Allie Moore said she lies on her bed every morning in order to zip her favorite pair of jeans that have now become too tight.
"I really don't know what is going on, I guess the freshman 15 really isn't a myth," said Moore, a freshman business major from San Antonio.
Moore is not the only freshman or Texas Tech student suffering from the midterm weight - and most students do not realize where the extra weight is coming from.
Juli Benson, a health educator with student health services, said most students do not factor alcohol into their daily caloric intake, and it could be contributing to weight gain.
"Most people eat the same amount of food every day, and they don't allot for the calories they are consuming when they consume alcohol, and alcohol has a lot of calories," she said.
Patrick Garcia, kitchen manager at Don Pablo's, said the restaurant's house margarita comes in an 18-ounce glass. According to www.dwlz.com, an 11-ounce margarita contains 550 calories. Neil Fuqua, owner of Bash Riprock's bar, said their Long Island iced tea contains 16 ounces. According to the Web site's calculation, this drink can pack in more than 750 calories.
According to the Web site, the top five worst alcoholic drinks in terms of calories are margaritas, Mudslides, Long Island Iced Teas, White Russians and piña coladas.
One bottle of Mike's Hard Lemonade Malt beverage has 240 calories in it, and a 12 fluid ounce can of Budweiser contains 192 calories.
One shot of a whiskey sour has 200 calories, and a 12 ounce bottle of Sky Blue has 280 calories.
Mixed drinks and malt beverages are not the only drinks that contain calories, hard liquor shots also do.
One 1.5 ounce shot of Jack Daniels has 108 calories in it, and a shot of vodka can range between 120 and 150 calories.
Dr. Brent Shriver, an assistant professor of food and nutrition, said an average college female should consume between 2,200 calories and 2,500 calories per day, and an average college male can consume up to 3000 calories per day if he is trying to maintain, not lose, weight.
"Calories are calories - whether they are in liquid or food form," Shriver said.
Shriver said there are more calories in alcohol than there are in carbohydrates and proteins.
"There are 7 kilo/calories in one gram of alcohol; the only one that has more is fat, and it has 9 kilo/calories per gram-it is easy to over consume on calories by drinking alcohol because people don't know how many calories they are actually consuming," he said.
Shriver said students do not account for the alcohol they consume, and it slowly makes a difference in their weight.
"Students don't count the three beers they had that night, which would average around 350 calories; if they had already had their allotted amount of calories for that day those are 350 extra calories that they didn't need," he said.
Shriver said it takes 3,500 calories to lose or gain one pound of fat.
"If a student cut out the three beers they drank every day, they would lose one pound a week because it would add up to the 3,500 calories they needed to expend to lose that one pound of fat," he said.
Shriver said chronic heavy drinking could change hormonal factors in the body and cause weight gained from drinking to deposit in the abdominal region.
Benson said she looks at alcohol the same way she looks at sodas - just extra calories with no nutritional value.
Shriver said he believes students also consume extra food when they are drinking.
"Students usually drink in a social setting and find that they are eating more food because it is a social setting and they are drinking - they are not aware that those are even more unneeded calories that they are consuming," he said.
Shriver said people who drink a lot of alcohol during a long period of time do not eat the right amount or kinds of food and could lead to a nutrient deficiency.
Benson said she suggests students that choose to drink do so moderately.
"Students' best bet is to engage in only light drinking, that way they can keep themselves healthy and safe," she said.
Shriver suggests that students looking to lose weight cut out something they do not need.
"Alcohol is not a nutrient at all, if you want to lose weight, cut out the stuff you don't need and exercise," he said.
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