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dining hall eating advice

i am a college freshman, i love to cook and have been vegitarian my whole life, at home i would cook good, healthy, low calorie foods that i enjoyed eating and was actually starting to loose the weight. since comming to college (we are required to be on the 7 day meal plan and do not have kitchens avalable to us) i have gained almost 30lbs! (and that's trying to loose weight, ie. writing down all the calories of everything and exersizing.) everyday i write down my calories and hit my head with how much i've eaten, and i never feel full or satisfied here.
just looking for advice, suggestions from other college students with this issue etc.
(generally i eat cerial for breakfast and big salads w/ tofu and other stuff for lunch and dinner, i think my main problem is eating dissert w/ both lunch and dinner everday because it's the only thing that looks appealing)


Wed. Feb 7, 5:04pm

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Yes, you definitely need to skip the dessert, at least most of the time! Salads are good, but maybe purchase your own dressing from the store, so you can choose a low-cal kind? My roommates and I used to do that, and bring the dressing bottle with us to the cafeteria. I wasn't a vegetarian though, so I think I had an easier time getting full!

Keep low-cal snacks around so you can snack between meals and don't feel the need to stuff it all in at the cafeteria. One good one while studying is microwave popcorn - you get a ton of food for 250 cals or so! Or, even the 100-cal packs are pretty big.

Wednesday, February 07, 2007, 5:43 PM

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Salad dressings are a HUGE source of hidden calories/fat. I would bet that if you changed nothing else but brought your own low-calorie salad dressing, or used just oil and vinegar, you would start dropping weight.

Thursday, February 08, 2007, 1:17 AM

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OP here, i never use salad dressing (was raised w/o it and it always just makes things seem slimy to me) generally i put basil and a bit of olive oil on my salads.

Thursday, February 08, 2007, 4:01 AM

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When our dining hall slacked off so that the salad bar was little more than lettuce and cottage cheese, my roommate hand-delivered a written letter to dining hall management, suggesting salad bar improvements. They listened! Within a week, our salad bar had choices again!

If you can see something obvious and affordable that your dining hall can do to improve the menu, you might try writing a letter.

Thursday, February 08, 2007, 7:42 AM

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OMG, the dining hall was a nightmare. I so feel your pain. I gained 15 pounds my first semester and then I did something about it. First, stay away from anything that the dining hall prepared, like lasagna, pizza. Order things that "you" make like a sandwich (then take off 1/2 of the slice of bread. Make a dressing on the salad yourself with the oil and vinegar, salt and pepper that they provide. Remember, stay away from any prepared foods. they are deadly.

Thursday, February 08, 2007, 9:15 AM

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This may not work this year, as you don't have a kitchen, but, it worked for me (my parents were paying for college for me). As soon as I had access to a kitchen, I asked my parents if they'd give me the money that they would be spending on a food plan, instead of giving it to the school, and I'd be in charge of buying my own food, either from school or getting to a grocery store. It took budgeting, but it worked out well. Since school overcharges for food anyway, I could buy just about whatever I wanted at the grocery store and still have enough to go out to eat on occasion. That year, I dropped most of the weight that I gained during the years that I was on the school meal plan!

Thursday, February 08, 2007, 11:18 AM

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Another thing to watch out for, if your campus is like mine - smoothies! They seem so healthy b/c they're fruit, people would grab one for breakfast, etc. But, a smoothie can have 1000 calories in it! Almost enough for a whole day! But certainly not filling enough to hold you almost all day! They're easy and taste good, but, beware of them!!

Thursday, February 08, 2007, 11:20 AM

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When I was in college, I was vegetarian and looking to lose a bit of weight. I ate cereal with milk for breakfast, banana for morning snack, sandwich or veggie option for that day for lunch, pretzels or fruit for a snack, veggie option or vegetables, or boca for dinner. I almost always had frozen yogurt after dinner and a piece of fruit or a bowl of cereal before I hit the gym. I walked everywhere on campus (no car), and I lost all of my weight in one semester.

...I, also, didn't drink!

Good luck!

Sunday, February 18, 2007, 9:42 AM

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For Breakfast

Can you have oatmeal or cream of wheat or something besides the cereal?

Sunday, February 18, 2007, 11:46 AM

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I gained 15 pounds freshman year. Only way I got it off was working out.

Wednesday, August 24, 2022, 1:39 PM

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