Most people in college make a reference to the 'Freshman 15.' With tons of new options on campus (and part of your meal plan), students are bound to make bad decisions when it comes to eating habits. Mom is no longer there anymore telling you to eat your vegetables or to work out. You are finally on your own to make your own decisions. And a lot of the time, our food decisions tend to be less than healthy. With Dairy Queen, McDonalds and other fast food joints within walking distance, or within your dorm even you tend to fall into a bad routine. But I promise you! It's NOT the end of the world!

My personal weight gain didn't start until my junior year of college. Before then, I had always eaten anything I wanted with no fear of gaining weight. All of the sudden, I now saw every bite of Chick-Fil-A on my body. I noticed my face becoming rounder. My stomach was starting to become more obvious. And with all this new weight gain, my self esteem depreciated pretty quickly.

I started to be hard on myself and compare myself to other girls on campus. Girls who were even a foot shorter than me, or had smaller chests than I did; two things I could never change about myself. I made all kinds of promises to myself to go to the gym and to start eating salads more often. But lets be honest, the gym sometimes goes to the wayside when it comes to your list of priorities.

My weight gain hit me hardest when people began to talk about me in the past tense. 'Yeah she was hot.' 'She had an amazing body.' Last time I had checked, I was still alive and had ears. Hearing comments like these made me pick baggier clothing and cotton shorts because it hid my weight more easily.

By senior year, I was still struggling with weight. But I realized I'd rather have a fun last year than worry about pounds and calories. So I enjoyed myself (and salads) for my final year. I went to Happy Hour, I went to the clubs and different bars and drank all the calories I wanted to.

I'm happy I chose to enjoy myself rather than to worry about my my daily calorie count. College is too short to worry about the little things! Now, I'm not saying to not take care of yourself, I'm saying to love yourself and to embrace the curves that you may get.

I am now a month removed from college and I have realized just how okay I am with having gained weight. I look at it as 'Look! I had a great time in college!' I'm happy I didn't stress over my weight my last year of school. Because now, being unemployed, I'm back home with my mom - and she's making sure I eat my vegetables.