Author: Michael Smith
Loosened from parental constraints, students are free to do as they please in college. Specifically, students have the liberty to eat whatever they want. Whether it be midnight pizza or morning ice cream, students are sometimes led awry by the bevy of non-nutritional foods at our school. Naturally, this type of eating habit leads to an initial weight gain for first-years. Although the myth of the “freshman fifteen” haunts many college first-years, I don’t think it really exists. First-years may gain weight, but rarely do they lose themselves to such an abundance of food that they pack on 15 pounds. The “freshman fifteen” is simply a myth. It is blown out of proportion because first-year students, racked with nerves over reinventing themselves, enter school anxiously and gain a little weight, yet hardly the prophesied 15 pounds.
A new study, done by WebMD, shows that almost one in four college first-years gain five percent of their weight during their first semester of college. This study can easily apply to first-years at Occidental, but not to the extent that the myth implies. Coming from a house where vegetables garner praise, my first encounter with The Cooler was somewhat of an awakening. I indulged in several smoothies, grilled cheeses and giant cookies per week.
After a week of indulging on junk food, I realized that I couldn’t sustain myself on fried foods and sweets, so I turned to healthier foods. Although everyone’s weight is threatened by overindulging in Oxy’s food, I think many first-years will only initially gain weight before realizing that they must pace themselves. At Occidental, this is not an incredibly hard thing to do, because the food from The Cooler quickly becomes tiresome after the first few weeks of fries and mozzarella sticks. Though some students go wild by eating six cookies for dinner one night, and seven the next, they represent the minority of first-years. Most students eventually opt for healthier choices and find that and find that college is a time to reinvent oneself. Therefore, weight gain can “make or break” your first-year fate as you attempt to improve or maintain a healthy body image in a new environment.
Perhaps reinventing oneself is as relevant to weight loss as it is to weight gain. In fact, first-years are just as likely to lose weight as they are to gain it. First-year Paola Micheli quipped “I’ve experienced the negative freshman fifteen.” This weight loss is probably not atypical of a first-year college student. In addition, some students are just looking to become physically fit. First-year Jacque Pena said, “It seems like a lot of people work out here.” Thus, many first-years counter the “freshman fifteen” with frequent visits to the gym. I myself have worried about falling out of the workout cycle and gaining weight. So like many first- years, I regularly go to the gym, a place where people can literally go to reinvent themselves. The gym’s arm and leg equipment transforms fat into muscle, and low self-esteem into confidence.
Though the freshman fifteen doesn’t seem to have had a huge effect on campus, weight fluctuations will always be a part of the first- year college experience. For some, the myth of the freshman fifteen perpetuates the action of gaining weight. For others, the myth compels them to eat healthily and work out. Though it seems like a flawed aspect of the first-year experience, I think everyone can agree that the “freshman fifteen” is preferable to our worst fear: the freshman forty-five.
Michael Smith an undeclared first-year. He can be reached at michaelsmith@oxy.edu.
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