The freshman 15? Everyone's worst nightmare.

You come into freshman year thinking you've got everything down. You start writing down your goals, including academic goals, goals for yourself and fitness goals. You head down to the dining hall and you see the variety of options in front of you. Do you go for the fried foods or the salad bar? You hit the gym for the first time this year and you're really starting to feel like you got this. I mean doesn't everyone feel that way at the beginning of the semester?

Days and weeks slowly pass and you start cracking down on classes and making sure your grades stay up high. All your energy and focus is on academics, so much that you forget about yourself. You start neglecting your body and eat whatever junk food is in sight. The gym? It's been so long since you've been there and you don't remember the last time you felt that great wave of energy right after working out. Stress starts growing in you and you can tell the effects of it. Your skin starts to take a toll and gets worse since you've been consuming sugary drinks instead of water.

The year goes by quick and at the end of the year, you decide to head over to your doctor for your yearly physical exam. The nurse takes your height and weight, and you curiously ask about your weight. She says the number and you freak out. Where did you go wrong? How did you gain all that weight when you thought everything was in your control? It didn't make sense to you. You become disappointed in yourself and go crazy on different unhealthy diets. You're suddenly willing to try anything to lose weight as fast as possible, especially since summer was coming up. You become so focused on losing weight that you're starving yourself and you're secretly developing an eating disorder. Your mental health takes a huge toll on you and you become insecure and afraid. How did this happen?

Don't worry! You're not alone.

There are so many students around the country who are insecure about their body weight. Whatever number shows up on the scale, just know you are beautiful. Weight shouldn't affect your self-confidence! Sure, the freshman 15 sucks, but don't let it take over you. Stay strong and put yourself first this school year! In between all the chaos, make sure you take care of yourself!