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August 23, 2004
Weight gains common with college crowd
Stephanie Johnson
Contributing Editor
Obesity and excessive weight gain have quickly become a large problem for college students, due to many contributing factors.
According to recent studies by the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, an estimated 61 percent of American adults between the ages of 17-22, are currently overweight or obese.
Obesity involves an abnormally high proportion of body fat. Doctors define obesity as having a body mass index, or BMI, of 30 or higher.
The “freshman fifteen” is a popular term used among college students to explain the rapid weight gain in a student’s first year of college, the notion saying that within that first year, students gain around 15 pounds.
Becoming obese or overweight is not hard for college students to do. “College students usually end up having to do a lot of sitting and reading, they usually have less sports activities than [in] high school, and usually eat whatever is fastest and easiest — it’s easy to see why they’d gain weight,” said freshman, Kory Thomas.
Thomas added that he has seen himself add on a few extra pounds this year, mainly due to eating lots of fast food and not being very active.
However, there are psychological, social and practical reasons why college students are prone to weight gain.
To some students, changing from one environment to anther can be difficult, and many tend to use food for stress relief.
“Most teenagers move out of their parents’ home for the first time in freshman year. Some move out of state, and all are meeting a whole new set of peers. With the stress of all this change, many students turn to food for comfort. I know that’s what I did,” Thomas said.
A social reason for weight gain is that to most college students, eating and even binge drinking, are
huge social events that occur quite often throughout a student’s college experience.
College students are exposed to an alcohol culture where drinking in excess can become a very unhealthy habit. Every alcoholic beverage carries about 160-200 calories.
“I tend to drink a lot of beer throughout the week with my buddies, and whenever we drink we always go to Amado’s or Filiberto’s to get late-night grub and that’s what kills me. I take lots of supplements and am very active, but the beer and the food are not the best choice in trying to stay healthy,” said Nick Trevillian, a freshman football player at MCC.
To Trevillian, college life has made it harder for him to stay in shape for football. “If it wasn’t for football and all the practices and work-outs we have all year, I would gain a lot of weight just like some of my roommates have.”
Student’s who stay active in college like Trevillian, don’t have as much of a problem with this issue as students who played sports in high school, or were just more active then, to becoming very inactive in college.
The sudden change in the amount of physical activity can alter what the body is used to and make a person more prone to gaining weight.
Trevillian also noted seeing a change in the size of his peers in his classes. “I think the majority of college students these days are just bigger. In each of my classes at MCC, there has to be at least four or five other students that are way overweight. It never used to be like that in high school. People are just getting lazy.”
It’s not just the students recognizing this change, but teachers and staff are realizing it as well.
Pam Olerich, who teaches a healthful lining class at MCC, said that if students come into college and lose sight of staying healthy and exercising, gaining weight will be inevitable to those students.
“It will happen. It’s not even a question. Obesity is much easier to prevent then to reverse, so students must take action for their own health. I would suggest students keep playing their favorite sports, try not to reach for their favorite fast foods and start cooking their meals instead. This would be a good start.”
Olerich added that students leaving home for college are given ample opportunity to create unhealthy life habits that often lead to many of the health threats associated with obesity.
Head football coach at MCC, Dan Dunn, said, “The increase of technology over the past twenty years has increased the amount of laziness among college students. From video games to the Internet, there is always a way for students to procrastinate exercising.”
Dunn emphasized the importance of staying active and is concerned about the growing number of inactive college students.
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