This article contains references to eating disorders, weight gain/loss, and fatphobia.
During my first month as a student at West Chester, I have heard references to the “Freshman 15” more times than I can count. Whether it be in my classes or people I hang out with, it seemed like everyone was preoccupied with the age-old questions of weight gain and staying as skinny as possible. As someone who used to be preoccupied with my weight but wasn’t upon entry to college, the whole ordeal was a shock to my system. I went from a world where weight was the least of my problems to one where it was the top of everyone’s. It made me extremely self conscious about my body and made me panic the moment I realized my jeans were just a little tight. Seeing people skinnier than me comment about how much they want to lose weight made me feel really bad in my own skin, and I doubt I am the only one who feels this way.
The Freshman 15 is a common topic of discussion around the world, deemed the “Fresher 15” in England (according to my English friend) and the “Fresher Spread” in Australia. According to The Atlantic, the Freshman 15 was originally the Freshman 10 and increased as Americans had more diversity in weight and body types. The New York Times references this in a 1981 article about actress Jodie Foster’s experience at Yale, where the author makes a quip about how she appeared to have what is known here as the “‘freshman 10,’ the 10 pounds many freshmen gain in their first weeks here.” The first research towards this phenomenon was done in 1985 by Addictive Behavior, in which university women were found to gain a mean of .73 pounds per semester and an average weight gain of 8.8 pounds. However, the subject was first publicly broached by the magazine Seventeen in 1989 with the title “FIGHTING THE FRESHMAN 15.” By the 1990s, the Freshman 15 was a regularly discussed topic in many households and a worry for many college-bound students.
But is it all really true? According to the University of Georgia, the first references to the Freshman 15 published in popular media were not based in any scientific research and more rooted in sensationalism. Studies have proven that the average weight gain for college students can range from three pounds to seven pounds, with other studies proving that weight loss is incredibly common as well, with a staggering 15% of college students losing weight during their freshman year. But ultimately, freshmen in college are 5.5 times more likely to gain weight than the general population, and this is due to a variety of factors such as drinking, stress, newfound food accessibility and managing your diet for the first time away from home. But all of this is perfectly normal given the circumstances as well as your stage of development. According to Dr. Lawrence Friedman of the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine, people are not fully developed between the ages of 17-19, so puberty is still underway even though the effects aren’t as obvious. Weight gain is also common in your upperclassmen years due to your metabolism slowing at the age of 20, so it may just be common regardless of the stage you are at.
While you may freak out at the conclusion that the myth isn’t entirely false, it is important to note that as one crosses the bridge between adolescence and adulthood, your body will change, and it is unlikely your body will stay the same as it did in high school. Unfortunately, in a society obsessed with youthfulness and being Kate Moss-skinny, there is a huge pressure to keep your body the way it was regardless of how healthy you really are in that skin, despite the developments of the body positivity movement in the media. Hearing references all the time to ozempic and seeing TikTok “looksmaxxing” trends picking at any so called “insecurity” doesn’t really help either. It seems to me that society is hellbent on making you feel bad about your body without addressing the root cause as to why. People are obsessed with appearances more than ever, and it is making everybody miserable. Whatever happened to “it’s on the inside that counts?” It’s cliche, but it’s really true.
Hearing all of these things both in the media and in real life made me scared of gaining weight. And I do understand why people don’t want to or are wary of doing so. Fat people are treated much worse than skinny people, so there is a privilege in having a socially acceptable body type. And on a surface level, it really is a pain to wake up realizing that your favorite jeans since sophomore year of high school don’t fit and that you have to buy new ones. But if me, as a skinny person, is already feeling insecure about all the weight talk, I cannot imagine how people with bigger body types must feel hearing that people’s biggest fear is having a body like them. People talk about the fear of being fat in such a flippant manner that they have no idea what people are actually dealing with. Eating disorders are incredibly common among college students, regardless of gender, and this makes me wonder who is actually maintaining or losing weight in a healthy way. It worries me. Not to mention that the stress around gaining weight is not just a catalyst for anorexia, but a huge one for binge eating disorders. Conversation around eating disorders really does need to shift from the usual archetype around those who have them and needs to cover a variety of body types and disorders that aren’t anorexia. Maybe this will make people read the room and not bring up this weight talk so casually. Since poor body image is the root cause for many eating disorders under the umbrella, it is important to be mindful of who we are around and who we might be hurting with our words — including ourselves.
And also, does it really sound fun to constantly worry about weight and food? College is supposed to be the best time of your life, and you’re sitting here worrying about the fact that you ate one cookie. College is stressful enough already. Freshman have to deal with being away from their family for the first time, juggling extracurriculars, classes, independent living, part time jobs, social expectations and career searching without as much support as before. It is so important to eat healthy, but also to have a healthy mindset and lots of self love. If you gain a few pounds, so what? Your natural body type might not be “super skinny,” and that’s okay! As long as you are healthy both in mind and body, then I really don’t see the big deal. Because in the grand scheme of things, I doubt weight gain is going to be one of your regrets rather than it distracting you from living in the moment. And if you don’t fit in your jeans? You fit in them, not the other way around. Besides, they can always be tailored.
Emily Rutz is a first-year English major.