By Niria Villa

No doubt you’ve heard it before.  The term “Freshman 15” has been used for years to

describe the amount of weight a student is likely to gain when he or she starts college. But is there

any truth to it?

The answer to that question may depend on what you read or who you ask.

A 2008 article called “The Freshman 15:  Is it Real?” published in the Journal of American College Health found the belief that it’s real is wide spread, but evidence for it is limited.  The authors of this article studied unmarried freshman living on campus at a private university. They found 2.7 pounds is the average weight the students gained.

One WebMD article says research shows weight gain might be closer to four to ten pounds.

Dee Dee Ninemire, director of the fitness complex at South Plains College, says she believes the Freshman 15 is real. Only she says it’s worse than 15.

“Now it’s more like freshman 25 or 30,” she says.

Ninemire says she sees students change over time.  “I can watch my students come in here and then two years later they don’t look like the same person,” she says.

SPC student Daniela Villa, who’s now in her fourth and final semester, may have been unusual as a freshman.  She says she lost weight her freshman year and was very thin.

“Now that I have prioritized my health and I cook in my apartment I have gained weight,” she says.

Villa also says going to the gym regularly is part of the list of healthy habits that are helping her. And while she does think healthy habits create healthy college students, it is not easy.

 “I also think that all the stress and all the weird schedules make it ten times harder for us to have a healthy lifestyle,” she says.

WebMD lists about ten reasons that may cause college students to gain weight.  They include:

• Skipping breakfast
• Decreased physical activity
• Overdoing all-you-can-eat dining
• Stress-triggered eating
• Late-night pizza and other unhealthy snacks
• Social drinking
• Lack of control over food preparation and other choices
• Too many high-calorie liquids
• Too little sleep, and
• Eating larger portions

Some of those reasons for weight gain are what Daniela Villa says caused her to lose  weight her freshman year.

“When I first started college, I lost a lot of weight since I was eating at the cafeteria,” she says. “The food there wasn’t that good and I didn’t want to walk such a long way to get a meal. I was also not going to the gym so I was very thin.”

Some of the reasons why Ninemire believes college freshman gain weight are the same ones listed on WebMD.

“Well, the best thing I would say is stay out of the fast-food lane,” Ninemire says.  “You know, stay out of the drive-thru, because it’s convenient.”

Ninemire is one of three health educators from SPC who agree that convenience food is a common reason why students gain weight.

The second educator on the list is Keila Ketchersid, who’s been teaching nutrition at SPC for 20 years. She says she meets plenty of students each semester who have placed importance on a healthy lifestyle.

“I also encounter students who consume fast food several times a week,” she says, “sometimes daily, which is always attached to a higher consumption of calories, fat, sodium and often sugar as well. These choices over time can most definitely contribute to health issues down the line.”

Chef Natalie Osuna, who has been teaching Principles of Healthy Cuisine at SPC for seven years, is the third health educator who warns against convenience food.  Her reasoning about student lifestyle choices echoes Ninemire’s and Ketchersid’s.

“They are less active than they were in high school,” Osuna says.  “They tend to eat low cost/convenient foods that can have less nutritional value and more sodium/fat.”

She offers a recipe, which appears at the end of this article, that she teaches in her

Principles of Healthy Cuisine class.

Of course, another important point all three educators made when it comes to a healthy lifestyle is exercise.

Osuna says always be aware of calorie intake versus calories burned. “Make sure

calories eaten in excess to what your body needs, need to be burned off by exercise,” she advises.

Ketchersid’s advice  is much the same.

“Turn to physical activity to eliminate stress,” Ketchersid says, “and avoid unnecessary snacking. This could be something as easy as daily walks. Don’t be afraid to visit the campus workout complex.”

Ninemire goes so far as to suggest students take a one credit hour activity course each semester even though they are only required to take two hours.

“You know, even if students take bowling,” Ninemire says, “they’re up and moving. They’re at least doing something somewhat physical.”  She points out we don’t need to run marathons or be CrossFit competitors. People just need to be more active, she says.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, adults need 150 minutes of moderate-intensity physical activity and two days of muscle strengthening activity each week, according to the Physical Activity Guidelines for Americans.  According to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, those guidelines, first published in 2008, offer “evidence-based” advice about how physical activity can promote health.

Student Daniela Villa is now making physical activity a part of her routine.  She says her  

typical day now starts with going to the gym at 6 a.m., and going to the gym has helped her gain back the weight she lost freshman year.

Now that she’s in her last semester, she says she is more prone to prioritize her health over other things. But she admits it takes dedication.

“I was actually talking about this with some college friends,” she says, “and we compared our experiences with weight gain and weight loss. We’re all so different, but what we all agreed on was that it’s a constant struggle to maintain healthy habits due to time management, stress, and most importantly money.  I just hope that I can keep up with the kind of lifestyle I have for a long time.”

Chef Natalie Osuna’s recipe:

Spinach Frittata Muffins

Ingredients

• 3 eggs
• ½ tsp salt
• ¼ tsp black pepper
• 1/4 cup chopped spinach.

• 1/4 cup green onions, chopped.
• 1.5 oz of cheese
• Oil spray

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 350F.
2. Spray 6 standard nonstick muffin holes with oil.
3. Whisk eggs, salt and pepper. Stir through vegetables and cheese.
4. Divide mixture between holes.
5. Bake 20 minutes or until the top is light golden and the center springs back when touched.
6. Serve immediately. Or allow to cool, then store in an airtight container in the fridge for 3 – 4 days, or freezer for 3 months (defrost 2 minutes in the microwave or overnight in the fridge).