Did you gain weight in first year of college? Here's the science behind it

A new study finds that college students often misjudge how much they eat, especially in dining halls or social settings, highlighting how environment drives calorie intake and weight gain

Only a few months as a freshman in college and you have started to notice a little weight gain? A phenomenon colloquially called “Freshman 15”. There is a scientific reason behind it.  To understand why this happens, researchers at George Mason University in the US tracked the eating habits of college students over four weeks using a mobile app and daily surveys. The findings, published in the journal mHealth, show that college students tend to eat more than they realise, especially in dining halls or when surrounded by friends.

 

The study, titled The dynamics of eating behaviours and eating environment in college students: discrepancies between app-tracked dietary intake and self-perceived food consumption, revealed that campus life, which includes shared meals and dining hall buffets, encourages overeating and leads to gradual weight gain during the first year of college.

 

What did the study find about college eating behaviour?

The research tracked 41 students aged 18–25 who logged over 3,000 eating occasions using a dietary app called Nutritionix and daily surveys about their mood, stress, and eating environment. The findings were striking:

• Eating with friends led to more calories. Students ate more when dining with two or more companions compared to eating alone.
• Formal dining meant more food. Calorie intake peaked in dining halls or sit-down restaurants — on average, 156 calories more than when eating at home.
• Students didn’t realise it. Despite eating more in social or formal settings, most reported eating less than usual in these contexts.
• Students, particularly men, consumed more when in a good mood. Stress, on the other hand, didn’t always lead to overeating.

Male students showed the biggest jump in calories when eating with two or more companions, consuming roughly 70 more calories per meal on average. Female students, on the other hand, tended to underreport their food intake, particularly in formal dining settings. The study suggests this could stem from social norms: men may feel freer to eat more publicly, while women might subconsciously restrict or downplay intake in group settings.

Why are students unaware of how much they eat?

The researchers found that perception and reality diverge sharply because of social and environmental cues. In other words, the presence of others affects how we perceive fullness. Eating with friends tends to increase food intake, while “impression management” may lead people, especially women, to report that they’ve eaten less.

 

According to the researchers, misjudging food intake affects weight management, nutrition quality, and overall health. Since young adulthood is a key period for forming lifelong habits as one moves away from the family environment, recognising these invisible influences could go a long way in keeping the so-called “Freshman 15” myth from becoming a personal reality. 

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This content is for informational purposes only and is not a substitute for professional medical advice.