Invalidating the Freshman Fifteen
It is two months into your college career and the stress is eating you. There is no time to sleep, several assignments to complete and finding time to eat properly is becoming extremely problematic. So, the late-night snacking begins and the time you previously committed to exercising has dramatically decreased. Fast forward six months, it is now the end of the year; you have made all A’s but when you glance into the mirror you no longer recognize the person there. Then it hits you the “Freshmen Fifteen”! You have heard about it but you thought it was all lies. However, when you step onto the scale it only reads an extra 5 pounds, so you think you managed to beat the purported “Freshmen Fifteen” and everything …show more content…
Most believe that the change was due the alliterative features of the phase “Freshmen Fifteen” over “Freshmen 10” (Carithers-Thomas, Bradford, Keshock, and Pugh, 2013). What the term “Freshmen Fifteen” refers to is that students during their first year of college typically gain fifteen pounds (Carithers-Thomas et al., 2013). For years researchers have done studies to investigate the validity of the myth with many coming up short. Several studies have indicated that the weight gain during the freshmen year of college was considerably smaller than the purported fifteen pounds. According to Carithers-Thomas, Bradford, Keshock, and Pugh (2013) study “…a sizeable majority of college students gain weight as freshman; however, the amount of weight gain appears to be moderate (about 10 lbs)” (p. 753). Other investigators where able to provide data that furthered debunked the infamous “Freshmen Fifteen”. Some researchers even studied this phenomenon in other countries to check its validity. In Vadeboncoeur et. al meta- analysis they concluded that the phenomenon of weight gaining during college was not solely found in the United States, other countries such as Canada and Belgium showed student weight gain during college years (Vadeboncoeur et al., 2015). Furthermore, Vos et al. (2015) study of college freshmen in the Netherlands, yielded that the students gained …show more content…
Lloyd-Richardson, Bailey, Fava & Wing (2009) investigators affiliated with a college from Rhode Island found that “Overweight/obesity rates increased from baseline to end of freshman year for Study 1 (21.6% to 36%) and Study 2 participants (14.7% to 17.8%)” (Lloyd-Richardson et al., 2009). This outcome not only affects the students who gained the weight but those around them like friends. Janeway and Mistry (n.d.) state that “Students are not only gaining weight and developing poor habits and behaviors because of diet and exercise, but in addition they are becoming heavier simply as a result of who they choose to have as friends, and how their family behaves as well” (Janeway and Mistry, n.d.). They also noted a study that “…reported that a person’s chances of becoming obese increased by 57 percent if he or she had a friend who became obese in a given time period” (Janeway and Mistry, n.d.). However, the negative impact of college weight gain does not end here, there are several physiological
It is two months into your college career and the stress is eating you. There is no time to sleep, several assignments to complete and finding time to eat properly is becoming extremely problematic. So, the late-night snacking begins and the time you previously committed to exercising has dramatically decreased. Fast forward six months, it is now the end of the year; you have made all A’s but when you glance into the mirror you no longer recognize the person there. Then it hits you the “Freshmen Fifteen”! You have heard about it but you thought it was all lies. However, when you step onto the scale it only reads an extra 5 pounds, so you think you managed to beat the purported “Freshmen Fifteen” and everything …show more content…
Most believe that the change was due the alliterative features of the phase “Freshmen Fifteen” over “Freshmen 10” (Carithers-Thomas, Bradford, Keshock, and Pugh, 2013). What the term “Freshmen Fifteen” refers to is that students during their first year of college typically gain fifteen pounds (Carithers-Thomas et al., 2013). For years researchers have done studies to investigate the validity of the myth with many coming up short. Several studies have indicated that the weight gain during the freshmen year of college was considerably smaller than the purported fifteen pounds. According to Carithers-Thomas, Bradford, Keshock, and Pugh (2013) study “…a sizeable majority of college students gain weight as freshman; however, the amount of weight gain appears to be moderate (about 10 lbs)” (p. 753). Other investigators where able to provide data that furthered debunked the infamous “Freshmen Fifteen”. Some researchers even studied this phenomenon in other countries to check its validity. In Vadeboncoeur et. al meta- analysis they concluded that the phenomenon of weight gaining during college was not solely found in the United States, other countries such as Canada and Belgium showed student weight gain during college years (Vadeboncoeur et al., 2015). Furthermore, Vos et al. (2015) study of college freshmen in the Netherlands, yielded that the students gained …show more content…
Lloyd-Richardson, Bailey, Fava & Wing (2009) investigators affiliated with a college from Rhode Island found that “Overweight/obesity rates increased from baseline to end of freshman year for Study 1 (21.6% to 36%) and Study 2 participants (14.7% to 17.8%)” (Lloyd-Richardson et al., 2009). This outcome not only affects the students who gained the weight but those around them like friends. Janeway and Mistry (n.d.) state that “Students are not only gaining weight and developing poor habits and behaviors because of diet and exercise, but in addition they are becoming heavier simply as a result of who they choose to have as friends, and how their family behaves as well” (Janeway and Mistry, n.d.). They also noted a study that “…reported that a person’s chances of becoming obese increased by 57 percent if he or she had a friend who became obese in a given time period” (Janeway and Mistry, n.d.). However, the negative impact of college weight gain does not end here, there are several physiological