Students who are living away from home for the first time may find it difficult to maintain their weight while adjusting to new surroundings and food options on campus.

For these students and others on campus looking to prevent or lose the dreaded freshmen weight gain, the West Virginia University Student Recreation Center is here to help by offering the third annual Freshman Fifteen program.

The free 10-week program runs from Sept. 12 through Nov. 14, and offers fitness education and support for any WVU student, not just freshmen. There are currently 140 students registered, and interested students may still register on the center’s website until Sunday, Sept. 11.

The program is based on a point system: participants will receive points for completing six personal training sessions, and either group exercise classes, an intramural sport or a club sport, as well as nutrition coaching.

The winner will receive a $250 gift certificate to the Book Exchange, and each participant who returns for a post-assessment will also receive a prize.

Nancy Oliverio, manager for fitness and wellness at the center, emphasizes that this program is different from others held throughout the year.

“While other programs are about losing body fat and/or gaining mass, this program is designed to help people maintain their current weight while instilling some healthy nutrition and exercise options along the way,” Oliverio said. “If they lose body fat or gain mass, that’s great, too. But we are emphasizing weight maintenance for the time being.”

While most components remain the same as past years, there have been additions and changes made, such as a smaller number of required personal training sessions, and the option of sending in food logs rather than having to come in for a nutrition coaching session.

“There were many people who didn’t have the time to come in and meet for nutrition coaching, which is fine,” Oliverio said. “Instead, they can send us food logs so that we can look at what they’re eating and give them healthy suggestions or alternatives to that.”

Oliverio said this year will be more participant-friendly and is set up differently to promote success in the program.

“By ending the program before Thanksgiving break, we hope to see more success from the participants since there was a big drop-off after students returned from break in past years, due to finals and what-not,” Oliverio said. “We don’t want students to see this program as an extra burden, but rather as a way to encourage them to use all of the facilities and services we have to offer. They might have never taken a group class or gone through personal training if they hadn’t signed up.”

For questions about the program, email freshmanfit@mail.wvu.edu. To learn more about the Freshman Fifteen program, visit http://studentreccenter.wvu.edu.

-WVU-

mm/09/08/11

CONTACT: Nancy Oliverio, WVU Student Recreation Center
304-293-5065, nancy.oliverio@mail.wvu.edu

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