Trouble Meeting Calorie Goal

Iknowsaur

Not to mention the fact that largely I don't know how many calories some of the meals have. I had a Buffalo Chicken wrap today, and trying to enter it in was insane. There are literally dozens of calorie entries for the same food item, and I don't know which ones are accurate to the thing I've actually eaten.

Probably none of them to be honest..

You are in college...go have a beer, eat some ice cream, the peanut butter and chocolate sounds great....

Just because you are trying to lose weight doesn't mean you have to give up food like that, just eat reasonable portions.

A: I'm 19.
B: I actually don't usually eat wraps. In fact, the reason I started eating them was specifically to try to reach my calorie goal. It's not a 'not eating what I don't like' thing, it's an 'apparently I'm eating half of my calorie goal every day' type thing.

What does you being 19 have to do with anything?

SpiderByte

Well the whole "Go Drinking" thing isn't a good idea when the legal drinking age is 21. At least it is here.

Aaron_K123

I, for example, in my own experience had to pay for my college with a lot of government based loans as I could not afford it otherwise. Those loans covered my tuition and meal plans with the proviso that I do some work for the college itself but that income would go towards the loan. My days were spent in class, studying or working and that work did not net me spending money. The way the loans worked it covered the colleges meal plan which was access to the college buffet dinning area. I did not just get some cash to go to a grocery store with with my non-existent car in an area that didn't have grocery stores. After all of that when I was done with college I had about $30,000 in debt.

No I wasn't renting kitchens and making grocery store trips nor was I in a position to do so. I sold myself into indentured servitude for the purpose of my education which I am now benefiting from. I am not complaining about this it was my choice but no not everyone has money and options for produce while at college.

That said OP maybe you do actually. So that is a fair point. Do you have an income that you can spend on your own without having it diverted to loans? Do you have access to a kitchen? If you do then fittestpal is right in saying that you are perhaps making excuses that could be remedied with a bit of hard work.

Iknowsaur

Well the whole "Go Drinking" thing isn't a good idea when the legal drinking age is 21. At least it is here.

All I hear from you is "I can't."
Go eat a freaking burger and stop making this posts.
This is like your 3rd one.
Major buzzkill.

nomad1000

So what does your caf serve since it seems to be different than college cafeterias some of us have experienced? Does it have a cereal bar or deli station? Does it have a salad bar? Is there only one entree served at each meal?

Are you able to store some snacks like nuts, PB, etc. in your room? Do you have a mini fridge in your room to store perishables like cheeses and other dairy?

Aaron_K123

I can pretty confidently say that a vast minority of people pay for college out of pocket.
I will have loans for days when I finish, but I can still afford to hop on over to CVS or Walmart for some basic groceries, non-cook if needed.

But can the OP do that? We don't know until he says and no one has bothered to ask. Again your life situation and my life situation are not necessarily his life situation. People don't necessarily have the same resources that we had. Some have less, some have more and the only way to find out is to ask.

Spyderbyte. Can you get to a grocery store? Can you get access to a kitchen? Do you have the money necessary?

RunsOnEspresso

The OP hasn't given us a lot to go on. We don't know what all the cafeteris has/doesn't have. We don't know if there is a way for him to keep food in his dorm (I assume he is in the dorm). We don't know if there is a grocery store, gas or convenience store within walking/biking distance. We don't know if he knows someone with a car that probably could drive them to said stores if not in walking distance. We don't know if the OP has extra money to spend on groceries.

It is really hard to offer advice based on what little info we have.

Yes, everyone's collge experience is different and without knowing what is available it is difficult to offer advice except based on what we did or someone we know did.

My college had a decent cafeteria with a lot of options within walking distance, including a small grocery store and several gas stations at which you could buy some staples for cheap, like bananas were way cheaper than grocery store. As was the milk.

Holly_Roman_Empire

How did you get fat, then?
/Thread

It's easy to hit or vastly exceed calorie goal or TDEE eating ice cream and pizza. Its harder eating chicken breast and broccoli. I've been in the boat of struggling to eat enough while on a diet of healthy foods.

Having some of your calories as a liquid in the form of something like a protein shake with milk can help.

Then eat some ice cream. Problem solved.

ladykaisa

Well the whole "Go Drinking" thing isn't a good idea when the legal drinking age is 21. At least it is here.

All I hear from you is "I can't."
Go eat a freaking burger and stop making this posts.
This is like your 3rd one.
Major buzzkill.

He said he was 19..... This is an extremely valid excuse for not going out and getting drunk... it's not legal. Nuts to him for not wanting to do something illegal, right?


OP, when I was in college I lived at home and still had a part time job, so I had an entirely different situation than living in rez with a cafeteria. I know money was tight, however. If you have an extra $10-$20 a week, bulk stores are great for nuts/snacky things. If you have a local Farmer's Market you can make it to, veg and fruit tends to be reasonably priced (at least at mine it is).
If you don't have a little extra money (and it's perfectly reasonable that you don't), maybe picking up double when you go to the cafeteria, to last through the day? Jar of almond/peanut butter and an apple , or a couple hard boiled eggs are a great snack.

Does your school have a website with a cafeteria link? It may help if we can take a peek if you're really at a loss of what would be calorie padding options.

Iknowsaur

Well the whole "Go Drinking" thing isn't a good idea when the legal drinking age is 21. At least it is here.

All I hear from you is "I can't."
Go eat a freaking burger and stop making this posts.
This is like your 3rd one.
Major buzzkill.

He said he was 19..... This is an extremely valid excuse for not going out and getting drunk... it's not legal. Nuts to him for not wanting to do something illegal, right?


OP, when I was in college I lived at home and still had a part time job, so I had an entirely different situation than living in rez with a cafeteria. I know money was tight, however. If you have an extra $10-$20 a week, bulk stores are great for nuts/snacky things. If you have a local Farmer's Market you can make it to, veg and fruit tends to be reasonably priced (at least at mine it is).
If you don't have a little extra money (and it's perfectly reasonable that you don't), maybe picking up double when you go to the cafeteria, to last through the day? Jar of almond/peanut butter and an apple , or a couple hard boiled eggs are a great snack.
Does your school have a website with a cafeteria link? It may help if we can take a peek if you're really at a loss of what would be calorie padding options.

Honestly, I was referring to all of his posts.
But please don't be that person who pretends that a majority of college students don't drink before they're 21.
If he doesn't want to that's his choice, but I never told him to go drink.
I told him to eat a burger.
Or some ice cream.
Or a piece of pizza.
Or a peanut butter sandwich.
Or anything.

The only answer to this post is to eat more calories.
So I don't know why people make these posts.
You became overweight by eating at more than maintenance, so how the hell is eating enough to reach a deficit goal suddenly so hard.
Sure, maybe he's eating less calorie dense foods. So add back some calorie dense foods. The end.

SpiderByte

They have stuff like hard boiled eggs (which I eat) in the salad bar, and usually have muffins and such for breakfast. They have wraps, bagels (though I don't eat them because we use a really awful conveyor-oven-thing for them which either undercooks or burns the hell out of them), and etc. They rotate the other meal schedule daily: sometimes they have brocolli, cauliflower, etc. Usually I just have a salad with eggs since that's pretty much the only thing that's consistently there every day.

And the reason it's harder for me to reach my calorie goal than when I ate excess is because when I ate excess I was at home, where the kitchen didn't close every few hours and the selection of foods to eat was a lot higher. I literally lost 12 pounds at the start of college just because I didn't have access to my kitchen at home.

mschicagocubs

They have stuff like hard boiled eggs (which I eat) in the salad bar, and usually have muffins and such for breakfast. They have wraps, bagels (though I don't eat them because we use a really awful conveyor-oven-thing for them which either undercooks or burns the hell out of them), and etc. They rotate the other meal schedule daily: sometimes they have brocolli, cauliflower, etc. Usually I just have a salad with eggs since that's pretty much the only thing that's consistently there every day.

Okay...so what else is there today? Do they have pasta? Burgers? Chicken breast?

mschicagocubs

And the reason it's harder for me to reach my calorie goal than when I ate excess is because when I ate excess I was at home, where the kitchen didn't close every few hours and the selection of foods to eat was a lot higher. I literally lost 12 pounds at the start of college just because I didn't have access to my kitchen at home.

I have been to a lot of colleges ... what school do you go to ?

dreawest

The only answer to this post is to eat more calories.
So I don't know why people make these posts.
You became overweight by eating at more than maintenance, so how the hell is eating enough to reach a deficit goal suddenly so hard.
Sure, maybe he's eating less calorie dense foods. So add back some calorie dense foods. The end.

This. I know that on days when I've been really good and exercised I sometimes wind up with a huge amount of calories left over and it took a bit to adjust to the idea that I can indulge and use some of them up while still trying to lose weight. Now I have a yummy peanut butter sandwich or even ice cream bar or such on gym days when I have a lot of extra calories. I also know on those days to have a bit more food through out the day.

So enjoy some high cal food so long as it fits within your goals.
Pizza always works for me :flowerforyou:

oxers

Okay, ignoring all the snipping going on in this post, keep in mind that quality does count. Weight loss is essentially calories in to calories out, but that doesn't mean you want to load up on ****, right? It's not good for you, and it'll make building lean muscle mass - as opposed to losing it - that much harder. So no, regularly filling in the gaps with alcohol and ice cream and pizza or whatever probably isn't a good idea.

I kind of have a similar problem. I shoot for 1500 a day, but I home cook everything and currently don't have a scale, so there's a lot of eyeballing and that means I try to overestimate to make sure I don't go over - but 1200 is *right there*, and I never wanna be under, either.

So I recommend nutrient-dense, calorically-dense foods that travel well and take well to dorm living. In college I supplemented my diet HEAVILY with nuts, especially almonds and cashews, because it filled in the gaps with stuff I needed and didn't require an entire kitchen. Dried fruit's also a good idea, and beef or turkey jerky if you're not worried about sodium and that's your thing.

Iknowsaur

And the reason it's harder for me to reach my calorie goal than when I ate excess is because when I ate excess I was at home, where the kitchen didn't close every few hours and the selection of foods to eat was a lot higher. I literally lost 12 pounds at the start of college just because I didn't have access to my kitchen at home.

I have been to a lot of colleges ... what school do you go to ?

I also was wondering that.
I've never heard of a caf being so lacking.
Apparently it's the most difficult place on earth in terms of eating, and there is nothing he can do about it and nothing is his fault.

Iknowsaur

Okay, ignoring all the snipping going on in this post, keep in mind that quality does count. Weight loss is essentially calories in to calories out, but that doesn't mean you want to load up on ****, right? It's not good for you, and it'll make building lean muscle mass - as opposed to losing it - that much harder. So no, regularly filling in the gaps with alcohol and ice cream and pizza or whatever probably isn't a good idea.

I kind of have a similar problem. I shoot for 1500 a day, but I home cook everything and currently don't have a scale, so there's a lot of eyeballing and that means I try to overestimate to make sure I don't go over - but 1200 is *right there*, and I never wanna be under, either.

So I recommend nutrient-dense, calorically-dense foods that travel well and take well to dorm living. In college I supplemented my diet HEAVILY with nuts, especially almonds and cashews, because it filled in the gaps with stuff I needed and didn't require an entire kitchen. Dried fruit's also a good idea, and beef or turkey jerky if you're not worried about sodium and that's your thing.

But it's impossible for him to obtain those things.

lyrical_melody

I'm at college, and the cafeteria closes. So I can only get three meals a day, four if I bring up an apple or something to save for later.

Go to the grocery and get snacks for when you are in your dorm. I see you are in Boston..I work in Boston and I am pretty sure there is almost a CVS on every corner and the train is pretty accessible.

dreawest

If the cafeteria hours suck jst visit a grocery store occasionally and stock up on healthy snacks you can keep in your room. They are portion controlled so easy to log and great for late night snacks and such. You could get treat food but really protien bars are pretty good and peanut butter and bread don't need a fridge. Just set aside a small space and you can always have some cheap and easy food on hand. If the store is close enough go a couple of times a week and get some fruits as well.

Apple peanut butter sandwich is the way to go. Yumm.

Iknowsaur

I'm at college, and the cafeteria closes. So I can only get three meals a day, four if I bring up an apple or something to save for later.

Go to the grocery and get snacks for when you are in your dorm. I see you are in Boston..I work in Boston and I am pretty sure there is almost a CVS on every corner and the train is pretty accessible.

Jesus, he's in Boston too?
I'm in college in Boston.
I am officially labeling this post BS.

diannethegeek

They have stuff like hard boiled eggs (which I eat) in the salad bar, and usually have muffins and such for breakfast. They have wraps, bagels (though I don't eat them because we use a really awful conveyor-oven-thing for them which either undercooks or burns the hell out of them), and etc. They rotate the other meal schedule daily: sometimes they have brocolli, cauliflower, etc. Usually I just have a salad with eggs since that's pretty much the only thing that's consistently there every day.

And the reason it's harder for me to reach my calorie goal than when I ate excess is because when I ate excess I was at home, where the kitchen didn't close every few hours and the selection of foods to eat was a lot higher. I literally lost 12 pounds at the start of college just because I didn't have access to my kitchen at home.

Let's start with the salad bar. Are you literally just putting eggs and a salad together? What else is on the salad bar for you to use? Nuts? Seeds? Croutons? Dressing? Cheese? Chickpeas? Crackers? Proteins? I've seen a lot of salad bars in my years. Even if that were the only thing in your cafeteria, you have options.

Iknowsaur

SpiderByte

"I also was wondering that.
I've never heard of a caf being so lacking.
Apparently it's the most difficult place on earth in terms of eating, and there is nothing he can do about it and nothing is his fault."

Yes, because it's my fault that my cafeteria can't keep a consistent schedule.

You realize treating me like crap doesn't encourage me to actually listen to anything you have to say, right?

Iknowsaur

"I also was wondering that.
I've never heard of a caf being so lacking.
Apparently it's the most difficult place on earth in terms of eating, and there is nothing he can do about it and nothing is his fault."

Yes, because it's my fault that my cafeteria can't keep a consistent schedule.

You realize treating me like crap doesn't encourage me to actually listen to anything you have to say, right?

EAT MORE THE END.
This is making me angry.
I need to leave this thread.
Enjoy solving this uber complicated mystery.

Aaron_K123

Yeah in my own personal life I went to college in the sprawl of eastern Los Angeles where if you didn't have a car there was no way you were getting to a grocery store, certainly no mass transit and everything spread out by miles of highway.

SpiderByte

They have stuff like hard boiled eggs (which I eat) in the salad bar, and usually have muffins and such for breakfast. They have wraps, bagels (though I don't eat them because we use a really awful conveyor-oven-thing for them which either undercooks or burns the hell out of them), and etc. They rotate the other meal schedule daily: sometimes they have brocolli, cauliflower, etc. Usually I just have a salad with eggs since that's pretty much the only thing that's consistently there every day.

And the reason it's harder for me to reach my calorie goal than when I ate excess is because when I ate excess I was at home, where the kitchen didn't close every few hours and the selection of foods to eat was a lot higher. I literally lost 12 pounds at the start of college just because I didn't have access to my kitchen at home.

Let's start with the salad bar. Are you literally just putting eggs and a salad together? What else is on the salad bar for you to use? Nuts? Seeds? Croutons? Dressing? Cheese? Chickpeas? Crackers? Proteins? I've seen a lot of salad bars in my years. Even if that were the only thing in your cafeteria, you have options.

I should have clarified. When I said 'Salad' I forgot to include what I usually put in my salad, which is usually some croutons and some peppers they have as well. Once in a while they'll have some sort of strange meat-cube thing which I like a lot (it's not chicken, but it's definitely some kind of meat-based substance).

mschicagocubs

"I also was wondering that.
I've never heard of a caf being so lacking.
Apparently it's the most difficult place on earth in terms of eating, and there is nothing he can do about it and nothing is his fault."

Yes, because it's my fault that my cafeteria can't keep a consistent schedule.

You realize treating me like crap doesn't encourage me to actually listen to anything you have to say, right?

Does your cafeteria have meat? I would eat like 2 chicken breasts every dinner, with stuff from the salad bar, and load up on veggies.

mschicagocubs

I should have clarified. When I said 'Salad' I forgot to include what I usually put in my salad, which is usually some croutons and some peppers they have as well. Once in a while they'll have some sort of strange meat-cube thing which I like a lot (it's not chicken, but it's definitely some kind of meat-based substance).

Probably Tuna ... lol

ladykaisa

OP, ignore her.

If the specials each day have veggies, meat and a side, you can go with it. Depending on if you're looking to cut fried crap out of your diet, you can go with the burger/fries option. It'll be a decent boost of calories. Salads are great, but cut calories by a huge amount... diannethegeek has some good questions. What else in on the salad bar... you've told us what you put in yours, but what else is available?

JTick

"I also was wondering that.
I've never heard of a caf being so lacking.
Apparently it's the most difficult place on earth in terms of eating, and there is nothing he can do about it and nothing is his fault."

Yes, because it's my fault that my cafeteria can't keep a consistent schedule.

You realize treating me like crap doesn't encourage me to actually listen to anything you have to say, right?

EAT MORE THE END.
This is making me angry.
I need to leave this thread.
Enjoy solving this uber complicated mystery.

REALLY??? Would we be saying this to someone who needs to lose weight? EAT LESS THE END. No, instead we are continually supportive and give them ways to stay at their goal.

OP: It can be difficult to reach your calorie goal eating low calorie foods; they can fill you up quickly. It might seem counter intuitive, but try opting for more calorie dense options...maybe more dressing on your salad, red meat over chicken, even a muffin. Eating too large of a deficit can cause problems when trying to lose weight.