College students

I would like to start a thread on the obstacles of college life on maintaining a healthy lifestyle.

I live on campus for most of the year, and find it difficult to maintain a healthy lifestyle for many reasons. I love to exercise and eat healthy foods, but at times I do not have the money to afford much of the food I need and sometimes lack the time to exercise as much as I want. The stress that comes with college leads to much stress binge eating, and many times price takes over health in priority. (Sometimes during finals week I am so busy I actually forget to eat ),

I don't know why, but I find it WAYYYY easier to lose weight when I'm at college. I love being in charge of my food with no temptations from my mom :P You can do it!

Oh no i feel much the same - my eating habits are all over the place. Term finished this month so since I handed in my final assignment I vowed to get off my student diet and start eating healthier. I've never been much of a junk-food fan and I don't like soda so it hasn't been that hard. The most effort I've had to make is not give in to temptation and make sure there is no nutella or chocolate in the house. Other than that I'm living off fruits and tea and snacks and two main meals a day. Well, I try to get two main meals, often it's just one. That's a pain because then, strangely, I think I eat MORE than I should.

I understand it can be really hard at school to find the right foods to eat, especially if you are on a meal plan. the advice i have is if you have a grocery store near by try to buy some fresh vegetables that you can keep in your minifridge like baby carrots and celery..

it's hard not to go off your diet when exams come around with stress and everything else falling on your shoulders..

most colleges have a gym so thats a nice FREE way to exercise a few times a week.. even if it is for 20 minutes, every little bit counts!

keep your head up aoiluna! you got this!

Oh man... I get this.... I am definitely feeling apprehensive about the start of classes again this fall. I have been home for the summer and am so proud of losing 25lbs and even more than that, toning up and eating very clean and healthy.

I really think I'm just going to have to have confidence in my ability to maintain a healthy lifestyle back at school, and my health is definitely going to have to be a higher priority this year. I think it will be tempting to blow off the gym for extra study time, or order a pizza after a night out with friends, but I will just have to remind myself that I will be much happier and more productive with the time that I do have if I am taking care of myself...

good luck and i think living away from home will at least make it easier for me to control the food I bring home- and with my ubercontrolling mother out of the picture i can actually get excited about cooking for myself again :) 

btw i feel like i wouldn't mind joining some sort of college-age accountability group... lol??

im going to buy a crock pot and go from there...

I basically got (re-)started on my fitness track my senior year of college - the year when I had the most school work to do and two jobs. I just up and decided I wasn't happy with my body and was going to work out til I saw results. You can make time to get to the gym, even if it's just for a half hour. You have to make it count. I remember running into a friend at the fitness center a few months into my routine (which wasn't really a routine, I would just try to go five or six times a week and get some cardio in) and he had said he almost didn't come over because at first he didn't realize it was me on the elliptical (it had that great of an effect, to where people didn't recognize me at a distance, apparently).

I don't remember much about what I was eating at that time, though I do remember going off all non-diet sodas, and avoiding everything in the vending machines (sadly, a lot of my meals came from them) that wasn't Snyder's pretzels and the relatively low cal animal crackers they had stocked. On nights where I did get home at a reasonable time I would make a Lean Pocket and a bowl of "salad" (lettuce with low cal dressing, how creative). These were humble beginnings but, as you know, you have to make do...

Anyway... if I could do it, you can too! Just remember that it's totally possible. Also, having access to a free (with tuition) gym on campus is like, the best thing ever. I miss it so much!

I'm heading off to college in a month (Cal Poly SLO YEAH!!) and I'm an incoming freshman.  I've been eating really well for the last few months and I've lost 26 lbs so far.  I'm curious to see if I can maintain my healthy lifestyle once I leave.  I'm sure I'll get way more exercise (I'm fairly sedentary now) even if I don't make it to the gym because I won't have a car, only a bike.  It's a big and hilly campus, maybe not big compared to other colleges but way bigger than my high school.  Fortunately I got into the Cerro Vista Apartments there instead of the dorms so I'll have a kitchen and a fridge/freezer so that I'll be able to cook for myself a lot of the time and not order pizza.  I have been using lean cuisines and healthy choices for a lot of my meals which is nice because I have problems with portion control and those are really helping me with that.  But you have to freeze them and the dorms have no freezers so that would've sucked.  I'd love to join a college age accountability group too if someone starts one.

I actully can't wait til the Fall. Of course, I don't live on campus so it's different for me. What I love about it though is I have something to do and look forward to instead of food. It keeps me busy and when I do get hungry I can buy something healthy.

I'm in the same boat as those who find it way easier to lose weight at college.  Free gym (super nice and close to my dorm, win) helps a lot.  I don't have access to a gym during the summer and I'm working a desk job.  Recipe for plateau if I ever saw one. 

I find it much easier to eat healthy on a meal plan than if I'm making things for myself, actually.  Just wondering: those of you that want to cook for yourselves, why is it hard to eat healthy your meal plan?

Yeah, a college accountability group doesn't sound like a half bad idea.  :)

Well, I actually have more control of what I eat at home because my dad doesnt buy food for my brother and I. Its nice to be able to buy food and cook, but my dorm doesnt have a stove so its quite difficult to prepare a meal myself unless its microwavable. I also have more money over the summer because I usually work more. During semesters though, I work 2 work-study jobs and I overload on the credits. Im also the president of a club that meets weekly, so that is an added responsibilty.

I am able to go to the grocery store, but now I have to save up my money for my study abroad trip this semester (im leaving the beginning of october) because I have loads to buy.

I do love the free gym. Exercising is probably what I am least worried about because I really do love to exercise and even at my busiest I can fit at least 3 days a week in, not including the walking all over campus.

Does anybody have any simple, inexpensive recipes that dont require a kitchen to be made?

Ahh I can't wait to get back to classes!

Walking around campus: at least 1 hour/day

Eating whenever, whatever I feel like: less calories, but still good IMHO

No junk around, for example ice cream, lots of PB, cookies, cake, pizza etc: less calories

Actually having something to do that day: priceless

Look, it's not that I don't/won't/can't eat pizza or ice cream. I just ate them far less at school than at home. So, more meals centered on veggies, fruits, whole grains=smaller waistline. Even if I only gained 5 pounds it still sucks! It took me two months to get those off. I'm just so freaking excited!

Oh yea, recipes. Baked Potatoe with any fillings that you can scrap together. Ketchup, leftover veggies, some oil and salt, whatever is lyin around.

Popcorn. That was a mainstay side in my dorm. Cereal. That was big. Pasta, super lovely. Veggie sandwiches bc bread is pretty inexpensive and the salad bar is cheap when you only get like 4 oz. of veggies. Baked Apples. Apple, some sugar (if you want) dollap of butter and cinnamon. Yum.

I lived very, very cheaply in college. Besides tuition and housing, I was super cheap. Long live poor college students!

p.s.- go to places with free food. Pretend like you care what they are talking about, than head over to the food table. Bliss.

well then you have days like today where it's midnight in a couple of hours and I've had three pieces of fruit, about 20 spoons of sugar and a cup of milk overall (from my many cups of tea/coffee). I even went grocery shopping before coming home only to find my housemate and her friends in the kitchen so I've to wait till people leave before going in there. I'm too exhausted to cook anything now :/ I want my mum :( she's about 6331 miles away, but I don't care about these minor details!