College makes it hard to portion!

Casistrophic

Hey guys! I've never actually posted on these forums before. I tried to lose weight a couple years ago and was easily successful, but only because of an anxiety medication I was on that made me completely lose my appetite. Sadly, I couldn't outsource my self-control to a chemical forever and once I stopped needing the medication for my anxiety I quickly gained the weight back and then some. Now I am back at it with renewed hope to get to my original "starting weight" of 175lbs, and then eventually to 130

I am doing much better with regards to self-control, but my current problem is that I am in college, and it's much more difficult to have a strict diet plan when I have no control over the food that's going to be available (I can't afford to buy my own food and being on the meal plan is compulsory at my college). That's a bit of a problem, but the main thing I'm struggling with right now is portion sizes. I have always been terrible at eyeballing magnitude, and every time I log a food in my diary I feel like a cheat who is low-balling everything to appear successful, even when it's an earnest estimate. I would feel very silly bringing a set of measuring cups and teaspoons to the dining hall, so I was wondering if anyone had any tips on reliably estimated portion sizes?

psmd

Can you do a to-go meal and measure in your room just once, that way you know how much you're eating for future visits to the cafeteria? Just an idea...

Also maybe you can petition to have your college post nutrition information for their foods? I work at a hospital and the cafeteria there does that, it's really helpful.

Dedshot

Don't most schools have an online menu where you can view the nutrition facts for every meal? I've been to two colleges and they both had the same system. I log all of my food from my meal plan based on the nutrition in the meals at the cafeteria. It's very simple, I'm surprised your school doesn't have this.

Casistrophic

I probably could for one meal, but they serve something different every day and they usually don't repeat a meal in a 2-3 week period. There are every-day foods available, but my options with those are limited by healthiness (cereal bar, stir fry station) and my unfortunate finickyness (the salad bar. I don't like lettuce or uncooked tomatoes :'|)

I made an appointment with the school dietician, so hopefully she'll be able to provide me with some info about the specific nutrition of the food they serve in the dining hall, but I agree that it would be way more helpful for that info to just be there for everyone to read it. Even if they do mix it up a lot, they still serve the same dishes from semester to semester so they *should* be able to whip up some nutrition info for the things they serve.

Then again, I *am* going to a school that's spending a hundred million dollars on a third gymnasium despite being Division III in sports and having < 2000 students, so I don't know if I should hold my breath for the administration doing what makes sense...

Apocalypz

If you're worried about portion size, then think about an open hand as being a proper plate full. Don't eat more on your plate then what is in the circumference of your hand. Be cognizant of your plate size. If it's large, then don't fill it up. If it's small, then better. That's a good start.

Dedshot

I probably could for one meal, but they serve something different every day and they usually don't repeat a meal in a 2-3 week period. There are every-day foods available, but my options with those are limited by healthiness (cereal bar, stir fry station) and my unfortunate finickyness (the salad bar. I don't like lettuce or uncooked tomatoes :'|)

I made an appointment with the school dietician, so hopefully she'll be able to provide me with some info about the specific nutrition of the food they serve in the dining hall, but I agree that it would be way more helpful for that info to just be there for everyone to read it. Even if they do mix it up a lot, they still serve the same dishes from semester to semester so they *should* be able to whip up some nutrition info for the things they serve.

Then again, I *am* going to a school that's spending a hundred million dollars on a third gymnasium despite being Division III in sports and having < 2000 students, so I don't know if I should hold my breath for the administration doing what makes sense...

This is my school's:
http://diningatwsu.com/dining/WeeklyMenu.htm
They serve different things every day aside from pizza/burgers/pasta, normal stuff. Jeez, where do you go, if I may ask?
I find it easier to track my nutrition at college than at home, because at home I have to measure everything myself.

Casistrophic

Apocalypz, that's a good tip! They actually have plates that are half the size of the regular dinner plates. I'm embarrassed to say that pre-health-conscious me used to use them to hold dipping sauces...but using them as my regular dinner plate might be very helpful in at least knowing that I am not overeating

Also, just as a reference, here is a screenshot of the info we get about meals:

http://i.gyazo.com/58cc3c801a80f8dd161042f6ef978682.png

As you can see, there's not much helpful aside from a very vague recommendation from the dietician for some items. And for tonight's dinner, the only variable (i.e. not the salad bar that's there every day) item on the menu that was recommended was broccoli. Thankfully, I love broccoli but it's not like I'd want to eat just that for a meal, or have the same deli sandwich every day, you know?

Rocbola

That's a tough one. Does your college cafeteria serve fruit? That would be a good thing to load up on.

etscher

I gained a lot of weight when I stayed in the dorms, so I completely understand your struggle here!

It's nice to see that there are "Dietician Approved" options on your menu. I'm not sure how your dining hall is set up, but ours had salad bars and fruit bars. Try filling up half of your plate with fruits/veggies and then go get your entree on the same plate, so you are restricting the amount of room they have to serve on your plate.

I used to make sandwiches by grabbing one slice of bread (for open faced sandwiches) and use the veggies at the salad bar.

I know you said that you don't have resources to buy your own food, but does your school have a convenience store? Ours did and you could use your meal plan to buy things there. A tub of hummus and some yogurts to keep in your fridge in your room could be helpful as a snack or for lunch.

It's also helpful to observe how others are eating in the dining hall; if you see other students who look like they're staying in shape, despite the options on campus, try to look to see what is on their plates and mimic that. And avoid the sweets/desserts at all costs! Ours used to be drenched in butter and about 3 times too big.