It happens to everyone. First you move off to college next you’re wondering how you are going to survive every day without your mother's cooking. And then comes that dreadful time, dinner. You make your way down to the dining hall and look around at the options. As you grab a plate or two full, you sit down and think "yeah I can live like this for the next few months." But as those months go by, the dining options are becoming fewer and fewer and begin to taste like what you can only imagine what prison food tastes like: Dry, unseasoned, and just plain disgusting. Pretty soon you’re looking elsewhere for food almost every day. This is a problem for two reasons. One, you end up either buying fast food or grocery shopping when you have a perfectly good meal plan which means you are using up all your extra cash on food. And two, all those late night In-N-Out animal style fries begin to catch up to you, specifically to your waistband.

Yes, it is a struggle that every college student faces and it is called the "freshman 15" for the 15 pounds that everybody thinks you will gain your first year. And I am here to say that it is a very real thing. Though not every freshman gains exactly 15 pounds, expect to gain at least a little bit of weight. For me, it was more like the freshman seven, but was still a noticeable difference when I came home for the holidays. And there are certain reasons why this weight gain is so real.

The Dining Hall

At first you think this is the best food on the planet. It cannot surpass your mother's cooking, but it is probably the next best thing. Then a few weeks go by and they are still serving the same dry baked chicken they had last week—and the week before that. You’re starting to realize that you are going for seconds and maybe thirds because the food you are eating is so bland it feels like you are eating nothing. After going back for seconds and thirds and getting dessert every night, it’s no wonder your pants feel a little tighter.

You will never go to the gym

You may have been really good about this back in high school. You may have even played a sport which meant that you didn’t even have to worry about this. But if you’re like any normal college student, you will probably go to the gym a lot less than you did back in high school. And I know this may not be true for everybody because there are a lot of people who go religiously; there’s still the fact that it is a lot harder to lose weight once you’re older. That burger and fries you just ate? Yeah, it’s going to take maybe three or four trips to the gym to get it off instead of one. And it’s not just that, but having to balance school and homework and a social life and the gym can seem impossible. This leads to people usually leaving out the gym part.

Alcohol

This is a very real thing on most college campuses. And though you may not want to admit it, we all know that you drink. The problem with this is there are a lot of calories in alcohol. Which leads to the realization that you are drinking way more calories than you should be. That and the fact that most nights when you come home drunk you are usually hungry and end up eating something. This is a sure way to end up with a few extra pounds and most likely a beer belly.

Drinking that much paired with overeating and never going to the gym are three reasons why the freshman 15 is so real. I know for myself all three of these reasons are exactly why I gained so much weight. The only advice I can give is to focus on portion sizes when you eat and specifically plan a time in your calendar to go to the gym. The real problem about the freshman 15 is that it doesn't just go away, if you really want to get rid of it, you actually have to try.