I'm a college student struggling...

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Tachyonic
Tachyonic Posts: 64 Member
in Introduce Yourself
...against the cursed ability to be able to buy my own groceries and food. I'm 20, turning 21 in about a month and a half. I was never skinny, maybe 10-15 pounds overweight in high school... not much. But in college, I gained quite a bit of weight. I'm a junior now, and I'm 170-175 pounds. At 5'6", it's not where I want to be.

Anyways, looking for friends who can offer advice on how to eat well and buy groceries well. Or just for other college students who want a support buddy!

Today is the day that I finally get myself back on track. Let's do this.
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Replies

  • hugthefish
    hugthefish Posts: 33
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    I'm a college student also in pretty much the same boat. I was always a little chubby, but freshman year of college I gained like 30lbs and can't seem to make it go away. I decided to start running this week, so hopefully that will work out.
    I do love grocery shopping and making healthy choices that way. I've got some good nutritious recipes that work well for me.
    Feel free to add me as a friend for moral support--I could use some too!
  • bprague
    bprague Posts: 564 Member
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    I find that buying my own groceries actually allows me to eat healthier! I think planning out my dinners has really helped nutritionally
  • jtheroux89
    jtheroux89 Posts: 48 Member
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    I'm also in college having a hard time losing weight with the temptations of cheap, unhealthy food... however I've learned to eat or exercise before going to the grocery store. If I go hungry I buy anything that looks good...so not a good idea, and if I exercise before hand I don't buy stuff that I know will ruin the hard work I put in. Anyway, feel free to add, I need some support buddies too! :)
  • rebelo3
    rebelo3 Posts: 51 Member
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    I'm a college student too! I don't even have a kitchen.. just a fridge and a microwave. It's soo hard but we can do this!! Feel free to add me!
  • ARiddleForTwo
    ARiddleForTwo Posts: 10
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    Hey! I'm totally there with you, I'm a 20 y/o (almost 21 y/o) college student who's always been a little overweight but never been able to break through and loose the 20-something pounds. I'm 5'2, about 162 trying to get to 125. It sucks trying to eat right in college, what with buying your own food and eating out all the time, but I've just started a 12 week plan with lots of nutrition and exercise so this is gonna be it! (and say this all the time but I really mean it now haha)
  • KrystalLight03
    KrystalLight03 Posts: 119
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    I'm also a junior in college, and while in decent shape in high school (maybe 5-10 pounds overweight) I ballooned up in college. I have about 15-20 pounds to lose, and I'll see from there. I buy my own groceries and try to make good choices, but I fail at cooking. It's all a learning process, and after about a week and a half of being really committed, I think I'm doing okay. Feel free to add me as a friend! I've been on MFP for awhile, but I fell hard off the wagon back around May and I returned to no friends.
  • TheGoblinRoad
    TheGoblinRoad Posts: 835 Member
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    A little pep talk if you need it:

    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/476684-you-can-do-this
  • Kristena2009
    Kristena2009 Posts: 28 Member
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    I'm a college student too who has never kicked it into gear before... but im ready to do it this time!! Anyone can add me as a friend! its great to have support from people on here. im only a week in but its helped me a ton
  • Tamapii
    Tamapii Posts: 9
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    Hey! I'm totally looking for support buddies, too! I'm finding it really hard to eliminate the extra flab I've got hanging off. <: (
    I'd be glad to give you a hand if you'd give me one, too!
  • khall92
    khall92 Posts: 1
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    :smile: Hey guys, I have a little story for you.
    I am i huge soccer player and have been playing since I was four years old. My sophomore year in high school I tore my ACL and that took 8 months to heal. Within those 8 months, I ate whatever I wanted to thinking I wouldn't gain anything since I never did before. Me being young, I didn't think about the calories that were going in were going to stay there because I wasn't even able to walk! Needless to say, I gained about 20lbs within those months and once I went back to practice with my team I felt like no one even recognized me anymore. I felt so bad and kept thinking I let my team down. I then began to get down on myself and my self confidence shot down. When I went to practice I would tell my coach that I was in too much pain to practice so I would just watch, That did nothing for me. By the end of the season, I quit, gave up everything. My dreams of becoming professional just like we all had, my scholarship to go to college. My mother and coach were very dissapointed because they believed I had a lot of potential on going far with soccer in my life. So now I had let everyone down. before I tore my ACL my weight was roughly 115lbs and pretty cut. I didn't realize how much I gained til about three months ago when I weighed myself I was 196lbs:embarassed: . My mom, being a beachbody coach and my health and wellness professor has gotten me to see the big picture in life and I gained some confidence back. I have been watching what I eat and have been doing a program called Les Mills Pump for about a week and I am down to 180lbs. I know that doesn't seen like alot but think about it, most peoples weight loss is 2-5lbs per week. I lost 15! That alone is a self motivator in itself. Definatly a mood changer. :smile:
    Anyone can do it! KEEP YOUR HEADS UP!

    feel free to add my mom or I to help you through anything! We will both help you the best we can.
    Her username is ckisme
    --Good luck to everyone!
  • polonightmare
    polonightmare Posts: 31
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    I go to art school (don't call it collage in NZ), feel free to add me :) (anyone)
  • janetvbuchanan
    janetvbuchanan Posts: 18
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    I look for fruit that's on sale, and make a list before I go and stick to it. You would not believe how much that helps me.
  • aekaya
    aekaya Posts: 163 Member
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    I'm in college! I'm lucky enough to have a car, but I still like walking to the grocery store to make a little workout out of it!

    I've found that the more fruits and veggies you buy, the cheaper your grocery haul will be and the better you'll eat! :) I also stock up on dry essentials (flour, rice, salt, herbs, etc) when I'm at home and my parents can buy it for me.
  • Mirpixie
    Mirpixie Posts: 6
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    I just graduated college and at the heaviest I ever been in my life. I always had a little extra weight, but not like this. I lost alot of weight my first couple of years because I was more active, but my junior and senior year I gained it back and double. It was hard in college with having a meal plan and having access to all of the food. I didn't eat bad stuff, but I did not watch my portions. Then I often had a few too many cookies, my weakness. I understand being a college student and all the temptations with eating out, eating alot, and late night snacks. I think my best advice is avoid eating out, if you still want to go with friends just eat before hand and get a drink or something small. Don't buy junk food. I tried to buy yogurt and heathly snacks for my room. Work out! I didn't and now wished I did. If you don't have time I know the feeling find simple ways like walking more, go for a bike ride, put on your favorite music and dance around. Get your body moving is important.
  • kwahom03
    kwahom03 Posts: 10
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    hi! i'm also a college student, i've already lost 30 pounds in college once, i gained 15 back for reasons other than poor diet, but now i'm trying to lose that again and a little more. i'm really knowledgeable about eating on (or off) a budget and working out for losing weight. i'd also love some support myself so feel free to add me or ask me questions! :)
  • astow8
    astow8 Posts: 24
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    ...against the cursed ability to be able to buy my own groceries and food. I'm 20, turning 21 in about a month and a half. I was never skinny, maybe 10-15 pounds overweight in high school... not much. But in college, I gained quite a bit of weight. I'm a junior now, and I'm 170-175 pounds. At 5'6", it's not where I want to be.

    Anyways, looking for friends who can offer advice on how to eat well and buy groceries well. Or just for other college students who want a support buddy!

    Today is the day that I finally get myself back on track. Let's do this.

    I'm in a similar boat. In high school I was 5'6 and about 145 or 150. Now I'm 21 and I'm 173 (down from 182 since christmas). It's nice hearing about someone who is in the same boat! I don't have much advice to offer now since I only started a month ago but will post as I go
  • aa323
    aa323 Posts: 7 Member
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    When eating in the cafeteria (which luckily I only have to do 4 times a week), I won't eat anything if I don't know how they cooked it (this is only from working there, not because I was really caring about losing weight up until now). In my cafeteria, they are the worst about following recipes - throwing in butter and extra mayonnaise into pretty much anything - so if they post calories its ALWAYS wrong, and no one can ever tell me the ingredients of anything either (which really gets my goat because they can't even tell people with allergies if there is dairy or soy in something, they only seem to be concerned with gluten). Tonight I watched them make grilled cheese while I was prepping... they added a 1/4 c ladle of oil on EACH SIDE of each sandwich to cook them and they pour it right on the bread so it soaks in. Even if I didn't care about calories or ingredients, I wouldn't eat that, it's too gross. So I stick to salad bar, cereal, and the deli. We have a create your own stir-fry station too, so I can watch them put in the oil and sauces and they use a 1 cup scoop for rice, so I know exactly what is in it. I know it's boring, but it's safe. I don't even look at anything else, because it's all a mystery to me. I have had successful friends tell me that they've brought their own 1 cup measuring cup with them so they could at least monitor portions of things like pasta, etc. and they felt silly, but it worked.

    I live in an apartment now, so I can cook most of my meals for myself, but when I was in the dorms and trying to watch my weight (unsuccessfully, so maybe don't trust me on this) I kept low fat popcorn, apples, and 100 calorie snack packs around so I wouldn't hit up the vending machine or order pizza out of desperation. The problem was I usually forgot it was there, ate 4 or 5 100-calorie packs, or ordered pizza because it was tastier anyway and the popcorn was hardly ever eaten. I wasn't very committed.
  • bucklebirch
    bucklebirch Posts: 6
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    I'm in college too! It's definitely hard, especially since I'm constantly eating with friends and every dinner feels like a "night out". Feel free to add me!
  • aweightymatter
    aweightymatter Posts: 222
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    If it's an option, you could look into switching to "apartment-style" housing for your next year, if that exists on your campus. Then you might have a stove, etc. so you can drop your meal plan down to the lowest possible number of meals, or make it nonexistent. That will give you a lot more control over what you eat.

    That's what I did to help drop and maintain weight in college. Otherwise other people have given a lot of good suggestions here.

    Honestly I think the biggest barrier for a lot of people in college is the binge drinking and eating that follows that, so if I can give ANY advice, it's to try to cut back on that as much as possible... It's soooo hard to out-exercise and out-diet a couple of days of drinking and bad eating. The calories pile on fast. Good luck :)
  • Lydiabee_4
    Lydiabee_4 Posts: 13 Member
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    Same here!
    kind of...I am in college too! I have never been thin, but I gained a lot of weight (about 15 pounds) last year in my semester abroad in the beautiful Athens, Greece. Since then I have tried and failed and tried and failed to lose weight, but I think it's actually clicking this time and part of the reason is because I'm finally planning out what I get when I go to the grocery store! I love it! and I honestly think that eating planned meals that are healthier is better on my budget than eating all the junk, so it's a win-win! =)

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