What You Really Need to Know About the ‘Freshman 15′

We're looking at you UMass Dartmouth freshman...You're a newbie on campus, there are so many new opportunities awaiting you in the next four years. The most important and exciting opportunity? The dining hall. Here's what you need to know before you have to start wearing sweatpants to every class, social outing and meeting.

Your first trip to the dining hall will look like what you imagine Food Heaven to look like. 37 different kinds of cereal? Yep. Unlimited ice cream? Yep.

All of a sudden, you have all these calories available to you AT ALL TIMES.

So many calories that you start combining them with liquid calories.

Then, you realize the thrill of being able to steal food from the dining hall and your dorm room starts to look like a hoarder's nest made entirely of snacks.

Before mid-terms roll around, these feels are too real.

And before you even force yourself on to the scale for your pre-pre-pre New Year's resolution diet, you know there's an issue.

And at some point, you need to admit that your swiping your I.D. at the dining hall wayyyy more than at the campus gym.

So you give yourself some tough love (and start eating stuff that doesn't start with the words 'cheesy', 'fried' or 'chocolate').

But don't worry, freshman. They call it the 'freshman 15' for a reason. You'll learn that balance is key, that there are REALLY cool activities to get involved in like Extreme Frisbee and Quidditch on the quad and you'll look back on that first year of school fondly as the "Oh my gosh look at my chipmunk cheeks!' year.