Content warning: This article contains information on disordered eating and body image.
For many incoming students, the excitement of starting college quickly transforms into anxiety as they face the fear of the “freshman 15.”
The “freshman 15” is a phrase thrown around as new students enter college and refers to the idea that college students typically gain 15 pounds during their freshman year, but at the University of Wisconsin-Madison the pressure to avoid weight gain can lead to unhealthy behaviors, contributing to a growing number of eating disorders on campus.
“I was terrified of gaining weight because, you know, so much change is happening in your freshman year of college,” said Alli Bollinger, a content creator and eating disorder recovery coach, who noted she knows firsthand how damaging these pressures can be.
Bollinger said the fear made her “super careful” around food, how much she ate and how she looked.
At UW-Madison, 44% of students on campus feel that the campus environment harms student eating and body image, Alicia Bosscher, a clinical dietitian at UW-Madison, told the Cardinal.
College students are particularly vulnerable to developing eating disorders during this transitional period of their lives. Surrounded by peers, students often feel pressure to be social and maintain an attractive appearance, and many young adults find themselves managing their eating habits — deciding when, what and how much to consume — for the first time.
“It just really scares me that almost half of students say, ‘yeah, this is not a good environment for me to feel good about my body,’” Bosscher said.
As a society, “fatphobia” and anti-fat bias are promoted, Danielle Lennon, a post-baccalaureate research assistant at the Embark Lab, said.
“[Weight] is such a common thing to talk about when you’re getting ready to go to a party or a bar, to say like, ‘Oh, I look so fat,’” said Lennon. “That's a way of socializing for women, which really impacts group behaviors around eating in addition to the personal behaviors for an individual.”
Students may also feel pressure to maintain a rigorous workout routine while struggling with guilt over their dietary choices, often prioritizing weight loss over overall health, Molly Miquelon, a UW-Madison Recreation & Wellbeing employee, said.
“There’s workout plans amongst people who are not necessarily stopping when they're tired because they want to keep going to lose weight,” Miquelon said.
Lennon found that many students also over exercise compulsively even when they are sick or injured, an “unhealthy coping mechanism” for students anxious about their physical appearance.
Given the significant impact of social pressures and unhealthy behaviors, incoming college students must cultivate a healthy mindset regarding weight and body image, Lennon said.
Bollinger said the “ideal body” people have in mind won’t necessarily make them happier.
“When I was in that ‘ideal body,’ it was never good enough,” Bollinger said. “I still wanted to keep losing weight. I couldn't have a social life. I had no friends. I was so unenergized.”
Bosscher actively encourages students to shift their perspective on health, emphasizing that it should not be solely defined by their weight. She advocates for a more holistic understanding of well-being, where health encompasses various factors beyond just numbers on a scale.
“In that framework, the freshman 15 maybe isn't the worst thing in the world, right?” Bosscher said. “Bodies are meant to change, so we really need to just normalize the changing of a body instead of making it evil.”
