How to lose weight while living in a dorm?

eriellegonzalez01
eriellegonzalez01 Posts: 33 Member
edited November 22 in Motivation and Support
So, I've been trying to lose weight for two years already, and sadly, I'm barely almost half way there.
And now, I'm living in the dorm and there's food everywhere and I tend to stress eat when I'm stressed.... which is a lot.
Also, I have no money. I have to depend on the university food (which is a buffet and fast food restaurants on campus).
I'm almost tempted to just go on an extreme diet and make it all go away!
Please someone help. :'(

Replies

  • lili200
    lili200 Posts: 200 Member
    Do u have a dietitian in the campus clinic?
  • eriellegonzalez01
    eriellegonzalez01 Posts: 33 Member
    @lili200 I'm not sure.
  • brendanwhite84
    brendanwhite84 Posts: 219 Member
    Depends partially on the fast food restaurant but you can eat properly (in a quantitative sense) on a fast food diet. The advantage is that chains all publish detailed caloric information. My concern would be making sure that I wasn't eating too much sodium, unhealthy types of fat, or the like, and that I was getting some vegetables and adequate protein.

    Stress eating I can't comment on, unfortunately. Not something I've personally had to cope with.
  • corgarian
    corgarian Posts: 366 Member
    I remember when I lived on campus the dining hall had salad bars and usually a healthy entree choice. If you could go on an extreme crash diet I bet you could have the willpower to eat the healthier stuff.

    Also at my old college the use of the rec facility was bundles into tuition, so if your campus has a rec center you should use it for sure. I actually managed to lose weight when i lived on campus because i walked everywhere and took advantage of the "free" gym.
  • Sunnybrooke99
    Sunnybrooke99 Posts: 369 Member
    Don’t you have a mini fridge? Stock some healthy snacks, some low cal “just add water” soups and snacks, and get an air popper.
  • beanfacekilla
    beanfacekilla Posts: 69 Member
    If they have McD's on campus, eat the southwest grilled chicken salad, with southwest dressing, or eat artisan grilled chicken sandwich. Both are decent in protein and have low-ish fat.

    Also, Wendy's chili is somewhat healthy, high sodium though. Have that with a garden side salad with Italian dressing or something other than ranch cause ranch is bad.

    Subway healthy as well, sort of. All chains have metric **** tons of sodium in their food though. Someone suggested a mini fridge and I second that, but if you have no $$$, just take a look at nutrition into for all restaurants by you, form a plan on what to eat, and stick to it.

    It's pretty much all will power. It's up to you. How bad do you want to lose weight? Just do it and stop thinking about it. Just effin do it.
  • steveko89
    steveko89 Posts: 2,223 Member
    What would this "extreme diet" entail?

    Have to agree with @corgarian, I too left college in better shape than in which I arrived, and also lost a bunch of weight during and after a three-week college prep program I attended at a different university as a high school student. Having an on-campus gym that's included with tuition it nice, I know I also used ours extensively, though focusing on nutrition for weight loss and exercise for any fitness aspirations will yield the best results. I think you should be able to find healthy choices on a buffet, though portion control is the challenge there. Is there any type of grill in the dining hall? I know both main food places on my old campus had a grill where you could get grilled chicken (on a sandwich or not) any time after like 10am, which was a great protein option. Might be able to find similar options at the fast food places, but I'd be remiss to not acknowledge the points @brendanwhite84 makes regarding sodium and saturated fats from those places. Providing more detail on the specific food options/choices will allow for more direct guidance.

    Regarding the stress eating, have you identified from where this stems? I agree with @lili200; investigating whether or not there's a dietitian on staff could be a good place to start. If not, there may be professors in the field who teach at the school who may be willing to provide guidance. To combat the root cause of your stress eating you may have access to other campus resources like a psychologist who be may be available to help you work through that habit and/or help to eliminate the stress. I know that sort of resource was often touted as available and underutilized at the school I attended, though I never chose to take advantage myself.

    Good luck! All-in-all, living dorm-life doesn't prevent you from making it a healthy lifestyle, you can do it!
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