Losing Weight in College

Theoprastus

I am about 2% body fat above my maximum healthy weight and am looking at combining this site with regular running to get myself back down to a healthy weight. (~180 lbs at 5'9 currently) The main obstacle I think I face is the fact that I'm in college. I have a small dorm room that I share with 2 others, no refrigerator, no scale, and no money. What advice do you have for someone like me? For the last two weeks I've been setting a caloric goal of 1200 per day, and running for 30 minutes 3 times per week. I have no idea if I've lost any weight.

I do have access to a kitchen and plenty of water, and have had no problems finding time to jog. Still, most of the advice here about keeping lean meats and vegetables, weighing regularly, and acutely measuring all food are REALLY hard to apply to myself. I appreciate any advice!

DeguelloTex

Theoprastus wrote: »

Still, most of the advice here about keeping lean meats and vegetables, weighing regularly, and acutely measuring all food are REALLY hard to apply to myself. I appreciate any advice!

What do you eat?

DemoraFairy

Scales aren't expensive, I'm sure you can afford some food scales. Bathroom scales aren't particularly expensive either, though you could use scales at the gym or the doctors, though they would be more expensive in the long run (if they're the ones you have to pay to use). Though, to be honest, while I was at uni I rarely used my scales because 99% of what I ate was prepackaged, so I just went by the calories on the packet.

Theoprastus

DeguelloTex wrote: »

What do you eat?

Mostly prepackaged stuff, like DemoraFairy. Lots of Quaker Oatmeal, tea, peanut butter, melons, bananas, crackers. If I buy anything fresh, I have to eat it that day.

DeguelloTex

Worst case, make an effort to eat less of it. Really, though, a food scale is probably going to be your friend.

RodaRose

Theoprastus wrote: »

DeguelloTex wrote: »

What do you eat?

Mostly prepackaged stuff, like DemoraFairy. Lots of Quaker Oatmeal, tea, peanut butter, melons, bananas, crackers. If I buy anything fresh, I have to eat it that day.

Because you live in the dorm, you presumably have access to the cafeteria and other shops on campus.
The cafeteria will have some good options for calorie consciously students like you.

Theoprastus

RodaRose wrote: »

Because you live in the dorm, you presumably have access to the cafeteria and other shops on campus.
The cafeteria will have some good options for calorie consciously students like you.

Unfortunately, it's the summer quarter, so none of the dining halls where I am are open. I do have a small campus grocery store a few minutes away from my dorm, though! Are there particular foods that I should be aiming for when I get the chance to shop?

RodaRose

Theoprastus wrote: »

RodaRose wrote: »

Because you live in the dorm, you presumably have access to the cafeteria and other shops on campus.
The cafeteria will have some good options for calorie consciously students like you.

Unfortunately, it's the summer quarter, so none of the dining halls where I am are open. I do have a small campus grocery store a few minutes away from my dorm, though! Are there particular foods that I should be aiming for when I get the chance to shop?

The store probably has protein bars, nuts, and fresh fruits -- often even the book store will have those.
Do a reconnaissance trip to the store. It might have yogurt, cans of soup, crackers / pretzels, bread, peanut butter, cheese. I love canned beans. I do not even bother to heat them up -- they are cheap and have protein.
Avoid "juice" as those drinks are mostly sugar and calories. If you like "Coconut Water," it is low-ish in calories and tastes ok but it is not calorie free of course. If you have the money, you might like club soda/ Perrier for something different. Diet sodas are fine if you like them.
If you buy chips, look for "baked" and do not buy them very often. Pop corn once in a while is o.k. Find some chocolate once in a while.
If you have money for fast food, look at the chain restaurants to find low calorie options with the most bang for your buck (good calorie to protein ratio).
Good luck with your food and exercise plans and good luck in your classes.

DemoraFairy

Theoprastus wrote: »

DeguelloTex wrote: »

What do you eat?

Mostly prepackaged stuff, like DemoraFairy. Lots of Quaker Oatmeal, tea, peanut butter, melons, bananas, crackers. If I buy anything fresh, I have to eat it that day.

Funny, I wouldn't think of most of those things as prepackaged since you still have to weigh them out haha. I literally ate a prepackaged sandwich for lunch and a microwave meal for dinner pretty much everyday. I bought the premade pots of fruit for snacks or had chocolate bars. The only time I really weighed stuff out was when we had Chinese takeaway for dinner every Wednesday, I would weigh out my chicken balls, sweet & sour source and rice.

So if you're happy to eat like that it's perfectly possible to track calories reasonably accurately without scales. The calorie counts are perfect on prepackaged foods but they were good enough for me to lose weight. If you're eating things like you just mentioned though, I would definitely want to weigh them out.

slaite1

You have access to a kitchen, but not a fridge? Is that correct?

No fridge is tough. You're just going to have to read labels and portion accordingly. I would struggle without cold items. Buy a scale if you can, less than $15 on Amazon. If you cannot afford that, than at least portion out your food. (I.E. A box of cereal has 12 servings, divvy up the box into 12 baggies). It won't be perfect but it should help.

Before i got a scale, I would even track how much PB I ate by marking the jar. Most have 14 servings. So every time I logged my 2 TB I would mark the jar. Not surprisingly, the jar was empty by the time I got to about 10 marks, so I had to log a very large serving the last time. This helped teach me portion size, and also did not allow me to underestimate in the long run.

Really though, life became much easier once I got a scale :-)