A Student in Need of Help

'ello out there. I'm really new to this whole site but I hope I can get some help to lose weight.

Quite frankly I'm not that over weight but I'm enough where it shows and it's starting to bug me.

Now with this whole site(or what I've seen of it) calorie counting seems to be the way most people lose weight here. But I'm still in high school eating caterferia food because I can't bring food from home. Before you ask why I can't bring food it's because most of the things I think of to bring to school have to be either warm or cold and I don't have anything to keep the food that way.

So my real question after all of that would be how do I calorie count the food that the school provides? Or do I try my darn hardest to get food from home?

Answers? Comments? Suggestions?

Any help appreciated. Please and thank you!

protein bars, room temp fruits like apples,oranges,bananas, nuts, kashi golean cereal. water and salad from cafeteria.

Salads, a pre-packed tuna lunch thingy (with a pack of gum or a toothbrush & toothpaste for right after!), sandwiches, protien bars, veggies and hummus, healthy cereal (you can get the little carton of milk at school)... any veggies/ fruit they sell at the cafeteria should be fine just take into account weather you think the veggies are fried, sauteed, or steamed, or if they have any added butter, etc. And of course, it's okay to treat yourself to something that's not TOTALLY healthy every once in awhile :) I pack breakfast on the go for myself (cuz I always wake up like 10 mins before I'm supposed to be in class...) and that usually consists of a  fruit (apple, plum, pear, peach, handfull of berries, etc.), some type of juice or propel drink, and either a slice of double fiber bread or stick of light string cheese. This wouldn't be enough for me at lunch time, but it's just an example.

Right now I have a double whammy in that area...not only am I studying abroad in another country (Australia) so I sometimes have no idea what I'm eating, I also eat in a cafeteria roughly 3 meals a day (being on a college meal plan).  I pretty much guesstimate how much I've eaten (most times I'll go towards more then less) and find the closest thing to what I've eaten in the food log.  I also work out everyday just in case I'm way off on some of the things.  I've lost 11 pounds since I've been in Oz, so it can't be too bad.

If you can bring your own things that don't need to be heated/cooled though, that would probably be your best option.

Cold food keeps really well for a few hours in a simple insulated cool-bag or lunch-bag with an ice-pack.  They don't cost much and all you have to do is re-freeze the ice-pack when you get home an put it back in in the morning.  Make your calorie-counted packed lunch the night before, chill it down in the fridge and it'll stay remarkably cold for quite some time.  And even if it warms up slightly, food doesn't suddenly become poisonous as a result.

Best of luck