How to fight the freshman 15

With her stressful junior year behind her, the 18-year-old was able to breathe a sigh of relief and start to enjoy all the big “lasts of a high school senior year. The student came in for her “last high school sports physical and looked to be in good health both physically and emotionally.

I checked her growth chart the same one we'd been plotting her development on since childhood and noted a slight drift up in weight without a corresponding increase in height. Not an unusual situation, since most girls don't grow any taller after their midteen years. The increase in weight was also not surprising, as the girl had dropped a few of her many sports and was not as physically active as she had once been.

Not wanting to discourage a patient who was doing so well in school and life in general, I just stuck to my usual pre-college pep talk. I reminded her that college is often a lifestyle challenge for entering freshman, since hitting the books doesn't leave a whole lot of time for planning healthy, low-cal meals or heading to the gym for that daily session of moderate-to-vigorous exercise.

The “Freshman 10, that notorious extra 10 pounds of weight new university students are expected to gain in the first year of school, has more recently graduated to the “Freshman 15, as the obesity epidemic follows American kids to college campuses.

While this 15-pound freshman weight gain may be a bit of media exaggeration, there's still plenty of evidence to suggest that the addition of unwanted pounds is a real part of the college experience. In their 2008 Journal of the American Dietetic Association article on weight gain prevention, Virginia researcher Kathryn A. Strong and her colleagues reported that college kids actually do gain weight faster than the general U.S. population. Studies show the average American adult adds a steady 2 pounds of weight each year, while college students put on an extra 4 to 9 pounds in their freshman year alone.

The Virginia group cites several factors as possible contributors to this college weight gain, including easy campus access to energy-dense foods and the typical college kid's lack of “self-regulatory skills needed to plan meals, schedule exercise and monitor weight. Another apparent weight gain risk factor is the shift from a teen lifestyle of competitive school sports and exercise, to one featuring hours of demanding but sedentary study in university libraries and computer labs.

The freshman “four to nine is common, but not inevitable. With a little effort, students can bypass this predicted weight gain, according to Elisabetta Politi, nutrition director of the Duke Diet and Fitness Center. In a Duke Medicine news release, Politi recommends that students focus on planning ahead, practicing portion control, and keeping a food diary. Learning to set limits keeps young adults on track nutritionally and improves their odds of eating healthy meals while away at college.

Students are urged to feed the brain and jump-start metabolism by eating breakfast every morning. Drinking plenty of water plus a few cups of filling, calcium-rich skim milk each day helps dorm residents maintain a healthy weight, as does avoiding the fattening “beverage calories found in sugary soft drinks and alcohol.

Politi also suggests loading up on of a variety of colorful fruits and vegetables at mealtime and as quick, nutritious snacks. Finally, the registered dietitian encourages college kids to set aside at least 30 minutes of their busy day for that all-important, away-from-the-books exercise routine.