As most of you probably already know the freshman 15 is when freshman in college gain weight in their first year because they are restricted to campus food and fast food all the time. With no healthy home cooked meals, many people do believe that the freshman 15 does exist. Personally I don’t think we have this problem at Penn State because of how much walking people do every day and how convenient the gyms are. But is the freshman 15 or just a never ending myth?
Although not exactly 15 pounds, the freshman 15 is indeed a really thing. Being in college is also be free from rules back home, so many students go to the quickest and cheapest meals they could find which is normally the fast food restaurants that their mother always warned them off. Just because you’re in college is no excuse to slack off and use studying as an excuse why you can’t go to the gym. The gym is a great way to prevent the freshman 15. By eating healthy and working out you will get into a routine and your body won’t gain weight. Another factor in gaining weight is as a freshman you crave the college experience of always going out and drinking. Drinking is a direct cause to why freshman tend to gain a few pounds throughout the semester.
There are studies that show that a lot of people are beginning to think that the freshman 15 is myth. It is true that you gain weight while in college, but most times it doesn’t just happen your freshman year it’s all the years you’re in college. The Ohio State University study found that students were (on average) just a half-pound heavier than their non-collegiate peers. According to the researchers, this may be because many 17 or 18 -year-olds are simply not at their full adult size (both in height and weight) before heading off to college. So while some weight gain might be the result of late-night nachos and keg stands, a significant part of the “Freshman 15” can be attributed to plain old-fashioned growth.
Depending on how you see it the freshman 15 is either a myth or the truth but the way I see it is, take precautions of the stuff that goes into your body, your stress level, and your exercise schedule and the freshman 15 doesn’t matter any which way.
This was a relatable post to read because I mean, everyone experiences the so-called “freshman 15” where we would binge eat commons food and eat away at our meal points until we hit that 0 balance and ask our parents to bump us up a level so we can eat, sleep, and repeat all over again. I personally did not gain 15 pounds when I went home after my freshman year, but I did gain weight and most of my friends did too. It’s kind of inevitable and a lot of freshman don’t care what foods they put into their bodies because they’re dwelling on the new concept of being away from home and being able to eat whatever they want, whenever they want.
Here’s an article I found that is a good way of beating the dread freshman 15. http://www.eatright.org/resource/health/weight-loss/eating-out/8-ways-to-beat-the-freshman-15
I certainly think the freshman 15 is a real thing because of the cheapness and easy access to these unhealthy foods. I think more research needs to be done on this topic and one question this leads me to is whether or not nutrition or exercise plays a bigger role in losing weight. Maybe the issue isn’t students not eating healthy but just not bothering to attend the gym, or maybe it is a combination of both. Personally I lost weight from college but I think a large part of that is me always walking around on such a large campus. WebMD came up with an interesting point regarding the fact that the freshman 15 is actually caused by freshman experiencing new stresses and resorting to food for comfort http://teens.webmd.com/features/freshman-15-means-more-than-weight-gain I think this point could certainly be validated as the workload in college is definitely overwhelming compared to high school.
I find your blog pretty interesting. Since I am also a freshman, I start to realize that I do gain weight and height as well after reading your blog. I generally agree with your opinion about the 15 freshman. More data and researches can be provided to support your statement about 15 freshman and make the blog more convincing. But overall I like your blog and hope I do not gain 15 in freshman!
I had never heard of the freshman 15 until I got to college and it became a reality lol. Being a guy, a couple extra pounds never really bothers me, but I will keep in mind your good precautions about eating better.
I have defiantly gone through the phases of gaining the freshman 15 and totally regret the way that I spent my first couple of months here. There were so many precautionary things that I could have done to stop myself from gaining weight, but as a freshman it is hard especially in a new environment. Here are some workouts I found that help loose tummy fat quick! http://www.videojug.com/film/how-to-lose-stomach-fat-fast