For decades now, college-bound teens have worried about packing on the pounds during their first year at school.

But new research suggests that the dreaded Freshman 15 is just a myth.

The New York Times recently reported that the notorious Freshman 15 -- or the extra poundage that first-year students can expect to put on at college - has not been backed by any solid research. In fact, several small studies showed that about half the students gained an average of seven pounds and nearly 20 percent of all students lost weight.

Regardless, teens — especially young women — are more stressed about gaining weight than freaky roommates, frat parties, absent-minded professors, tuitions, heavy course loads and the myriad other challenges of college-life.    

Looking back, it's obvious to me that my friends and I didn't gain much -- if any -- weight during our four years at college. Sure, we worried about weight gain, but it just never happened. It's some kind of miracle, considering that we subsisted on a steady diet of coffee, pizza, Diet Coke, bagels, cheap beer and late-night snacks from the vending machine or anyplace that was open past midnight.

Back then, if we ate any vegetables at all, they came  from an extremely rare trip to the salad bar and invariably consisted of iceberg lettuce. And I'm pretty sure we went for months without touching a fruit (unless you count the limeade concentrate in margaritas.) 

It's strange to think that former diet and realize that those terrible eating habits actually didn't result in a weight gain at all. By all rights, we should have gained far more than 15 pounds. But somehow, it just never happened. 

Clearly, no one should eat like this, college or otherwise. But I would advocate that college-bound kids give themselves a break. There are plenty of other things to worry about — and research suggests that you can eat the worst stuff around and still not gain much weight.

I just wish I'd known that back then. I would have eaten a lot more pizza and felt a lot less guilty about it.