Hello Everyone!

I'm 18 and five days post-op. I start college on August 10th and I'm just feeling really worried about managing my diet while going to school away from home. Does anyone have any experience stories or advice with things ranging from whether to shop on your own or get a meal plan and how to deal with peer pressure to drink at parties? Thank you!

im 17 and i had my surgery December 21st, 2012 and i start college in august too and i know what you are feeling. a suggestion is to buy the atkins frozen meals because they are high on protein and taste really good. just focus on school and getting healthy thats what im gonna do i know its easier said then done but as long as you work it out it will be easier. best of luck in college.

I lived in the dorms freshmen year & we had 1minifridge w/ a non freezing freezer. So I wouldn't get too dependant on freezer meals until you get your living situation worked out. Our meal hall would allow you to use one swipe& get a togo box with a Soup cup that you could fill with whatever you wanted. I used to get sandwhich fixins & buy a loaf of bread & had lunch for a week. You should call down to the meal manager or maybe student health & find out ifthings you can eat are available on the meal plan. We had stations - stir fry, sandwhich, salad bar, Cereal bar, grill, and then an entree that changed daily.

I urge you to visit campus before you move in & actually walk the walk- how far is the grocery store, how far is a safe eat out option, does campus have vending machines with Snacks you can eat? Do you have parking,taking a car? Etc...

I reccomend taking at least a supply of safe non perishable foodstuffs that you can fall back on if your local store there doesn't have your preferred brands/foods. Like: tuna packets, Protein powders, rtd shakes, the packets of indian food are usually pretty healthy at trader joes & they have veggies too.

Good luck!

allons-y