eating at college... HELP

i ate soo bad today bc it was my first day back at college and i ordered food with my roommates. 
i plan on getting right back on track tomorrow but its hard when a lot of the girls on campus are so thin already. 

any advice about how to keep myself motivated and back on track at school? 

Im in the same boat... My plan of action is to plan all my meals ahead of time, and if my friends order in either eat very little or feign sick (actually, guys, stomach is kinda upset right now... dont think I can handle pizza tonight, but you go ahead). I have a really weak immune system anyway so Im sick alot.. so they'll believe it. But other than that I dunno. I'm off-campus so this may be alot easier for me than someone living on campus

Id love to hear other suggestions though ... I'm pretty worried for when school starts next week. 

It's been several years since I was in college.  We had a cafeteria that had a potato and salad bar.  That's the only line I went through. 

My suggestion is to avoid fast food as much as you can.  My eating habits were horrible in college and that's where I gained most of my weight.  As a senior in high school I was 5'0" and about 110 lbs.  I gained your traditional "freshman 15".  I think I also gained the sophomore, junior and senior 15.  By the time I was 25 and found out I was pregnant with my first, I was about 40lbs overweight. 

I'm not trying to freak anyone out.  Just relaying the experiences I've had.  I became lazy during college, unintentionally.  Then when I graduated, got married, divorced, married again  and got pregnant the pounds just seemed to accumulate.  And that's where I am now.  15 yrs out of high school.  My second marriage.  Have had 2 children by C-section and am 40-50 lbs from where I should be.

Sorry to give more information than you probably wanted.  Sometimes the voice of experience just wants to be heard.

I work at a college dining hall, and i've seen hundreds of kids gain
the "freshman 15".  it's easy to gain when surrounded by
food.  However, I eat 2-3 meals a day at the dining hall while on
the C-C diet.  Just make sure you eat breakfast (cereal and a
fruit or yogurt), then a lite lunch (salad or sandwich) and then you
can spend the rest of your calories on a yummy dinner, like pasta with
meatballs (if it's whole wheat, even better).  

I dont live on campus anymore but when I did I eat horrible.  One thing that helped was to buy my own healthy snacks and kept them in my room.  It keep me from going to the vending machines so much.   Good Luck and hang in there!

I ate in college like crazy. I have no idea why but I was just so nervous and food became my friend. I got lucky....well kind of. My money got too tight to be buying so much junk. I went and purchased a meal card and only ate at the cafeteria. I found having to get up in the morning and walk there for breakfast gave me more energy to. I actually ate heathier there. We had really healthy restarants. Not sure what you have. But good luck. Email me if you ever want someone to talk to. I am new on here. Need some buddies.

when people order in and i also feel like some 'bad' food i get pizza hut 'the edge' pizza... one slice of a 12 inch veggie is 80 calories... not so bad.. or i just make some lean cuisine...

The best thing about eating as a college student is that YOU control everything!  You  get to buy all your own food, and eat in whatever campus locations you want.

I am doing my Master's at SUNY right now, and there is a LOT of temptation on campus.  However, there are also lot's of easy healthy choices.  There are wonderful salad bars on campus, which makes it SO easy to get my fair share of veggies.   There are also sandwhich bars where I can order multi-grain bread and turkey sandwhices.  I usually have non-cream soups as well.

One more thing - try a bowl of chili on a salad!  Mmm...taco salad!  Just skip the cheese, and sour cream!

I don't live on campus, but right next to it. I also live in an apartment with a view of the popular joggin path where healthy college people go for jogs every morning. That helps me get my butt out of bed and go work out.

Whenever my friends or boyfriend are thinking pizza or something else, I munch on healthy stuff until it arrives. The other day, my boyfriend wanted to go out for chinese buffet (my weakness). I told myself that whenever I go out, the first thing I grab is a plate full of lettuce (and I really mean a plate full, fill it up baby!). If I am still hungry after that, I can have something else - other than things swimming in sauce or fried food. Hmm..... now I want cream cheese wantons. Grrrr......

But I always keep at least a bag of lettuce in my fridge for just the occasion that my girlfriends come over with pizza or taco bell and whatnot.

And once they get the idea that you are really serious about changing your eating habits, they will quit waving it in your face and eat BEFORE they come over. LOL

I understand how people get the Freshman 15 now...I've been on campus three weeks and at first, before I was in any sort of schedule and not going to the gym frequently, I was eating unhealthy foods (and a lot of them) and could feel myself gaining. Now I've started picking my meals in the cafeteria better and started up my swimming at our gym on campus and I feel so much better. But I definitely know what you mean by everyone being so thin already...my entire campus seems to be filled with skinny blonde girls.

One thing I've found that's worked: Since I tend to snack a lot at night, I went out and bought fruit and rice cakes - very low in calories. Thankfully my roommate is also into healthy eating, so I can't even attempt to steal her food! It's worked out very well when I get those study time cravings.

study time cravings kill me... 100 calorie popcorn bags are a life saver for me.

Drink LOTS of water as you study, to keep yourself full... and stock up on fruit and veggies.  I like to munch while I study, so I eat grapes, because they're sweet and I can eat them slowly.

When you go out to eat on campus, head for the salad bar.  At my universty we have a huge salad bar, and a soup station.  We also have a Subway with the other food stations, and they have the low fat, low cal options.  Eat a wrap instead of a sandwich with a bun.

Ok.. I know this will sound weird, but use peer pressure to your advantage.  They've proven that when females live in close contact with eachother, they look at others and compare their bodies to others more.  Be more active and invite your friends to come with you.  Try going rollerblading together or go for walks.  Join an intermural team together.  All my friends always start their own baseball team in the fall.  On campus there are tons of intermural sports to join, so you can be together but stay healthy!  If you show an interest in fitness your friends may want to too, just to follow the crowd!

Potteryhoney, the lettuce trick seems like a good plan... our salad bar is amazing too... maybe I'll start getting a big salad (mainly lettuce with low calorie stuff on it like onions or carrots) right away. Oooo... a glass of water too! Yay, I'm so motivated now!

Today is not going so well; I got a nice healthy breakfast at the cafeteria, a decent but too big lunch at the cafeteria,  but then I had a cappucino and hot chocolate and m&m's and peanut butter! Phew. But you know what helped me? I logged what I plan to eat the rest of the day, and it ended up being like a B+. That'll stop me from bingeing further, eh?

and hi chrissy! welcome! I'll be your friend. :)

Definitely try out the salad bar and sandwich bar (if you have one), as has been suggested--that helped me keep my eating habits in check too when I was in school at the dorms.

Watch out for the pre-prepared stuff though too--a lot of things might be made with fatty butter, lots of oil, or who knows what (the "plain" rice dish was, as I later found out, prepared with lots of butter).

Keeping snacks at your disposal is also a great idea, and could absolutely help!

I'm glad I don't have to eat on campus. Their lettuce stinks.

Here's a post from a while ago that I remember having good info in it.

http://www.calorie-count.com/forums/post/2005 .html

"Hey guys - anyone wanna go out for pizza?"

"Naw, I think I'd rather go to that new Thai restaurant and try their vegetarian menu."

Now I ask you, which comment would find more supporters in a group of college girls?

My cafeteria has actually a very nice selection of healthy foods: make-your-own-wrap, soy milk, veggie line, wheat bread/bagels... but maybe it's the over-stimulation. So much food! So many different foods! Some of my friends have been eating a lot and a lot of junk food, so it's hard to stay healthy around them when they don't seem to be gaining weight. I might take the opposite advice as to keeping healthy food in my dorm room... if I don't have any food in my room, I can't eat it, right? If I'm really that hungry, I can just go over to the cafeteria cuz it's open a lot. Force me to rethink my hunger. Maybe I'll just keep a few things for evenings tho...

haha I'd love to try Thai! That's so funny cuz that exact conversation went on between me and a friend. We ended up eating Mexican cuz it's cheap.  :)

I think that might be the secret - just get to know the healthy alternatives and suggest them as an option.  Chances are, a lot of your friends would love to try something different and healthy!

Split.