Applications to colleges have been sent out and acceptance letters are flying in. Mothers go crazy in preparing their babies for this next stage of life. But there is one thing that no student foresees: the lamentable freshman fifteen. As in those delightful love handles that come from all nighters studying with junk food. High School Students seem to have this unreasonable pretense that they will remain in their beautifully sculpted adolescent bodies forever, but this is fallacy.

It is widely known throughout every college that the freshman population will add roughly fifteen pounds to their lean figures. This is a result of many large lifestyle changes. Being away from home and parents who have previously constructed your eating patterns causes you to develop new eating habits. There is more freedom in these diets: choosing what to eat, how to eat, and when to eat. It is easy to get carried away when you are able to get takeout at 2 AM.

When parents aren’t around to tell us when bedtime is we will stay up however late we please. Whether it’s grinding out the homework or partying all night, kids choose to not only stay up late, but to eat late as well. The problem with eating at late hours is that people tend to rest soon afterwards which doesn’t give the metabolism a chance to digest the food that was just eaten, turning it to fat.

Eating while studying is one of the most common ways students gain weight. Because the brain is occupied with studying, there is less attention to the amount of food being eaten. The study meal can go on for hours. The body isn’t really hungry, young adults are just mindlessly putting food into their bodies when they don’t need it at that moment.

In college, students find less time to be actively engaged in sports and extracurricular actives because they are constantly assaulted with homework and many other responsibilities. This leaves hardly any room for exercise in the schedule. Students just sit on their seats all day doing homework, reading, studying and whatnot.

Many college students find it easy to eat their feelings away when just starting out because there is a lot of emotional unsteadiness caused by stress, distance from home, new relationships and new environments. These factors cause many to resort to food as comfort and solace.

Taking note of these traditional habits will be the first step in avoiding the unpopular heavy look that possible bachelors/bachelorettes might find unbecoming. Stop the squishy madness and care for your ever-changing bodies while you’re still young. Your 40-year-old self will thank you.