Freshmen 15?
 

There is this odd urban legend that Freshmen girls put on an average of 15 pounds their first year in college.

Is there any truth to this? And how long did it take for you to lose your Freshmen 15?

I actually LOST about 15 pounds my freshman year because I am a picky eater and I lived on bagels, rice, and salad. But several of my friends did gain that extra weight. I think it comes from not having high school sports activities to keep active, eating late night snacks in the dorm, and excess consumption of empty calories in the form of alcohol.

Me too! I got food poisioning from the school's cafeteria and I was traumatized to eat there.

i lost 15 pounds too. Actually, we had a theory on my floor that the freshman 15 actually occurred because a lot of women start taking birth control when they go to college.

I too lost weight when I went to college b/c I walk so much with my classes spread out all over the place, plus the food in the dorms AND in my sorority house is nothing I'd ever eat! And I am a picky eater to begin with so w/o my mommy there to cook me stuff I specifically asked for, it was hard to gain weight. At my school they have the "Mizzou 22" not the freshman 15....talk about scary!!!! :eek:

I never lost it. My body didn't really develop till I got to college and since I graduated from HS I've gained 25 pounds.

It's okay though...everyone says I look healthier.

Yup I've lost since I've been in college too. The cycle seems to be that I'm home, gain weight. go back to school and lose wait since the food there is just sooo "tastey" :rolleyes: Riiiggght

I lost some weight instead of gaining too. I got really sick, unhappy, and was a picky eater to begin with....so since I've transferred..I've gained it back and I"m much healthier

I've never heard that it was only for the ladies...everyone was included in it.

If guys are included in it, I'd like to make a claim that it does exist...I got my freshmen 23 last year. A combination of all I cared to eat food from our house cook (whose food is fantastic), lots of beer, and at times multiple, drunken late night runs to Amigos for really greasy mexican fast food - which I proceded to eat and then pass out immediately.

During the summer I unintentionally (I was still thin as it was, even with the extra 23 pounds) I lost 15 of it, ending the summer only eight pounds heavier than the year before. That loss was mainly due to the really horrible food I had to eat while a camp counselour this summer. (I can't wait to have another whole summer full of it!!!:rolleyes:)

So far this year, I haven't weighed myself, so I have no idea what I way now.

Almost everyone I know, including myself, lost weight. There are probably loads of reasons why, but my deal was that the food in the cafeteria next to my dorm was prone to making people ill, and I stayed stressed anyway so I hardly ever ate. But sophomore year, I finally filled out a little (in high school, I was built like a praying mantis or a tobacco stick, take your pick) so I gained a few pounds, but I was glad to see it because it made my pants fit better and it got my grandmother to quit remarking on how skinny I was. :)

guys too!
 

Hey... let's at least be fair. Guys get it just as much as freshmen girls, with all the "free" frat beers going around.

Some people gain when they're living on their own for the first time, and some actually lose weight.

I wasn't thin when I started college, but I wasn't heavy. I didn't gain any considerable amount of weight the first year. I drank with the rest of them but kept it in balance.

Another thing, that I suppose goes for both guys & girls... bodies are still developing at age 18. If a freshman girl gets a bit curvier, who's to say it's not just her natural shape developing as she gets to a womanlier age? Most high school girls' bodies aren't quite at their adult shape yet. Of course, this would only apply to those who gain a reasonable number of pounds, not like 30.

Everyone I know gained about 10 lbs. our first year at college. It was no doubt from the sorority house food, the beer, the Homecoming courting desserts, the Big Sister Revealing and Initiation candy, the latenight Pita Pit and Taco Bell, and the random munching b/c someone around is always eating which makes you want to eat, too.

We lost it over the summer but when we came back for rush we started our bad habits again b/c of all the eating out during Spirit Week and Recruitment Week.

Now that we're on winter break I'm trying to be healthy again...here's to another year of weight fluctuations!

I have essentially stayed the same weight though I went down a size or two. I started working out seriously my freshman year and developed a kick ass body. Then I had my wisdom teeth out and gained 20 lbs. Eeek. Then when I got back to school I got really sick and lost it all and then some. I'm still losing a lot of weight but overall I have stayed very consistent. But most of my friends (guy and girl) gained a considerable amount of weight, some as much as 30 lbs.

That happened to me too! But I did have several friends who gained 15 or more pounds by the time our first Christmas break from college rolled around.

i think adjusting to college life will make you go either way depending on your personal physiology. miami has incredible food so i did gain a little bit of weight when i started, but of course walking all over campus helped keep it to a minimum.

once i moved into my own place and started really cooking for myself, i lost a little bit, but pretty much stayed the same. i didn't walk as much cuz i took the bus a lot. (i lived pretty far off campus) all in all my weight stayed up and i didn't really lose all the weight i gained. it's coming off now that i'm out and working out more.

shelley j
sigma k

I gained weight my first semester, but that was because I was on a sports team and was working out and eating with people twice my size. :eek: When I quit, I went back to about 5 pounds above my HS height. I walk considerably more at school than I do at home, and I eat healthier, so I imagine that has something to do with it.

HS girls are all just really skinny. Last summer, we worked with HS seniors, and I forgot how skinny they can be. And they don't think they are!

I also agree with OULioness's theory. :) Although, part of the reason I got on BC was because I (and my doctor) thought it would add a few pounds on me.

I gained 5 pounds my first semester, probably from the late night trips to Subway & all the baked goods.

I also gained 5 pounds the summer I was in summer school - no doubt because one sister I was living with drove any distance more than a block (and hey, if she's going my way I'll take the ride) and because another sister was dating a Pizza Hut delivery boy who brought us lots of leftovers. Once those 2 things were removed, the 5# went away. :D

"Secretarial spread" (even if you're not a secretary) is far worse and more prevalent than the freshman 15.

I gained 15 pounds which was awful since I out grew many of my new college outfits. I lost the weight when I had mono the summer after my freshman year. I gained it back sophomore year. My weight kept yo-yo-ing up and down until after college.

Dare I ask what "secretarial spread" is?? :eek: :confused:

I think it is when your butt gets bigger (wider) from sitting at a desk all day. :p

I gained weight my freshman year, but not during the first couple months like everybody said I would. I actually lost ten pounds in the first couple months of school -- from all the walking, the stress, skipping cafeteria meals, etc. -- and when I went home for the first time in October everybody was scared of how skinny I was. But then during spring semester, I gained 15 pounds back -- it's really hard to find the motivation to go outside and walk a mile across campus in Minnesota's snow, hail and icy winds, just to work out and then walk a mile back -- so I didn't, and it definitely took its toll.

I lost about ten pounds during my first semester of college. Oglethorpe is notorious for really bad cafeteria food. It's even noted in the Princeton Review as having the second worst cafeteria food in the country. However, I gained the ten pounds back the first week that I went home for Christmas Break.

RedHotChiO

In just the fall semester of my freshman year, I lost about 20 - 25 lbs. I was really depressed and never really ate. Things have gotten a lot better; I left that school and gained my 20 - 25 back, even though that may not be a good thing. :p BUT, in these past couple of months, I lost 25 lbs in a much healthier way. :D

I gained about 10 pounds, which was good because I was about 10 pounds underweight before. I didn't eat much in college though, so I chalk it up to the fact that my body didn't really develop until I was 18. I'm still about the same weight now as I was during my freshman year.

And YES it does happen to guys! I saw this guy I went to high school with at a party at another school one night... In high school he was a toothpick, but when I saw him at this party, he was at least 20-30 pounds heavier! Probably all the beer... :rolleyes:

All those BEER BUSTS!!! Plus the only things edible in OUR cafeteria were the ROLLS!
Then you are on your own and the CHEAPEST food was always the most fattening (think Ramen Noodles for this age bracket).

How long to loose it? Well...about 3 years, when I got out of the dorm and into our apt.

I saw that they have upped the 15 to 20 or 30. (Just can't remember which.) One of my roommates came to college flat as a pancake. Gained those Fresh. 15 and went home for summer with a pair of boobs any guy could appreciate! So, it wasn't all bad...for some.

Yes, I gained weight....probably about 15 pounds. Probably because of all the beer...:( It made me thick, but a lot of my friends got these weird, cottage-cheese like beer bellies. Hehehehe Once I quit drinking all the time, it came off.

swissmiss: I just got my wisdom teeth out, and you said that getting yours out made you gain weight?! How/why does this happen??!!

Hell yes. I stayed at pretty much the same weight through college, but now that I've been out of college and working full time (as a secretary!) I've put on maybe 5 or 10 pounds... sitting inactive all day + having the money to go out for nice dinners = not a good combination!

Same thing that elementary teachers get from all the snacks in the teachers' lounge!

I'm another one that LOST 15 pounds my freshman year....working out every day, walking all over campus, and barely eating anything (too lazy to cook and don't really like fast food). People said I looked "not well" but I liked it :rolleyes:

The weight slowly crept back on my senior year of college because we were all trying to live it up as much as we could before we graduated. (Read: Too much partying) Thankfully I've been able to lose some of that weight since I've moved but it's hard because there's no way I could get in as much "natural" exercise as in college (walking on campus) PLUS my hour or so at the gym.

Many of my friends DID gain weight though....partying, sorority food and candy, etc.

In my senior year of h.s., I gained 15 pounds on a trip to Russia ... everywhere we Americans went, they would stuff us with pastries and the like, and tell us to eat more! I was so shocked to gain that much that fast. So in college I actually lost about ten pounds, due to just walking around campus more.

After college has been the hard part. My jobs have mostly been very sedentary, except being a flight attendant, in which case the problem was eating out a lot and being around snacks all day. I have to work to keep in shape.

But unfortunately, my weight has not varied in several years. I get skinnier as my muscles get more buff, but the scale doesn't move. Grr! Not that I'm 600 pounds ... it's just that classic "the last five pounds" I want off.

I lost 15 pounds my 1st year - then gained it back 2nd year and then put on 15 pounds in my 3rd year - which some has come off now, thank god.