Last year while entering the DuPont Pavillion to watch a Villanova basketball game, the back of a spirited student sporting a t-shirt
stating “Freshman girls–get ‘em while They’re skinny” caught my attention. I was horrified, especially since this frat dude was quite the pudger himself, chomping on a pizza slice and sporting a hefty beer gut.

The freshman 15 is something that plagues the minds of many new students, especially females, who are on their own for the first time–without mom’s healthy cooking or a regimented schedule. A typical college student consumes late night snacks, drinks heavily and often puts exercise to the wayside, all contributing to the alleged 15.

When I was a freshman on fall break, I remember returning home and attending my high school’s homecoming football game. My peers gossiped about who had the new boyfriend, who had gotten her nose pierced, and, more importantly, who had gained the freshman 15. Individuals were scoffed upon for the weight they put on and elaborate stories were conjured up about what caused that weight gain.

But target="_blank">studies are showing that the freshman fifteen is now more like the freshman five or seven, followed by the sophomore two or three. While college students across the country may be breathing a sigh of relief, this may not actually be as good as it sounds. This gradual weight gain is more detrimental, for the eating behaviors and lifestyle changes adopted in college may be harder to discard upon graduation. This smaller weight gain may be harder to lose than one may think.

And while the shirt that my favorite Villanova boy wore implied that freshmen girls are the only ones who gain the lbs, this new study also showed that males are apt to gain more weight than females. Freshmen gained an average of 5.6 pounds while women gained approximately 3.6 pounds.

So boys–before you prey on “skinny” freshman girls, take a look at your own bodies. No one is going to want a pudgy frat boy in the real world, and the weight you put on now is going to be harder and harder to lose as college continues. So girls and boys, fear the freshman five or seven and the sophomore two or three. Take mom’s advice and eat healthy and exercise from the get-go; make that a freshman zero.

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