Feeling Hopeless, Need Advice

H

HopefulSeeker

New member
Hello everyone, I'm a college student and have suffered being overweight for about eight years or so. I was thin as a child but for some reason I gained a lot of weight going into high school. I have tried LA Weightloss, which worked to some degree yet gained most weight back, South Beach Diet which didn't even work, and even diet pills. All of these seem to give me a few pounds off here or there but for the most part the weight returns. I used to work out almost daily and still nothing seemed to be working. The sad part is I could lose weight if I try hard yet I slip and fail at every diet. My biggest challenge has to be having to eat the cafeteria food since I live on campus. Most the major diet books out there stress food that isn't possible on a college campus. Does anyone have advice about dieting and losing weight while being on campus? I would really appreciate it. I feel pretty hopeless right now but hope I will gain some insight.
 
It's not that those diets don't work. It's that you couldn't remain compliant to them. All diets, in the end, control calories in some form or fashion.
And as long as calories are consistently controlled, you'll get pretty consistent weight loss.

This said, it's tough in college.

Most extreme option, but also your best bet, would be to cancel your meal plan and start grocery shopping. I cared a lot about my health and physique while in college, and this is what I did.... to an extent. I got the minimum meal package and grocery shopped every week.

The only reason I maintained the minimum meal plan was so I could go to the caf and socialize.... always loved it there!

If you don't want to do something that extreme, you must learn to make better food choices in the caf..... starting with moderation.

Go into the caf with a plan.

What are your goals? And what are you doing, if anything, in terms of exercise?
 
Hi

Nothing is truly hopeless.

I can give you no real advice regarding life at a college campus - but I can speak as a veteran of many many failed diets over the past twenty years. You will see that at the start of the year I had got to be a very big lady indeed. Every time I tried to diet in the past I failed and ended up heavier than I started.

The main difference between this project and all the other projects is that I
a/ weigh myself every day so that I can keep an eye on things - I can put on a vast quantity of weight in a week.
b/ I wear a pedometer (they are very cheap) all day long and have brought more and more walking into my daily life. Many authorities suggest that everyone should try to walk 10,000 steps per day.

Whatever you decide to do regarding meal plans - I am sure that you have a reasonable grasp of what foods are healthy anyway. In my experience overweight people often eat for a vast array of reasons and very often it is nothing to do with hunger. I strongly recommend that you adopt some form of exercise - and walking is a great start. It helped to build my stamina and has been the driving force (together with sensible eating) behind my weight loss.

Be full of hope and focus on the fact that you can do this.

Best wishes
Margaret
 
As a fellow college student, I understand how hard it is. It isn't impossible, though, chances are the authors of those books aren't anywhere near a college campus. I usually lose weight while at school (darn summer does me in). My best advice is to stay far from the grill (burgers, fries, etc) - though ordering a piece of grilled chicken would be nice to cut up and throw over a salad. I usually stick to salads. We have pretty good food options, tons of sliced fruit, veggies, yogurt, hummus etc. I'd say just make litle changes like water vs. pop, whole wheat vs. white. I know our cafeteria has all the nutrition facts online and have them available if you ask, so that is a good option for keeping calories in check.

I'll second Steve's advice to buy your own groceries. I'm not sure what your living situation is but that has made such a huge difference for me. Even if you don't have a fridge, etc, It would be good to stock up on fruits, whole grain cereals and other nutritional stuff that doesn't need to be kept cold.

I'm pretty sure that was incoherent...just woke up, i apologize. But I hope that helps.
 
Class action against the university for not providing healthier options. You recruit the students for the lawyer and get 10% of the retainer fee.

Then you have money for healthy food (and a BMW).

Michael
 
Thank you all for your input. I am going to start making smaller healthier choices with what I can on campus. As it is too late to change my meal plan, I can substitute every lunch with a salad and then for dinner make smarter choices. Perhaps someone should write a book on eating healthy in a college cafeteria. It would be a number one bestseller.
 
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