All freshmen know to look out for the dreaded weight gain associated with the onset of college, otherwise known as the “Freshman 15”. But how worried should us undergraduates be about this rapid weight gain? Scientist Jay Zagorsky published an article in the Social Science Quarterly journal that set out to break down this very myth in 1997. A survey was conducted by the U.S Department of Labor by Ohio State Human Resource Research center using just under 7,500 students for a dietary/weight survey. As stated by MSNBC and CNN Health the average weight gain for freshmen girls is on average 3.1 pounds and 3.5 pounds for Freshmen boys. And over the course of four years the women gained on average 8.9 pounds and men gained on average 13.4 pounds. Often times those who gained more than the average were heavy drinkers
While there are numerous factors that contribute to weight gain in college there are also a lot of factors that feed into students growing stress – which is not always synonymous with weight gain. In fact there is a fairly large percentage of freshmen that lose weight when they go off to school, approximately 25% in fact.
So What is the Take-Away?
There is an average weight gain of 1.5 pounds per year among freshmen. While it is not 15 pounds ,it is still not a healthy trend. Many freshmen struggle with weight gain, body image issues and eating disorders, especially in college. It is up to the media to refocus their health attention toward young adults in an effort to promote the development of healthy living while we are young. Skipping meals, binge eating and excessive drinking is not a lifestyle that can be maintained and will lead to obesity later in life. Now is the perfect time to find a healthy regime that works best for you – without mom and dad telling you what to do. So friends, don’t stress about the freshman 15 because it is nothing more than a myth.