Ask college-bound students about the Freshman 15, and they'll know what you're talking about, crossing their fingers that it won't happen to them. The phrase, often overdramatically, refers to the extra pounds that students pack on while living away from home for the first time.

Sometimes weight gain can prompt students to learn one of the more important, and somewhat difficult, lessons in life: the importance of healthy eating and exercise.

Cymri Chang, now 21, gained most of her Freshman 15 during her first four months at Santa Monica College.

Compare a photograph from September, when she first left home, to one from Christmas, when she was back on the beach with friends, and you'll see "a huge difference," she said. "I didn't really notice the weight coming on until I came back for Christmas," when she found that she couldn't fit any of her clothes.

"The first semester away you're not thinking about the gym, you're thinking, 'Oh my God I'm living away from home' and you're studying all the time," said the petite brunette, adding, "When you're in college, you're a lot more sedentary."

Even though she was on her own, Chang would still buy enough groceries to feed her entire family, leaving a ton of extra food in the fridge. The combination of sitting around the apartment and an overabundance of food led to her weight gain.

Things started to turn around for her in the spring semester of her second year, when she got a job at a vegan restaurant and started to eat their healthier meals.

Then the Kalani grad got an additional job at an upscale gym down the street from her apartment — where, she said, "you have no excuse not to work out."

"If I wasn't working, I was working out," she said.

Chang spent two hours a day exercising, and she kicked bad habits, like watching hours of television.

"It's a lot more fun than it sounds," she said. "Once you get the (workout) clothes on, it's half the battle."

Chang also revamped her diet. "I hardly eat fast food anymore, even when I'm super desperate," she said. "It's too heavy, too much food."

Within six months, she was down to her high school weight and in the best shape of her life.

Finding a healthy lifestyle is what 20-year-old author Daphne Oz seeks to teach in her book, "The Dorm Room Diet," which draws from her experience as a student at Princeton University.

Although Oz, who grew up in New Jersey, is the daughter of a doctor, she fought a weight battle throughout high school and as she entered college. But in her freshman year, she got ultraserious about weight loss and shed 10 pounds. Then she wrote her book, which emphasizes exercise and healthy eating.

"College will present you with a ton of opportunities, and if you don't have the right information, it can lead to weight gain and an unhealthy lifestyle," Oz said by phone.

'DANGER ZONES'

Like Chang, Punahou grad Rachel Borg gained weight during her first year in college.

When she arrived at Mount Holyoke College in Massachusetts, food comforted Borg and helped her socialize. "I'd get homesick and I'd just eat, or I'd go to dinner a lot with my friends," she said. "Eating was a very social thing, so I ended up overeating."

Social eating is one of Oz's "danger zones," because, as she notes, you're focused on your friends and not what's going in your mouth. If it's late at night, whatever you eat sits in your stomach while you sleep and is even more likely to contribute to weight gain.

Another problem, said Dr. Joannie Dobbs, a nutritionist with University Health Services Manoa, is that students often don't know how to cook.

Dobbs sees young adults turning to the microwave to concoct a dinner out of instant noodles or mac and cheese, which tend to have more calories than meals requiring preparation.

In college, "people's diets tend to go into an imbalance," Dobbs said. "When you're out of your normal environment, individuals tend to consume the things they like the most."

An imbalanced diet is more likely to lack the vitamins, minerals and other nutrients required for a healthy diet and more likely to lead to weight gain.

Borg found relief in becoming more active. During the summer after her freshman year, she began working at a job in a cafe that required a lot of motion, and the weight just came off.

"Being on my feet for eight hours a day made a huge difference," Borg said.

Once she lost the bulge, she started paying attention to her hunger and avoiding unnecessary snacks. "I've decided that my body knows how much I need to eat. I eat when I'm hungry and don't when I'm not hungry," she said. Now Borg finds it relatively easy to hold the line on her weight.

THE FRESHMAN 5?

Oz dispels some common myths in her book. She writes that only about 6 percent of American college sophomores report gaining 15 or more pounds during their freshman year, while 50 percent of an average freshman class can expect to gain between two and five pounds.

So maybe the Freshman 15 should be the Freshman 5 instead.

Furthermore, Oz says that it's not only college-aged women who should be concerned with weight gain, though she wrote her book with a female reader in mind.

"Guys face the same problems we do in terms of social pressures," she said.

"Everyone warns girls about Freshman 15, but guys gain weight too," said UH-Manoa senior Ashley Tunac. "I think it's a stigma thing."

Tunac has always been pretty fit herself, running cross-country and playing tennis at her Kaua'i high school. Once in college, her weight fluctuated a little.

She started her college career at Loyola University Chicago, where Tunac said she faced diet challenges posed by living on a budget and the limited choices supplied by her cafeteria.

Tunac saw her fellow students go down the unhealthy roads outlined in Oz's book. They ate to relieve stress, and headed out for fast food after staying up late at night.

"When you're far away you do reach for your comfort foods," she admitted. And the care packages filled with candy, popcorn and Spam didn't help either. "You eat a lot of bad stuff and you start to feel like 'blah,' " she said.

The 22-year-old found that working out and eating healthy helped her mentally, as well as physically. As a bonus, exercising "keeps you more motivated during school," Tunac said.

In the end, like Oz, by focusing on exercise and healthy eating, Tunac actually ended up losing weight.

Reach Christine Terada at cterada@honoluluadvertiser.com .