After an exciting year of living on your own for the first time, you want nothing more than to show your parents how much being away at college has changed you. Such as regurgitating facts you picked up in astronomy class to show your dad that you’re now smarter than him. Or, cultural differences you learned from diverse hall mates in the dorms. But, one change that more and more students these days are bringing home with them after a year away is an extra layer of fat. The freshman 15 is the term given to the 15 pounds freshman students tend to gain after their first year at university. These unwanted pounds come from several different sources exposed to first year university students. They are:

Food – Dormitory cafeteria food is usually very high in carbohydrates, as well as being all-you-can-eat. Fat causing food and all-you-can-eat is never a good combination. In addition, dormitories are loaded with vending machines that have those unhealthy snacks that sound so good at 1 A.M.

To avoid having dorm food contribute to the freshman 15, don’t go back for 2^nd servings in the cafeteria; and try not to eat late at night, especially right before going to bed.

Alcohol – Along with food, beer is full of carbs that add weight to your belly.

Underage drinking is strongly associated with many health and social problems amoung youth including alcohol-impaired driving, physical fighting, poor school performance, sexual activity and smoking.¹

Lack of Sleep – Being sleep deprived has been proven to make people eat more than needed.

This one is easy to solve; just sleep more. There is no shame in being a “weekend warrior” instead of an all-week partier. You’re here to study, so sleep and study during the week, and if you must, party on the weekends when you can sleep in.

No Exercise – High school forced you to run during P.E. Now that you’re not forced to run anymore, it’s going to be a lot easier to gain weight.

Go to the gym, you’re already paying for it, you might as well use it. Or if you don’t have time, don’t miss class. The walk to class everyday is enough to help keep you in shape.

Keep these ideas in mind during your first year and maybe you’ll go back home for the summer with an education and memorable experiences, and nothing more!

¹ Miller JW, Naimi TS, Brewer RD, Jones SE. Binge drinking and associated health risk behaviors among high school students. Pediatrics 2006; 119: 76-85

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