Kansas University sophomore Perry May uses a row machine during a workout earlier this month at the Ambler Student Recreation Center.

As Kansas University students begin the fall semester this week, so does, for many of them, the weight gain that can accompany entering or returning to school.

But a few fitness and nutrition tips might be able to help avoid the trap of packing on the pounds, the most prevalent being the most common sense: Stay active and eat well.

Andrea Hudy, assistant athletic director for sport performance at KU, says that adults should get at least 150 minutes of moderate-intensity exercise a week. The American College of Sports Medicine also recommends doing the following activities two to three times a week: major muscle group training using a variety of exercises and equipment; neuromotor exercises involving balancing, agility and coordination; and flexibility exercises.

But what if students are busying studying and don’t have time to make it to the gym?

Hudy, who is also the strength coach for the KU men’s basketball team, says students can do full squats — which helps with flexibility, mobility, strength, balance and coordination — right in their dorm rooms or apartments.

“You should be able to, as an 18- to 21-year-old male or female, get into a full squat and hold it, with your hamstrings on the back of your calves, in full dead weight,” Hudy said on a recent day in her office, a poster of her nine national championship rings (one at KU; the other eight at the University of Connecticut), a sign that she knows what she’s talking about. Push-ups and pull-ups are also easy-to-do exercises that target the major muscles in a coordinated fashion, she added.

Matt Bonebrake, a nontraditional student at Kansas University, works out on an elliptical machine at the Ambler Student Recreation Center earlier this month.

Whatever you do to stay fit, Hudy says to focus on the things you’re not good at.

“You don’t want to work on your strengths. You want to expose your weaknesses and make yourself a better athlete or a better student,” she says. “By making your weaknesses stronger, that makes you function better.”

But even Hudy, an exercise guru, admits that poor nutrition is usually the biggest reason college students put on weight.

The freedom that college brings young people — freedom to eat (and drink) what they want, when they want — can often be their demise, health-wise.

“I think what happens is their whole routine changes, when they go from eating at home to moving into a new environment,” said Marty Glenn, a lecturer in nutrition at KU.

He said students, especially new ones, tend to eat — and drink alcohol — late in the day, which is an easy way to pack on the pounds.

Weight gain for college students — like the famous “freshman 15” — also happens in part because they’re at the age where their metabolism slows and their bodies stop growing, experts say.

Glenn says the easiest way to avoid putting on weight is to simply be conscious of how may calories you’re taking in. He said a good baseline for most college students to follow is 2,000 to 2,500 calories a day.

“For many of them, they’ve never counted calories before or weight gain’s never been an issue,” Glenn said. “But just being aware of how many calories you’re putting in your body helps a lot.”

Students hopefully know the food pyramid by now. If not, Glenn says to eat foods closest to their original form, including fruits and vegetables and whole grains. If you want to eat meat and dairy, go with leaner options.

Zach Davis, a nontraditional student starting his freshman year at KU this week, said he tries to burn calories by walking to the downtown bus stop rather than getting on at the one on campus.

“The small things like that make all the difference,” he said. “Oh, yeah, and a steady diet of Burrito King and Jimmy John’s — you have to do that of course.” (He does watch his portions, however.)

If this is too much information to digest for students already getting overloaded with it, staying in shape is really quite simple, no matter your situation.

“Get moving and watch what you eat,” Hudy says.