After packing on the pounds during colder months and concealing the weight under heavy winter clothing, students begin to lose weight fast before summer.
“Leading up to the end of spring, we get more students who want to control their body image,” said Liz Lagasse, a nutritionist at UF’s Student Health Care Center who counsels students about nutrition and healthy dieting.
She said there has been a spike in appointments at the center before summer.
While most people have some distress about their appearance in shorts and bathing suits, it’s especially troubling for those who suffer from eating disorders, she said.
“It’s easy to imagine how the pressure to look good can trigger someone to go to the extreme to fit in and look the part,” she said.
When Lagasse gets students who are overly worried about their body image and seem to have the potential to develop an eating disorder, she counsels them, offers to be a model of healthy self-esteem and teaches them to talk about themselves with respect and appreciation.
Marissa Noelte, a health science major and Student Recreation and Fitness Center employee, said she has overheard girls saying they are getting in shape for summer.
“If I wasn’t secure in my body image, I would probably fall into that trap of being super thin because of what I see in magazines and on TV,” Noelte said.
Eating disorders include anorexia, bulimia and binge eating disorder.
“It’s not an easy issue,” Lagasse said. “It cannot be cured by one word or a quote. “
