Came back from college for break and...

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  • savithny
    savithny Posts: 1,200 Member
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    That diet pretty much illustrates my point from earlier:

    1) University dining halls are offering "restaurant food" to kids because they're "consumers" now and not just students.

    2) People eating "restaurant style" often respond, psychologically, with a "Ooh, its a treat, I'm eating out, it's all good, its a special occasion, not how I always eat!"

    3) Modern American "Restaurant Style" food has become an enormous caloric blowout with little emphasis on balance and nutrition. Also, portion sizes are crazy. If you do it once or twice a month, it's not going to hurt too much. If you do it once or twice a week, its a problem, and if you do it daily, you're totally screwed.

    OP: It sounds like you're in "restaurant mentality" three times a day and often four times a day. Your first step has to be to get that under control. You're eating three different breakfasts rather than just one, and often eating a second dinner at 11pm after your first one.

    Pick ONE breakfast per day. Not every options.
    If its a heavier breakfast, make sure you pick a lighter lunch, and probably also skip the 11pm Fourth Meal that day.
    Dessert should be a sometimes food. Ice cream every night is for people doing heavy labor on 19th century farms. Except that people who did that thought of a "serving" of ice cream as a tiny scoop. A half-cup serving is almost nothing, after you've gotten used to Cold Stone Creamery sized cups.
  • courtneyfabulous
    courtneyfabulous Posts: 1,863 Member
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    Yeah ice cream is 270 calories per 1/2 cup and I bet the serving you're getting is more like 3/4 or 1 cup so betweeen 400 and 540 calories. To put that in perspective that's probably 1/3 to 1/4 of the calories you should be eating in an entire day.
  • courtneyfabulous
    courtneyfabulous Posts: 1,863 Member
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    And that's plain vanilla ice cream with no toppings. It's more calories if it has caramel or toppings etc.
  • everher
    everher Posts: 909 Member
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    savithny wrote: »
    That diet pretty much illustrates my point from earlier:

    1) University dining halls are offering "restaurant food" to kids because they're "consumers" now and not just students.

    I wonder if that's the norm or not.

    I went to a rather large university and the choices in the dining hall were "healthy". There weren't any fried foods, a pasta option maybe once every two weeks, there wasn't any dessert options - unless you can count a fruit salad as dessert, and though there was a pizza option daily at lunch it was thin crust and on whole grain bread.

    Lunch and dinner were always made up of baked chicken or fish with an array of vegetables. There was also always a salad bar, a few choices of soup, and a stir fry station. Breakfast choices were grits, cereal, oatmeal, sausage, and fruit. There never were pastries or donuts.

    Also, I graduated within the last five years so this wasn't eons ago.
  • Sabre1232
    Sabre1232 Posts: 37 Member
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    I go to one of the largest universities in my state. We have several dinning halls I just go to the one closest to me most often which happens to be mostly unhealthy I will not lie. This same hall has a late night fried food service for a meal swipe. I have the maximum number of meals and try to use them all up so I don't waste food.
  • savithny
    savithny Posts: 1,200 Member
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    It's not "wasting food" to eat food you don't need that turns into body weight you don't want. THAT is the "restaurant mentality" I was talking about above, too. "But look! They gave me all this food! It must be okay to eat it!"

    You're eating three breakfasts every day.. Out of what you mentioned, you might have:
    Coffee and a muffin
    OR
    Coffee, eggs/bacon, a piece of toast.
    OR
    Coffee, cinnamon toast crunch.

    You don't say anything about lunch, which is telling. I've seen student lunches around here and the sandwhiches, even the ones that look small, are all 700-800 calories, and then if you get a "side" of any kind you're looking at a thousand-calorie lunch

    Pasta dish PLUS bread - pasta IS bread. And is there a vegetable in there?

    Ice cream AND dessert? Ice cream IS dessert.

    "Late night" is essentially another meal that may be as many as a thousand calories.

    Most moderatly active people can handle having one "larger" meal a day if the otehrs are sized to balance it. You're having SIX full meals most days if you figure that your breakfast is 2-3 times the size of an average breakfast.
  • Sabre1232
    Sabre1232 Posts: 37 Member
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    No kidding..42 inches on a good day. Yeah I don't like to waste food and always want to get the full value of my swipe.
    A lot of people use them up on smoothies, pastries etc no more maple bars or deep dish brownies for me. I might down grade my meal plan. I know my school is rated one of the.best for food also.
  • SueSueDio
    SueSueDio Posts: 4,796 Member
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    Smoothies can be calorie-laden too, so be cautious if you plan on switching to those! Try a bit of online research during your holidays to get a better idea of the amount of calories in the foods you like to eat most often (even if it's just a general guide, since you probably don't know exactly how they make their dishes), and then you should be able to make more informed choices once you get back to school.
  • Sabre1232
    Sabre1232 Posts: 37 Member
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    Well I got very stressed during midterms and neglected the calories in my food until now.
  • ShammersPink
    ShammersPink Posts: 215 Member
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    I understand the feeling that you shouldn't waste food, and think that downgrading your meal plan is a good idea.

    Surely they must provide some healthier / lighter options?
  • jemhh
    jemhh Posts: 14,261 Member
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    I've worked at universities for 18 years and have always found that there are healthy options available to those who look for them. This sounds more like a portion size issue than anything, though.

    OP, do you get a certain number of meals per day or is the food priced a la carte and you pay for each item? I get the impression that it is the former but I can't tell for sure.
  • ShammersPink
    ShammersPink Posts: 215 Member
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    Don't think of value as getting the maximum number of calories per $.

    Think of it as getting the best, most nutritionally balanced diet for your own needs.
  • Sabre1232
    Sabre1232 Posts: 37 Member
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    I get a set amount of meals that I can use anytime I want in anyway. Like I could swipe for 5 things one day and 2 the next.
  • Sabre1232
    Sabre1232 Posts: 37 Member
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    If I divide the swipes by the amount of days in the term you get around 3 swipes per day. However, swipes carry over on my plan and every break I get extra. I finished up using all the ones that came from thanksgiving break and such.

    I have issues feeling full and will often feel hungry (especially more recently)
  • Sabre1232
    Sabre1232 Posts: 37 Member
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    I don't regret eating the food as it was very good and fun times but I also don't want to be 100+ lbs overweight by graduation. The advice here is good. I just need to find a way to stick by it. I am one of those who always says "this can't hurt" or "jus one more" I will not lie. I guess it adds up after all.
  • Treece68
    Treece68 Posts: 780 Member
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    Ah yes dorm food. I gained a lot in College my dining hall had late night pizza and ice cream Monday-Friday and then mid semester they started to ad late night pasta as well. I went up two pant sizes in a year. You could also go to any dining hall on campus so you could pick whatever was the best meal that night.
    You can lose if you try. Good Luck!
  • mmmkaysully
    mmmkaysully Posts: 1 Member
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    Just wanted to chime in and reiterate the advice that others have given. I'm guessing there is a great gym at your school - one that you are paying for through your student fees. Just as you said you don't want to "waste" food, think about not using the gym as a waste of your gym membership. There are likely group fitness classes, cardio equipment, or even just an indoor walking track. The next time you're feeling stressed about all the reading you have to do, why not head over to the gym, hope on a stationary bike and read that chapter? Your brain literally works better after you've exercised so it's a win-win. Good luck on getting back on the right track!
  • jemhh
    jemhh Posts: 14,261 Member
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    Sabre1232 wrote: »
    If I divide the swipes by the amount of days in the term you get around 3 swipes per day. However, swipes carry over on my plan and every break I get extra. I finished up using all the ones that came from thanksgiving break and such.

    I have issues feeling full and will often feel hungry (especially more recently)

    I suggest using some of those swipes for salads (or trips to a salad bar.) As long as you don't go overboard with dressings, bacon bits, etc., salads are fairly low in calories while also giving a feeling of fullness. In my experience, when I ate a lot more than I did now, I felt like I needed that much food in order to feel full. Similarly, many people who eat very little feel full at those low calorie levels. Gradually working down in the amount of food you eat (or up in the amount of food you eat) rather than trying to cut out (or add) a bunch at once will help you adjust to the different amount of food.
  • Sabre1232
    Sabre1232 Posts: 37 Member
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    Treece68 wrote: »
    Ah yes dorm food. I gained a lot in College my dining hall had late night pizza and ice cream Monday-Friday and then mid semester they started to ad late night pasta as well. I went up two pant sizes in a year. You could also go to any dining hall on campus so you could pick whatever was the best meal that night.
    You can lose if you try. Good Luck!

    Yep that's the stuff. We have this really good mac and cheese you can get too. Ours is open all week long and right next to my room. I also am due for a new pair of pants.

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