She was homesick and isolated her freshman year at UC San Diego. Now a junior accounting major at Cal State Long Beach, Sreylonn Phin believes those factors led to her weight gain. She said she didn’t exercise much that year, either, and ended up gaining more weight than just the freshman 15.
Phin said she never worried about the freshman 15, but she still hasn’t lost the weight she gained during her first year of college.
According to a new study from Ohio State, Phin’s experience with freshman weight gain may not be the norm.
The study said that the average student only gains 2.5 to 3.5 pounds their freshman year.
For the study, researchers looked at weight data for 7,400 college students and found that only 10 percent of college freshmen actually gained 15 pounds.
In a written statement, co-author of the study Jay Zagorsky said, “The freshman 15 is a media myth.”
He went on to say that “Most students don’t gain large amounts of weight. And it is not college that leads to weight gain – it is becoming a young adult.”
Sophomore kinesiology major Jeana Dearkal didn’t gain any weight her freshman year, but she said that’s because she lived at home and her major required her to be active.
Dearkal said she doesn’t think a lot of students at CSULB gain weight their freshman year, either.
“Not necessarily at this school, but looking back at some peoples’ pictures from my high school … they definitely gained the freshman 15,” Dearkal said.
Some students experience weight gain their junior year, when most students turn 21 and can buy their own alcohol.
Calvin Park, a senior English major, said he didn’t gain any weight his freshman year because he wasn’t living in the dorms. But Park did gain weight his junior year from drinking. Park thinks students could avoid weight gain by being aware of their behavior.
“Don’t drink as much,” he said. “Don’t eat at night. Keep up your sleeping schedule. Everything that freshman don’t do.”
According to Zagorsky, freshmen should focus on a healthy lifestyle, but they don’t need to be scared of gaining the freshman 15.
“Weight gain should not be a primary concern for students going off to college,” Zagorsky said.
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