By
Michelle McCollum
Arizona Summer Wildcat
For the thousands of freshmen who come to the University of Arizona every fall, the college life is a brave new world full of late night pizza parties, cheap Ramen noodle sales and meals where mom isn't there to harp on the four food groups.
This newfound food freedom is packing on the pounds, and the magic number is 15 - as in freshmen can easily gain 15 pounds living their new lifestyle if they don't take care of themselves physically.
"You have to make a conscious effort to avoid gaining it, and to lose it," said Joe Olanoff, a business junior who works at the Student Recreation Center. "Most freshmen only go to school for four hours a day, then maybe they get a little job. That still leaves 15 hours of free time. What should they do? Instead of ordering pizza and drinking beer, they ought to exercise."
Olanoff, who gained 12 pounds of muscle instead of fat as a freshman, said his weight gain was due to his "positive procrastination."
"I didn't want to study, so I exercised," he said.
Exercise can come in a variety of forms, from simply walking to class every day to jogging on campus to working out a vigorous regimen at the Rec Center.
Computer science junior Kimberly Shocklee said she prefers the latter.
"I work out five times a week for two or three hours," said Shocklee, who lost 45 pounds since her freshman year. "It's not too bad, once you get into it."
"Try not to lose one to two pounds every week," says Sarah Hamlen, fitness coordinator at the Rec Center. "(Students) should gradually increase their exercise level including cardiovascular and hopefully some kind of resistance training."
Shocklee said she has seen the effects first-hand of freshmen not eating well their first year of college.
"Freshmen eat fatty foods and they don't drink enough water, they don't exercise and they don't get enough sleep." Shocklee explained. "Then suddenly they've gained weight. Their shorts are too tight and they begin to look disgusting. So they go to the gym and try to lose it, and they stop eating, and then they get anorexic. It's a slippery slope."
Shocklee also said that what helped her lose 45 pounds was to watch what she ate. While an average man needs only 2,700 calories and an average woman needs only 2,000 calories to remain at a desirable weight, college students often consume more than twice this amount in just one meal.
According to the Fast Food Facts Web site, www.olen.com, one meal at Burger King could push a student right up to his or her caloric limit. A double Whopper with cheese, medium fries, medium Coke, and Dutch apple pie equals almost 2,000 calories.
"Nutritionally if (students) feel they don't have a good understanding of what to eat and what not to eat and how to balance everything out, (they should) visit a nutritionist," Hamlen said. "Suggested foods would be fruits and vegetables, especially fruits of color and vegetables that are dark green and leafy. They've got more nutrients than just iceberg lettuce."
"I found that keeping a book to control what you're eating helps, not diet pills or not eating," says Patrice Dune, a psychology sophomore. "Just keeping a conscious knowledge of what you're eating will help you eat less and eat better. But it takes doing stuff too: you have to exercise instead of watching old 90210 reruns. If you have to go to parties, then dance. Don't just drink a lot."
But Olanoff says as a freshman, it is almost inevitable to gain the dreaded "Freshman 15."
"Freshmen have those tiny cubical refrigerators, so you can't really put a lot of vegetables in there," Olanoff says. "So if you're a student, you're not going to go out of your way to keep a vegetable. You can't just keep a lot of good quality foods in your room, so you're kind of destined to gain weight."
John Parker, a sociology junior, advises students not to overdo it when it comes to exercising.
"Don't get too carried away with the exercise thing," he says. "Too skinny is kind of gross."
