Bad food choices...

SparkPoints: (13,349)
Fitness Minutes: (4,362)
Posts: 3,151
10/12/11 6:59 P

I forgot to mention, if you are going to start keeping food in your dorm room---portion out everything out in ziplock baggies to prevent binging.

Posts: 942
10/12/11 6:43 P

Chocolate.

SparkPoints: (13,349)
Fitness Minutes: (4,362)
Posts: 3,151
10/12/11 6:41 P

Hey, I'm in college too!

Does your college have a fruit bar in case you want a snack? If not, buy fruit that like bananas, apples etc. that you can keep in your dorm.

There are other things you can keep in your dorm room like whole grain bread, peanut butter, oatmeal, cereal, popcorn, raisins, etc.

Are there any grocery stores close by?
I walk from my university to Wal-mart (it takes about 10 minutes!) during my lunch break to buy fruit and single portion meals.

good luck!!

Posts: 1,404
10/12/11 4:02 P

If you haven't already paid for the meal plan then skip the cafeteria and get microwave meals. They may contain a lot of salt but so does cafeteria food so it would make the micro meals a better choice. On of those mini fridges with a freezer compartment can hold 4 to 5 microwave meals.

Since you are so close to home you could go home every weekend to make a batch of food and use some of your parent's freezer. Then just take home 5 or 6 days worth of frozen home cooked meals each time. I also lived about an hour away from home in college and went home most weekends when I was living in the dorms. In my case I lost weight during the week (wasn't really eating much because of same cafeteria problems) and gained on the weekend. It's also a lot easier to do laundry at home.

Posts: 605
10/12/11 3:46 P

Are you allowed to get a rice cooker or a small crock pot? Neither of those have exposed heat elements, or maybe they are classified as such.

Perhaps there is an area where you could find power for a waffle iron or electric grill without getting chased off?

So far, I've managed to cook whole-wheat pasta in a rice cooker, but I can't seem to manage a neglected cheese sauce. Maybe it requires Velveeta and stirring. I've also poached eggs over cooked millet, but that requires timing to catch the cooker just as it's ready to switch to warm cycle.

Rice works well in the microwave but takes forever. The last time I did normal pasta in the microwave, it was disgusting.

I never had to suffer under those rules, but I believe that my brother-in-law solved the issue by joining a campus-supported vegetarian food commune. Poor guy.



I don't believe any of this is going to solve your issues of paying for food that you're not eating, unless you can steal raw vegetables from the salad bar and turn them into microwave stew.

If I recall, properly-fried food keeps most of the fat in the crispy coating. The meat should be fine, but it would take a lot of work to get low-fat potato starch.

Perhaps you could start a campus crusade to include stir-fry in the cafeteria. It might just result in a few more ingredients to steal for microwave stew, but it could be a start.

SparkPoints: (41)
Fitness Minutes: (0)
Posts: 2
10/12/11 3:28 P

My name is Ashley and I just started going to a community college that is an hour away from my hometown, I am living in the dorms. The meal plan here is not an option and they do not exactly have the healthiest choices, everywhere you turn there is fried foods, unhealthy choices like nachos, pizza all that kind of stuff. I have a hard time with this because I don't like salad, and all the other food tempts me. How in the world am i supposed to lose weight when all of this bad food is surrounding me, and they serve the same stuff everyday. They do have like burgers and grilled chicken but I am not going to want to eat that everyday! Not only is this a obstical for me but my dorm room does not have a kitchen in it, we have a microwave and a toaster. Its been very hard on me. How can I make this work?