The “freshman 15” doesn’t stop at the end of freshman year, according to a new study.
A survey of 131 college students found that 70 percent of them gained an average of 10 pounds and 18 percent gained 20 pounds or more during four years in college.
The study was published online Sept. 17 by the NRC Research Press journal, Applied Physiology, Nutrition and Metabolism.
Jane Emmerée, GatorWell health promotion specialist, said most studies that looked into the validity of the freshman 15 found that few freshman actually gained 15 pounds.
Catherine Seemann, advertising, marketing and media coordinator for the Student Health Care Center, said there is truth in the well-known myth.
“The freshman 15 is a legend but is based on a little bit of facts,” Seemann said. “Some people gain more or less, and some don’t even gain at all.”
However, she said she doubts this study’s results, because too few people were surveyed. She said the results are not necessarily representative of all college students.
She said UF’s students have a variety of eating and fitness habits.
Some freshmen have said they’ve lost weight since they began college.
Heather Joura, a 17-year-old UF freshman, said she doesn’t have time to eat and has lost weight.
“I pick up whatever is at my dorm and eat it,” she said. “I probably haven’t eaten a whole meal since I started school.”
Biochemistry junior Jamal Green, 19, said he gained about 20 pounds in mostly muscle weight during his freshman year.
“I definitely gained weight but from going to the gym,” Green said.
Marketing junior TanTaneya Williams, 19, said she started to gain weight once she got an all-access meal plan during her freshman year.
“Go to the gym,” she said. “It’ll induce that habit of going to the gym even after graduating.”
Emmerée said sleep habits and stress management also cause weight changes.
“When we’re tired, we don’t make the wisest decisions,” she said.
Seemann said it’s also important to monitor what food you eat.
“It’s never a bad thing to splurge, but don’t make value meal No. 3 your lunch every day,” she said.
