The Johnsonian

Issue date: 9/5/07 Section: Lifestyles

Before leaving for college, how many times did you have someone joke with you about the freshman fifteen?

Others might have warned you about overeating and advised you to take an aerobics course to avoid losing your girlish figure.

Gaining weight your freshman year- or any year- is something to be cautious about, especially in this day and age of rampant obesity, but it doesn't always happen to everyone. Though some people gain weight during their first year of college, several others lose weight.

Eating habits change for better or worse when students are taken from home and set in the dramatically different atmosphere of college.

Several freshmen have lost weight since they started at Winthrop, because they started eating better since food is not as easily accessible as it was at home. Some are eating more but the meals are more balanced and healthy.

"My eating habits have gotten better, because I can't walk into the kitchen and eat junk food like I did at home. I have started eating lots of cereal, salad, and sandwiches, instead," Brittany Hook, freshman early childhood education major, said.

Skipping meals is also a large factor with students losing weight because they have found that they didn't have enough time to get a full meal due to lines in the cafeteria, lack

of time in between classes and Thomson's hours of operation.

"My eating habits changed because my friends did not want to go to Thomson, or they did not want to get up early before class and eat. So at times I would find myself not eating dinner or lunch and just snacking in my room," said Matthew Thompson, junior elementary education major.

Not all students are lucky enough to lose weight during their freshman year. Nathan Evers, sophomore psychology major, said that he gained the dreaded 15 pounds his freshman year.

"I definitely ate more here than I did at home, because I had café cash that I didn't have to keep a lot of track of. I just kept the mind-set that I wasn't spending the money in my bank account," Evers said.

The freedom of not having mommy and daddy telling you when and what to eat is probably the biggest factor that causes students to gain weight.

Many wonder how college students can pack on the pounds with all the walking they have to do as they go to class each day.

"Students on this campus do

not walk that far. You should be walking intensely for a minimum

Continued...

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