The dreaded term freshman fifteen was first coined by Seventeen Magazine in 1989 and has spread anxiety among freshmen about gaining fifteen pounds during the first year of college. This is not a given and there is not a lot of evidence to support the theory of freshman fifteen.
First of all, only about 10% of freshmen gain fifteen or more pounds and in great contrast 25% actually lose weight because they are busy socializing and hurrying to class and forget to eat. Most people who gain weight only fall into the 2-5 lbs range. If one does gain weight, it is not due to stress alone. Weight gain can be caused by skipping breakfast, decrease physical activity, unhealthy snacks, consuming high-calorie liquids including alcohol, lack of sleep, and eating large proportions of food.
However, a freshman can also gain weight because most seventeen and eighteen-year olds are not finished growing and typically adolescence does not end until about age twenty. The bottom line is that the freshman fifteen is mostly myth based on statistics but that does not mean college students should not live healthy lifestyles.
Photo credit
http://www.thelunchbox.org/community/lunchbox/2011/10/17/college-cafeteria-food-good-bad-and-ugly