One year of college can make a student more intelligent, and it may also make him or her more health conscious.
As freshmen begin their first year in college, different worries fill their minds such as grades, classes and extracurricular activities, leaving them no time to think about their weight.
The term “Freshmen 15” is a phrase familiar to students, one they don’t want to hear in their future.
Once the semester is in full swing, work piles up, most free-time away from college becomes dedicated to homework, projects, studying, or volunteering, in addition to non-college related obligations.
College life continues season after season and before students know it, they hop onto a scale and discover they have gained 15 pounds since they started their first year.
“I noticed that I started gaining a few pounds by the end of fall semester,” sophomore Dean Santos, law enforcement major, said. “I was taking four classes and since it was my first year as a college student, I didn’t know how to balance my time that well.”
The same could be said for many former first-year students who have gained weight from their first year in college.
Balancing college and other obligations becomes difficult as students adjust to dividing their time evenly amongst them.
Not having a healthy diet also leads to weight gain for some other students.
Chris Young, communications major, sophomore, said that while he didn’t have a healthy lifestyle he didn’t gain much weight during his freshman year.
However he did witness what happened to others who also had poor eating habits.
“I used to eat fast food everyday. I’d go to McDonald’s, Del Taco and Wienerschnitzel. Whatever I felt like eating that day, that’s what I’d eat and I know a lot of people who gained weight like that,” Young said.
While gaining weight is not the end of the world, no one wants to experience ballooning waistlines and ill-fitting clothing, the end result of too much fast food.
Exercise is an option that students can take to get rid of the extra pounds they’ve packed.
“I began taking boxing classes here at EC winter semester to get back in shape,” Young said. “I knew if I wanted to get rid of the weight I gained, I’d have to do something about it instead of sit there and complain.”
Along with boxing, EC offers a host of physical education classes, ranging from body conditioning and physical fitness to yoga for health and fitness, along with variety of sports programs to help work off any extra weight.
Students can still always prevent the Freshmen 15 from entering their lives, even if they don’t have time for exercise.
Developing a healthy diet is the key to staying in shape.
Young said that now that he is able to handle his second year in college, he is also eating much healthier and either brings his own lunch to school or eats at his work place, Boston Market, on his breaks.
“Last year, my eating habit was like a crash course,” Young said. “I woke up and realized I really have to take care of myself.”