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

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 7, 2007, 5:43 PM

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 8, 2007, 1:17 AM

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 8, 2007, 4:01 AM

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 8, 2007, 7:42 AM

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 8, 2007, 9:15 AM

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 8, 2007, 11:18 AM

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 8, 2007, 11:20 AM

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

For Breakfast

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

Sunday, February 18, 2007, 11:46 AM

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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