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You can't go shopping anywhere these days without being bombarded by "Back to School" sales. Even my local grocery store has "back to school" type foods, like peanut butter and bulk cases of instant ramen, highlighted all over the store. Yes, it's August, and school starts in a few short weeks.
"Back to school" is also in the news, and an article I came across this morning talks about what colleges are now doing to help students avoid the dreaded Freshman 15 - the 15 or so pounds that newly-away-from-home students gain because they're too busy studying to pay attention to what they're eating. Either that, or they're just indulging in pizza beer because they were never allowed to at home.
My freshman year in college, my weight gain was closer to a Freshman 20. Decked out in sweats and overalls about 90% of the time, I didn't really notice the weight gain until Spring. Twenty pounds crept up on me over two semesters at Cal from a simple daily diet of sugar-laden smoothies, Zona Rosa Burritos (I went to Cal), Top Dog, instant ramen, and study break "dates" during final exam fever eating pan-fried noodles drowning in starchy, sugary sauce at late night Chinese joints. But I know that if I had to blame it all one one thing, it would be Fat Slice Pizza.
I've confessed - 20 pounds of fat gained from Fat Slice Pizza. Now it's your turn. What was the real Freshman 15 for you? And how did you get there? "Free" dorm cafeteria food, laden with starch? $1.99 bacon, sausage, and eggs every morning before Econ 101? Beer? Candy? Spill it.
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8-21-2006 @12:48PM RobynT said... It probably had to do with the fact that the least gross foods in our dorm cafe were spaghetti, ice cream, greasy made-to-order omelettes and corned beef hash. Ordering pizza and huge Korean plates from off campus probably didn't help either.
Oh and if I ate breakfast in my dorm room, it was either saltines and margarine or graham crackers and peanut butter.
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8-21-2006 @12:57PM sillyLN said... The school cafeteria was not much of a threat to me - after 18 years of good meals chocked full of veggies the unhealthy stuff wasn't appealing to me. However, the tubes of cookie-dough sold in the mart in the basement of my dorm often called my name during study sessions...
I would also like to comment on the "fear" of freshman 15. I personally delighted in my weight gain at college - I finally filled out and had a bust and some curve to my hips! I spend two years as a RA to freshman girls and witnessed the majority of them fretting over a bit of weight gain that is only natural in maturing. I'm afraid this dread of the 15 does more harm to the girls than it does good.
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8-21-2006 @12:58PM Liz said... Sarah, you just described the EXACT way I gained my Freshman 20 - I went to Cal and I think I ate at the same places you did, with the addition of some fantastic ice cream place near campus that we hit far too often. My biggest mistake was thinking I could eat the same things in the same quantities as my much-thinner friends. I think it took until senior year to finally lose it all.
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8-21-2006 @1:18PM alexi said... 24-hour eateries (like IHOP and Denny's) didn't help, either.
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8-21-2006 @1:24PM Alex said... I didn't gain any weight. I have became pudgy from beer. UCSB is known to have some of the best dorm food. And I can say it was good and it was healthy.... Ha
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8-21-2006 @1:25PM Ben said... I'm from the UK and off to university in september. I'm looking forward to cooking for myself as i love it! I'm hoping to loose weight not gain it, well here hoping right? Thanks to the many useful recipes and articles from slashfood that will help me a great deal :D
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8-21-2006 @1:30PM Lisa said... Mine was more the freshman ten, and came all in the second semester when I somehow decided that I hadn't put any weight on yet so I was home free. Yeah right. Indulging in Chipotle burritos in the middle of the night and endless cartons of Chinese food on the weekends were the main culprits, but so was the fact that our dining hall was AMAZING. It was overloaded with pizza, cookies, ice cream, macaroni and cheese, mashed potatoes, and cheeseburgers. Things were much easier when I moved into an apartment and started cooking for myself.
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8-21-2006 @1:35PM Rhea said... I ate a lot of -- believe it or not -- Jello. They served it every night at the cafeteria.
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8-21-2006 @1:40PM Mike Silverman said... Try going to school in New Orleans. So much good food to sample, 15 lbs is easy.
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8-21-2006 @1:42PM Margaret said... In Boulder, CO my freshman twenty could be attributed to Beer at keg party's on the hill, Illegal Pete's gigantic burrito consumed at 2am on my way home from the hill, and Libby Late Night (a brilliant addition to the student meal plan that made it possible to snack on 2 bagels, count them... 2 bagels with cream cheese, a piece of fruit, and some high caloric beverage every weeknight between 7pm and 11pm). I've got to say I'm surprised it was only 20!
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8-21-2006 @1:45PM Hawk said... all you can eat buffet cafeteria food, good enough to eat, not so delicious or filling one little plate would do. There was always something different - why not have a little of everything?
Don't forget the at least three cookies for desert, even if there was a sundae bar, or the small glasses of mountain dew *rimming* each tray.
I asked the person in charge of market research for u housing why we had all you can eat. "because that's what keeps kids eating in the cafeterias." I told him he was going to eat those words.
He probably already has.
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8-21-2006 @1:49PM Anastacia said... Ready to eat or easy to prepare foods did me in. Not having my own kitchen, not wanting to go out to the cafeteria in the cold during the winter, and drunken late night easy mac sessions lead to a whopping freshman 30. I gained one lb a week. Upon returning home my mother asked me if I ate her daughter. Since then I have learned from my mistakes and have lost 40lbs.
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8-21-2006 @2:06PM Dr. Ricky said... Spoiled American students. I *lost* weight when I started school because money was hard to come by. I budgeted fastidiously. My mother was so appalled when I went home, she took every opportunity to stuff me silly. Which, of course, led to me not going home very often.
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8-21-2006 @2:09PM cybele said... Like SillyLN, I gained about 10, but I credit that to growing two inches and getting breasts (thanks to the pill). Honestly, if you went to your classes at Humboldt, it was hard to put on weight because of all the stairs on campus.
However, I worked in a pizza place all through high school, so as hard as it is to believe, I ate LESS pizza once I got to college.
I was in love with the salad bar at the cafeteria and I pretty much lived on hard boiled eggs, spinach and chick peas my first year ... well, that and Swedish Fish and Ice Cubes. With the leftover meal points I also fed by boyfriend for half the year.
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8-21-2006 @2:09PM Jackie said... It would have to be the cheap-o frozen burritos that I'd get on sale for $3.00/10 at the grocery store (I didn't have a meal plan and had to make do). I'd cover them with shredded cheese and slather them with stolen Taco Bell sauce packets and sour cream...
And of course, you can't forget the Value Menu at the Taco Bell across the parking lot from my dorm! You can't beat a couple tacos and a Frito Burrito Supreme for under $3!
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8-21-2006 @2:15PM Heather said... I am about to start my sophomore year, and last year I gained about ten pounds. It was largely because I got tired of eating cafeteria food, and even when I ate it the healthy things, such as vegetables, had always been reheated for at least two or three days. Both semesters, after about half a semester, I started eating fast food at least once, if not twice, a day, and I didn't get enough exercise. I'd have really been in trouble if my dorm had been close to my classes, or if there had been resident parking near the academic buildings! I've since lost most of the weight. My diet plan: I went to Europe, where I ate less and did not eat fast food. I also walked everywhere (sometimes ran to catch a train!), and climbed 200-300 steep, winding stairs to the top of a few cathedrals. Hopefully, I'll be more physically active this coming semester, but only time will tell...
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8-21-2006 @3:20PM Lauren said... I gained the freshman 20 thanks to Tomassito's, an Italian place in the food court with the most delicious alfredo sauce. That, and Mountain Dew. Full-calorie sodas are evil if you're trying to watch your weight.
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8-21-2006 @3:24PM joe said... regardless of my academic standings, i have gained weight...period. sad, i know. =(
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8-21-2006 @3:56PM themirthmobile said... there's this thing at pomona college called "snack" which means free food for all students (even those NOT on the meal plan) from 10:30-11:30. cereal bagels pizza nachos. it was bad news.
but i think the reason i gained weight was beer. it was all the beer.
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8-21-2006 @4:01PM tr said... i can honestly say that my freshman year in college, i didn't gain any weight. in fact, i probably lost about 15 lbs. sure, i lived in the dorms, and had the "3-meals a day" meal plan at the all you can eat cafeteria. however, it seemed like i always missed the times when food was being served. i would wake up late, so i'd miss breakfast. i'd have classes, so i'd miss lunch. sometimes i'd make it to dinner, but a lot of times, i would take a nap in the afternoon, and sleep through dinner service. so i'd end up eating a ramen at 11pm, and stay up late, repeating the process day after day.
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