Hello, and welcome to a new year at Do or Diet. If you’re unfamiliar with my work, my name is Angélica, and I’m an RTVF and religion senior. I also lost more than 50 pounds this year without any pills, patches, fad diets or meetings. I write this column to share my stories and insight in the hope that others might make healthy changes in their own lives.
I know a beginning-of-the-year article on the dreaded “Freshman Fifteen” seems obvious. But people fear the Freshman Fifteen more than failing a class. It’s scary and yet inevitable, right? Well, yes and no. It depends on how you want to live at college.
Google “Freshman Fifteen” and you’ll get dozens of sites with redundant advice. Everyone knows that getting your money’s worth from dining halls, boozing it up, keeping crap food in your room and late-night snacking are the primary reasons people gain weight their first year at school. But is that weight gain truly a curse? Is there something to be said for experiencing the same weight gain countless others have encountered, bouncing back and becoming a healthier person for it?
Having lived very unhealthily at home, I actually lost five pounds as a freshman because of the extra walking and stair-climbing I did. Everyone is different. That said, there are reasons to avoid the Freshman Fifteen… or just let it happen.
Reasons to avoid the Freshman Fifteen:
1. You’ll look fat in Facebook pics.
There will come a time when you talk to your new college friends more than friends from high school. Soon your only contact with them will be perusing their Facebook profiles. Weight loss or gain is apparent to someone who hasn’t seen you in three months, and that’s not the best way to be remembered by high school acquaintances: “Have you seen Lucy’s Facebook? Damn she got fat, eh?”
2. Your clothes won’t fit as well.
You bought that cool, expensive pair of back-to-school jeans just to have it obscured by your growing muffin top. What would the popular girls at school/your own mother say?
3. You’ll save money.
If you’re one of those courageous creatures who keeps hummus and pita chips instead of Heinekens in your mini-fridge, resists late-night-pizza-ordering-itis, and decides to work out (for FREE at the facilities here) instead of sitting on your ass while shopping online, you’ll save money in the long run.
Reasons to just let it come:
1. It’s one less thing to worry about for now.
You will be preoccupied with many things this quarter, like which classes you’ll take, how well you’ll do in those classes, which activities you want to devote your time to, which people you want to hang with and whether or not you’ll have enough money to do fun things off campus. It’s up to you whether you want to throw calorie counting into that mix, especially if you’ve never thought about it before.
2. People (well, straight men) usually don’t notice things like that.
Even people who notice a little extra weight probably won’t say anything, because they’re, for the most part, quite polite. Ladies, if you’ve got a normal figure (and let’s be honest, even if you don’t), guys will still want to do the horizontal boogey dance with you. Hell, your boobs might even get bigger — always a plus. Guys, you might get teased a little about your plumpness, but you can always tell the haters to cram it with walnuts. Even if they’re your parents.
3. You’ll learn how your body reacts to college life and adjust accordingly.
You could be one of those miracle children who doesn’t pay any attention to diet but still manages to have a killer bod. On the other hand, you could end up using a wire coathanger to help zip up your pants. If you go on the offensive against the Freshman Fifteen right away, you’ll never know what your body can handle. In this new environment, it’s good to be fit and healthy, but it’s also good to relax and party. You just need to strike a balance.
Upperclassmen, if you think this whole article was moot for you, think again. If you’re changing your living arrangements, your eating habits could change as well, making you just as susceptible to fluctuations in weight.
Whatever the case, I hope these pros and cons will help everyone decide what’s right for them. If you decide to gain the Freshman Fifteen (or if it happened anyway), check out my previous articles for tips on how to shed those pounds!