I previously wrote a blog post on the freshman 15 that focused on proving that it was truly a myth. I am very interested in this topic because it relates so accurately to my life currently. I actually was able to find multiple other studies that both agreed and disagreed with my research, so in this blog I will add to the support and opposition for my hypothesis from my first blog post on this topic. It is crucial to put information out that clarifies the freshman 15 is a myth because so many people do not try to maintain a healthy lifestyle when they enter college because they accept that the freshman weight gain is unavoidable.
The US National Library of Medicine preformed an online survey that examined the freshman 15 more closely because they too recognized the lack of evidence supporting this phenomenon. The objective of the research is to “determine whether college students gain weight during freshman year.” An online survey was used to collect the information on weight gain and social behaviors. A possible problem with this method is voluntary response bias and could cause more extreme results. Even with the risk of bias, the results showed an average weight gain of 2.7 lbs. accompanied by 15% of the students actually lost weight. While the study did conclude that in general college student weight gain was 5.5 times greater than the general public, the average weight gain was only about 3 pounds, contrary to the dreaded 15 pounds.
Statistics is another way researchers extract information from samples, like groups of college students. The website statcrunch.com performed a confidence interval of the average weight gain using a volunteer study. The confidence interval did not contain the typical 15 lbs. weight gain that is expected, and it was actually lower and closer to 2.60 lbs. The confidence interval confirmed the idea that the freshman 15 is a myth because in actuality the weight gain was way less than 15 pounds. These results were lower than expected because college freshman gaining 15 pounds is the anticipated weight gain as advertised by social media.
In a meta-analysis of multiple different college weight gain studies I found some support on the freshman 15. The meta-analysis scanned through 6 databases and found all the studies that focused on weight gain for college freshman. The study assessed and extracted the data in order to form a conclusion. Overall almost two thirds of the students that were studied gained weight freshman year and students that did gain weight gained the weight at a much faster rate than the general public. Meta-analysis is “a statistical technique for combining the findings from independent studies.” A meta-analysis is a good way to assess a multitude of data and gives a good overall result. This information is very important to include when hypothesizing on the truth of the freshman 15.
Despite the opposing viewpoints that I researched for this post, my personnel conclusion remains consistent. The freshman 15 is 100% avoidable. There are so many ways to successfully avoid gaining an obscene amount of weight. The freshman 15 is more about self-restraint than anything else, so it is truly up to the individual to work to stay skinny.
The freshman fifteen is definitely a myth. I know that it is avoidable because my sister lost ten pounds her freshman year of college. By eating healthy snacks, and working out once a day, she was able to accomplish this. Something that I think should be looked into is what kind of food are college students eating? How often are the eating? And also how much do they work out? These are all variables that can come into play with weight gain, and can help college students determine why they may or may not be gaining weight. By eating consistently, healthy, and hitting up the gym consistently too, no freshman in college should be afraid of this myth.
The Freshman 15 is completely a myth. 100%. I see the freshman 15 as more of a folk tale passed along to the oncoming freshman who have never experienced what college life is like. The main reason why so many people might see weight gain their freshman year is because of the lifestyle change and the different environment. When you are at home in high school you normally have breakfast before school, lunch in the cafeteria and dinner at home. But when you come to college your whole schedule changes. You might have a class during your normal lunch time so you have to substitute that lunch time for a snack. Then when dinner rolls around you are so hungry that you don’t even want to cook your food. So you decide to order out and eat unhealthy food. It becomes a habit which can eventually lead to weight gain. I enjoyed this post and liked how you backed your hypothesis with actual scientific findings and experiments!
Interesting post. I like posts that relate to my life. Being a freshmen this is relevant more then ever. I am skinny and have a very fast metabolism and it is hard for me to gain weight but the freshmen 15 still remain constant even to ectomorph body styles as myself. I went up a pant size since we moved in and I am pretty excited about it to be honest. This can be a big deal for most freshmen but the best way as you say is to just be aware.