Freshman fifteen: Demystifying weight gain, loss, and healthy habits
Understanding the biology, psychology and societal factors that contribute to weight changes in college students.
Maria Arozamena
Some college students may find themselves staring at the scale, with an unexpected number staring back at them.
The “freshman 15” phenomenon is the colloquial name given to the weight gain college first-years often undergo. While the playfully alliterative phrase may be novel, the concept of gaining weight is not. Why do we gain this weight, and what affects how we gain or lose it? The News spoke to several experts to learn more.
Dr. Bubu Banini, an assistant professor of medicine, runs the Metabolic Health and Weight Loss Program at the Yale Center for Weight Management. She wrote to the News, “We know that a person’s weight is affected by several factors, including their dietary intake, physical activity, sleep, genetics and a host of other factors.”
At the Yale Center for Weight Management, Banini focuses on metabolic health, or processes by which your body takes in and stores energy.
Hallmarks of a healthy metabolism include abdominal circumference, blood pressure and levels of sugar, fat and cholesterol in the blood that fall within normal ranges. When these measures are outside normal levels, it may be indicative of metabolic syndrome and an increased likelihood of weight gain.
Additionally, Banini says extra weight can cause stress and lead to dysfunction in a number of vital organs, including the liver, heart, reproductive system and joints.
There is also a socioeconomic component to weight. Obesity and obesity-related disorders are more prevalent in lower-income communities due to several social determinants of health, including “educational barriers, access to healthcare and access to healthy foods,” Banini wrote.
“New Haven itself is a food desert; there [isn’t] a lot of access to grocery stores around here,” Nisarg Shah SOM ’26 told the News. “Lower income people from lower socioeconomic status may find it harder to afford more pricey, expensive healthy foods.”
Shah is the executive director of HAVEN Free Clinic, which offers free treatment to patients without insurance — a population that is primarily immigrants and refugees from lower-income backgrounds, Shah said.
Lower-income communities have limited access to nutritious foods, leading to more obesity and weight-related diseases like high blood pressure, high cholesterol and diabetes.
Sleep and stress also play pivotal roles in weight changes. According to Dr. Rachel Perry, a Yale researcher specializing in metabolism, disrupted sleep patterns and increased stress hormone levels, which drive hunger and the desire for calorie-dense foods.
“Whether it’s staying up late to study or adjusting to new social schedules, these patterns can contribute to weight gain,” she notes. Additionally, mental health challenges — common during the college transition — can both lead to and result from weight changes. “For some, emotional distress increases food intake, while for others, it suppresses appetite,” she says.
For Yale students wishing to improve metabolic health and maintain a healthy weight, Banini recommends watching their diet and engaging in a good lifestyle.
This includes an “intake of diet rich in whole foods, lean protein and vegetables, maintaining regular physical activity, managing stress, getting quality sleep and avoiding environmental toxins including alcohol and tobacco.”
You can contact Yale’s Nutrition Services at (203) 432-4025.