University Nutrition

Hey all I'm 6'4 231lbs and overweight, I'll be starting university/college soon and will be shopping for myself for the first time can people give me any information on what types of food I should be looking for to lose weight and also would like to hear stories from other people who have done the same, this means lost weight at university. Thanks so much

Meat and veggies and just a bit of something carbish. No need to carb up unless you are super active. Still having some potatoes or rice or buckwheat, oats, etc is not going to fatten you up like a pig unless you are intaking more than you need.

Try to stay away from ramen and sugary crap.

Beer is ok...just not a lot of it. Trace minerals and just a bit of carbs. Well, it's better than soda.

Are you living at home, at a dorm or at a off campus residence?

What kind of kitchen facilities are available?

Are you willing to do any cooking, combining ingredients?

Any known food senstivities?

What kind of food budget do you have?

Some of it wil depend upon how you handle stress and anxiety. Do you tend

to eat compulsively? Do you snack a lot while studying?

You're saying you're overweight. What's your build like?

Would you consider yourself muscular or flabby? You would not be overweight

neccessarily if you were muscular.

What about your activity level? Do you have interest in particpating in

any team sports either part of school or other sports outside? Have you started

GB or plan to?

Hard to suggest specifics until you get back with more information.

I'm living at a dorm, I have an oven, fridge, freezer, microwave, kettle, grill available to me.

I'm willing and enjoy cooking and combining ingredients.

I'm not sensitive or allergic to anything, and my budget will be roughly around £20-£25 or $32-$40 but I live near budget supermarkets so food should be quite cheap.

I don't eat compulsively my weight has come from a sedentary lifestyle and over eating as influence by my parents who are both overweight. I'd say I'm flabby but have some muscle hidden underneath such as when I flex I can see the outline of my pectorals and my calves are fairly defined. I'd say my build is quite broad. My activity level is quite low now but when I get to university I'm joining the gym, only not at the gym for the moment as I am saving my money for university and I won't really be planning on participating in many team sports maybe muay thai depending on costs and money and where can I find a plan in GB?

Hopefully that's enough information

$40/week? Frak. I've got a feeling you're gonna be eating a lot of chicken and eggs and honestly, milk is pretty cheap too. See if there is a 99c store near you. Seriously, their hot dogs are a pretty good deal - especially the chorizo ones.

You might want to see upon volunteering at a food bank. My grandpa used to do that and got some goodies in return (that he didn't really need but he enjoyed the work).

The basic workout plan in GB is on page 158 I think. 1 push, 1 pull, 1 core, 1 leg exercise per day rotating exercises.

A kilo of chicken at the place near me is $4. $1.30 cents for 12 eggs $2 dollars for a gallon of milk, and veg is dirt cheap as well, Lean ground beef 1 kilo is about 10 dollars and tuna is like $.50 per can. So I think i'm getting it quite cheap

Advice #1: get your priorities straight and budget more money for quality food

Advice #2: Meat, veggies, fruit, tubers, nuts, eggs

Advice#3: Plan ahead and always cook some food in advance

Yes I'm at university and my bf% ranges from 6-8 year around..much better than a few years ago when I was living with my parents and had different priorities.

Your maintenance is probably around 2800 cals without a lot of activity, and 3200+ with

some more. So I would shoot for 2400 cals normally, and supplement that with additional workout

nutrition when you do workout - either cardio and/or strength. You're not going

to get much more muscle doing this but you will maintain what you have and reduce

the fat over a period of time. You can/should use a calorie counter such as

myfitnesspal, fitday or nutritiming, the latter which has a small charge.

You don't have to go low carb / high protein. Especially as you're studying that can mess with your clarity.

If you have a large % of you food in veggies, you will feel fuller. Likewise, you will also feel fuller if you have a fair amount of protein such as 100g per day (could go higher but that is a start). Plus both are good for you

Breakfast is simple enough with eggs. Can prepare them any number of ways. Also consider french toast, hash browns, oats, granola, yogurt, fruit etc. About 400-500 cals worth, 20-30g protein.

Great snacks inlcude fruit, a small handful of nuts, veggies - sliced or broiled,

a protein shake, each about 200 cals - 2-3x day. Avoid junk, soda (of course).

I suggest not differentiating much between lunch and dinner. Makes it easier.

Both can be moderate sized meals, about 600-800 cals. I would prepare a couple of large dishes in

advance that can last a number of days at least. Things like cassaroles, stir frys, lasagna handy, rice & beans & tuna,

spagetti and meatballs. Look into seafood Look into soup options, which

can simmer lots of fresh veggies with meat or seafood. You should try to include fish a couple times per week. Include some starch for taste and fiber but not overdoing it. Big salads with variety of greens, avocado, sliced meat, boiled eggs.

Can't go into receipes here. Should get 30-40g protein from these meals. You hopefully will end up with half a dozen or more simple go-to meals that you can prepare in advance and last a long time.

Use appropropriate spicing. That can make a big difference in taste and satisfaction. The western diet uses

fat for appeal to make up for lack of spice. Plus they have phytonutrients.

In total something around 20% protein, 20-25% fat and 50-55% carb calories covers the bases.

If you can supplement and multi vitamin/mineral and fish oil (when not having fish) are recommended though the jury is still out on these.

Avoid junk food high in sugar and fat, soda and fruit juice for sure though. Eat whole fruit or sliced veggies almost at any time. Occassional beer, wine, pizza or sweet treats are ok, though wouldn't do more than 1-2 a few times a week. It's the

junk that goes along with beer especially that wrecks . A varied diet that doesn't exclude an entire food group or limit

selection excessively is ideal. Keep it simple, but read and research.

I didn't do this in school as was probably underweight then, however later in life I went down from 200 to 175 using ths approach. Stronger (and older) than ever. Stable at 171 pounds for at least 3 years now.

Your diet should based around oats, spinach, milk and water. The oats have tons of protein, a lot of carbs, a lot of which are fiber, no fat and small load on calories. Eat as much of this as you can. Spinach has every nutrient in varying amounts, lots of protein too, just be careful of the amount of iron it has. Milk is nutrient dense and great for your health; get vitamin D enriched, low-fat or skim milk.

You can supplement this with intelligent amounts of meats like chicken, TONS of vegetables, some fruits, etc.

Cook the oats in milk, spinach in butter and garlic, a glass of milk, and a glass of water and you'll be set. If you're still deficient in the amount of calories you need a day, add in some baked or grilled lean chicken with more oats. With this meal you should be getting every nutrient your body needs, tons of protein, a good amount of carbs, a decent amount of fat.

The best part about this is that its CHEAP. You'll probably spend about 5-6 dollars a day if you portion everything out correctly, also very dependent on your location, a little bit more if you buy from small markets or add things to your diet.

Best of luck to you on your diet,

Oka

The oats have tons of protein

Spinach has every nutrient in varying amounts, lots of protein too

I'm not allowed to use curse words on this forum, so I'm gonna say that is a bunch of mularkey.

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So one serving of oats or protein is maybe 10g of protein. Maybe in that spinach is very suspect and generally must be cooked to get even around 7. Are you going to eat 7 servings a day of these?!

I will state that when I was a broke, young guy I would eat oats because they were cheap and filling and turned into mush in your mouth when eaten uncooked. It got myself and my roommates something in our bellies when we were broke and didn't have much options.

Milk though is pretty protein dense.

That's why milk and eggs is cheaper than meat (at least in the US). Chicken is cheap but beef rarely is. I just haven't gotten around to cooking pork as I generally just opt to get some carnitas or pork fried rice to fill that pork in my belly during the week.

Nuts aren't really cheap period.

Nuts aren't really cheap period.

Unless you have a walnut tree in the backyard. Just ask around a bit to see if anyone has one of those. Guaranteed they'll give you a bucket of walnuts for free.

Maybe in that spinach is very suspect and generally must be cooked to get even around 7. Are you going to eat 7 servings a day of these?!

I'd actually really enjoy that for at least a couple of days.

Yah, wouldn't limit myself to one vegetable. Getting a full spectrum of colours as has been mentioned by Josh before is ideal.

Can be cooked - but use the liquid they are cooked in or results if possible. Frozen is fine too as we have discussed recently.

Too simple a menu can be unsatisfying and lead to overeating to compensate.

Main thing is to start and get something that is workable for your lifestyle, and adjust as you go along.

It doesn't have to be perfect at the start. Some people like to measure, other people just eyeball portions.

Other people say to eat until 80% full and then stop. I think that's helpful when eating out especially.

There are many ways to the top, but each journey begins with a single step. You can quote me on that

Blairbob said:

The oats have tons of protein

Spinach has every nutrient in varying amounts, lots of protein too

I'm not allowed to use curse words on this forum, so I'm gonna say that is a bunch of mularkey.

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So one serving of oats or protein is maybe 10g of protein. Maybe in that spinach is very suspect and generally must be cooked to get even around 7. Are you going to eat 7 servings a day of these?!

I will state that when I was a broke, young guy I would eat oats because they were cheap and filling and turned into mush in your mouth when eaten uncooked. It got myself and my roommates something in our bellies when we were broke and didn't have much options.

Milk though is pretty protein dense.

That's why milk and eggs is cheaper than meat (at least in the US). Chicken is cheap but beef rarely is. I just haven't gotten around to cooking pork as I generally just opt to get some carnitas or pork fried rice to fill that pork in my belly during the week.

Nuts aren't really cheap period.

Didn't mean nutrient, but vitamin and mineral, I often subconsciously switch the two But that doesn't change the quality of the food. It's still probably one of the top vegetables to consume.

http://nutritiondata.self.com/facts/veg ... cts/2627/2

All it's lacking in is Vitamin D and B, can be found in milk and other veggies. Besides, I said to supplement it with tons of other vegetables. Spinach has about 5g of protein per cup, which isn't very big of a serving size. One serving of spinach, when cooked, is so small you can put it on one scoop from a fork, it's not hard to ingest large amounts of it. I can eat 5 cups of spinach comfortably a day. 1 for breakfast, 2 for lunch, and 2 for dinner. That, not including other parts of the meal, totals out to 25g of protein, 1/7 of my necessary protein intake, and 120% of my vitamin and mineral necessities (it's still within a safe limit).

With milk, oats, spinach, and chicken, it's not hard at all to get 175g of protein a day. Let's say you eat 3 cups of oats a day, a liberal guesstimate since I eat around 5 myself, with room for more. If you get a decent batch of steel-cut oats, that's around 15g of protein or more, (i get 25g). Add in 3-5 cups of spinach and that totals out to 30g of protein. If you drink half a gallon of milk a day (very easy), it would add in another 60g of protein to total out 90g of protein, and that's without adding in chicken, (2 cups of grilled chicken, 80g protein, total of 170g protein) and all the other veggies, nuts, etc you could supplement in.

Oats and spinach may not have as much protein as guzzling down In-n-out burgers, but it is a lot of protein for something that you can eat day in and day out without any repercussions. Unlike eating garbage from low-carb fad diets, this can be eaten practically endlessly without negative side-effects. It's nice to avoid all those saturated fats and cholesterol at a cheaper price, especially if you're a college student.

What you're suggesting is something like an asian diet with oats instead of rice.

It's not a bad idea.

Although it's a bit bland for me. Granted it's hard to cook or be creative when you're in school, but making

the effort has rewards.

There's about 1g protein in spinach per cup raw.

Plus it's high in oxalates which have a kidney stone connection.

Though it's also a fine food, not having it every day in large quantities is probably sensible.

A spinach omlet with feta cheese is nice though.

Oats - can't argue with.

Every meal every day is too much for me, even when I was in college.

I'd rather have some variety with other grains, in a variety of combinations.

Even oat muffins, oat shakes, oat pancakes, etc. But why limit yourself to one grain?

FutureisNow said:

What you're suggesting is something like an asian diet with oats instead of rice.

It's not a bad idea.

Although it's a bit bland for me. Granted it's hard to cook or be creative when you're in school, but making

the effort has rewards.

There's about 1g protein in spinach per cup raw.

Plus it's high in oxalates which have a kidney stone connection.

Though it's also a fine food, not having it every day in large quantities is probably sensible.

A spinach omlet with feta cheese is nice though.

Oats - can't argue with.

Every meal every day is too much for me, even when I was in college.

I'd rather have some variety with other grains, in a variety of combinations.

Even oat muffins, oat shakes, oat pancakes, etc. But why limit yourself to one grain?

I understand everything you're saying, and it's true. There's no way you can stick to it just using those three ingredients. When I'm loading up on oats, and usually either mix fruit and cinnamon in it, or a scoop of peanut butter, or something. I break it up with intervals of brown rice, and use whole wheat bread for other portions of my meals.

I also supplant spinach with asparagus as my other main veggie, but I always eat other types such as corn, carrots, peas, green beans, cucumber, etc.

In the meat department, I almost always use chicken, but sometimes I use turkey. I also eat a lot of fish by choice.

By itself, it is bland. But the secret to any successful meal is superb seasoning. For example, I soak my chicken in lemon juice and sprinkle some sage and use garlic heavily. If you keep everything the way it is, yeah of course it's gonna be bland and repetitive. Yuck! I don't only eat the things I suggested but they are a staple of my diet, and they are used in some way about 80% of the time. By all means add other healthy things with your own twist.

Also, 1 cup of boiled spinach has 5g protein, ALWAYS cook it! I don't even like the taste of raw spinach, but i find cooked to be delicious!

Ok, cooked yes - and apparently it's high quality. Still, make sure you're drinking lots of liquid if

you're eating that much that often.

Anyway, it sounds sound Hopefully the OP will get something out of this...

Also, still regardless of what you eat, it's possible to gain fat.

Some foods may lead to a greater burn, or lead to more or less fat in certain circumstances, or

suppress hunger or longer. Did I mention beans? But after this is taken into account, it still boils down to

the energy value of the food vs. your metabolism and energy expenditure.

It's good you're starting now at a young age. Be patient - consistency pays off in all things.