Struggling to lose weight at University

ilovefood9998

I began my diet at the end of June. I weighed 196 pounds which was the heaviest I have ever weighed. My diet was simple remove all drinks such as soda, milkshake and energy drinks from my diet and no snacking at all. I stuck to a caloric allowance of around 1400 per day which was relatively easy. From June to mid September I lost 19 pounds and weighed 177 pounds. I had never lost weight successfully in the past and it was insane that this weight loss came entirely from a change in my diet which proves how essentially bad my eating habits were. I moved to Uni mid September and that's when everything went bad. The structure of my days changed completely as did my eating patterns. I became more lenient and would just say to myself oh its fine it wont matter. It has now developed to the point where I am back to where I started I eat whatever I want when I want. I am constantly surrounded by other students who are able to eat as much as they like and it seems to never catch up with them. It has developed to the extent where I know for a fact that everyday for maybe the last week I have eaten well over 2000 calories. My addiction to soda has creeped back in and I am now drinking 2litres of soda everyday which equates to 900 calories. I have money as I am now working part time and have a student loan. I don't have much of a social life and I am not materialistic in anyway and I end up spending the entirety of my money on food. Bad food. I am currently scared of weighing myself but I know that I have atleast regained around 10 pounds. I feel like such an idiot. I feel like I have just wasted my entire efforts from summer for this to happen again. I know that I need to kick the soda and I have currently just thrown out all the soda in my accommodation. Has anyone else had issues with diets when it comes to big life changes

MegaMooseEsq

It is incredibly common for huge life changes to have an effect on our diet - for good or for bad. Try not to beat yourself up too much - it's understandable to be upset, but better to channel that into productive change than just feel horrible. So you lost weight in the past by making reasonable changes that reduced your calorie intake. That means you know what to do now! You don't necessarily have to give up soda forever, but since you've tossed out what you have, maybe make this a soda break - two weeks with no soda, while you figure out a plan that works for you. Think of something that can last a lifetime, not just until you've lost weight. Every day is a new day, and it's never too late to make healthier choices. Considering your age (assuming you're around the average age of university students) you're getting an earlier start than many of us! You can do this!

jemhh

Many (possibly most) people who lose weight have lost and regained in the past. It might have been 5 pounds or it might have been 50 or even more, but it is very common. My advice is to let go of any self-blaming you might be doing about regaining the weight, regroup, and get back on board with eating better. Instead of spending your free time spending money on and eating food, get in some activity. It can help you keep your mind off eating, relieve stress, and build your fitness level. Most universities have gyms but even if yours doesn't, taking walks around campus is a great way of getting in my activity. Good luck!

toxikon

It sounds like you know your problem and your solution! There's no point in beating yourself up - be glad that you realized it's a problem before you ballooned up 50 or 100lbs! And try not to compare yourself to others - you don't know what their whole day looks like. One student may skip breakfast and lunch and gorge on a large dinner. If you only see them during dinner time, you may make the wrong assumption about them. Not to mention others' activity levels. Just worry about your own body.

Can you make the switch to diet pop? I've been drinking it for so long that "normal" pop tastes weird to me now!

Successful weight loss comes down to making incremental, sustainable changes. Build habits that you can keep going forever. Maybe add a 15 minute walk to your day. Swap regular pop for diet. Swap fries for a salad a couple times a week.

It all comes down to CICO - that means that you don't need to cut your favourite foods out of your diet. But if you find that you can't control yourself around them, try making lower-calorie substitutions where you can.

Good luck!

2snakeswoman

Oh man - don't eat up your student loans! You're going to have to pay that back in more ways than one.

arobey11

You say you're addicted to soda - what is it about the soda that you find addictive? I have never had success with completely cutting out something that I enjoy. What about replacing it with something else? Two liters of soda per day is a LOT. Can you buy diet soda instead? Or replace the soda with a flavored sparkling water, or something like that?

Don't feel like you're an idiot. Look at what you did in the past and learn from it. Your diet was simple before - remove all drinks such as soda, milkshakes, and energy drinks and no snacking at all. That came easily to you, but your life changed, and now it's not so easy. So rather than cutting everything out, make smaller changes. Replace the soda with something else. Replace the milkshakes with maybe a yogurt smoothie or something like that, so at least you're getting more protein/nutrients when you indulge.

What do you mean by "bad food"? It isn't always ideal to attach "good" and "bad" labels to food. No food is healthy or unhealthy - it's your overall diet that you should be considering. Last night I had pepperoni pizza, two glasses of wine, and some Milano cookies for dessert - all of which could be considered "bad" foods to some people, but they fit within my calories, so they aren't going to derail me at all in my weight loss - and I ate "good" foods the rest of the day to take care of my nutritional needs. This is the reality of weight loss - you need to make sure that it fits in your current lifestyle.

Keep your chin up! You haven't wasted your efforts from summer - you know you can make the changes you need and see that weight come off, so now it's just a matter of pointing yourself back in that direction.

laur357

Try buying some flavored seltzer or diet soda? It takes a while to get used to the taste, but it might help temper your habit. (Or water and black coffee, because depending on the soda you're probably getting a good amount of caffeine - you might get headaches or feel off if you stop abruptly.)

I'd suggest taking things slow - work on your soda habit first. After you have that down for a few weeks, add in something else like cutting your calories. After you get used to that, try an exercise class or schedule some gym time into your day. You're in a completely new environment, which is a lot of change - work healthier habits in over time so you aren't overwhelmed! By the time 2018 rolls around, you can have a few new helpful habits in place and start to bring your weight down slowly throughout the next semester!

MegaMooseEsq

Also, I don't think there's anything at all wrong with loving food and spending money on it, but maybe look at your budget and see about buying smaller amounts of higher quality food. I am much happier savoring a small amount of an excellent aged cheddar than scarfing down massive amounts of something cheap. Weight loss doesn't have to mean giving up the foods you love, but it does mean making changes. You can lose a lot of weight quickly by making drastic changes, but those changes are awfully hard to keep up in the long run, which leads to regaining weight down the line. Losing weight slowly takes patience, but if you only have to do it once, you come out ahead in the long run.

Tacklewasher

Will diet soda do the trick for you?

barbp7

I have liked to drink my calories too. I have found I get just as much pleasure from 6 oz as 12 oz. of my whole milk & sugar instant coffee. I'd rather cut down on quantity than use skim milk. Maybe the same for you and diet vs regular soda. Look for those mini cans of soda and limit it to one a day.

I'm also working on developing a taste for herbal tea to replace some of those calorie-rich drinks. Maybe you could develop a taste for the bubbly water like someone else suggested.