on.

No one plans on getting sick, especially during their freshman year of college. That’s supposed to be the time where we find ourselves, join some clubs, pledge a sorority/fraternity, play an intramural sport -- HAVE FUN. Well sadly, for some of us, our health decides otherwise, even without our permission. I didn’t think about my health. I ate right and exercised, but even with all the warning signs, I ignored something that my body was telling me not to, and it ended with me being chronically ill for the rest of my life. And yes, I do now have somewhat of a routine and I am on medication to try and help with some things. But my body will never reach its full potential because I decided being a freshman and getting drunk every weekend was so much better than going to the doctor's office.

So in short, if there is one piece of advice I can give you, it’s this -- don’t ignore your body. It is your temple, and you need to take care of it. If there are warning signs, follow them. You don’t want to end up at age 22 and 220 pounds, regretting life because you decided a frat party and a beer was so much better than your health.