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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!

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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.

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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

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    • Alisa_S

      On day 4 of the 2 week liquid pre-op diet. Surgery scheduled for June 11th.
      Soooo I am coming to a realization
      of something and I'm not sure what to do about it. For years the only thing I've enjoyed is eating. We rarely do anything or go anywhere and if we do it always includes food. Family comes over? Big family dinner! Go camping? Food! Take a short ride or trip? Food! Holiday? Food! Go out of town for a Dr appointment? Food! When we go to a new town we don't look for any attractions, we look for restaurants we haven't been to. Heck, I look forward to getting off work because that means it's almost supper time. Now that I'm drinking these pre-op shakes for breakfast, lunch, and supper I have nothing to look forward to.  And once I have surgery on June 11th it'll be more of the same shakes. Even after pureed stage, soft food stage, and finally regular food stage, it's going to be a drastic change for the rest of my life. I'm giving up the one thing that really brings me joy. Eating. How do you cope with that? What do you do to fill that void? Wow. Now I'm sad.
      · 1 reply
      1. LeighaTR

        I hope your surgery on Wednesday goes well. You will be able to do all sorts of new things as you find your new normal after surgery. I don't know this from experience yet, but I am seeing a lot of positive things from people who have had it done. Best of luck!

    • Alisa_S

      On day 4 of the 2 week liquid pre-op diet. Surgery scheduled for June 11th.
      Soooo I am coming to a realization
      of something and I'm not sure what to do about it. For years the only thing I've enjoyed is eating. We rarely do anything or go anywhere and if we do it always includes food. Family comes over? Big family dinner! Go camping? Food! Take a short ride or trip? Food! Holiday? Food! Go out of town for a Dr appointment? Food! When we go to a new town we don't look for any attractions, we look for restaurants we haven't been to. Heck, I look forward to getting off work because that means it's almost supper time. Now that I'm drinking these pre-op shakes for breakfast, lunch, and supper I have nothing to look forward to.  And once I have surgery on June 11th it'll be more of the same shakes. Even after pureed stage, soft food stage, and finally regular food stage, it's going to be a drastic change for the rest of my life. I'm giving up the one thing that really brings me joy. Eating. How do you cope with that? What do you do to fill that void? Wow. Now I'm sad.
      · 1 reply
      1. summerseeker

        Life as a big person had limited my life to what I knew I could manage to do each day. That was eat. I hadn't anything else to look forward to. So my eating choices were the best I could dream up. I planned the cooking in managable lots in my head and filled my day with and around it.

        Now I have a whole new big, bigger, biggest, best days ever. I am out there with those skinny people doing stuff i could never have dreamt of. Food is now an after thought. It doesn't consume my day. I still enjoy the good home cooked food but I eat smaller portions. I leave food on my plate when I am full. I can no longer hear my mother's voice saying eat it all up, ther are starving children in Africa who would want that!

        I still cook for family feasts, I love cooking. I still do holidays but I have changed from the All inclusive drinking and eating everything everyday kind to Self catering accommodation. This gives me the choice of cooking or eating out as I choose. I rarely drink anymore as I usually travel alone now and I feel I need to keep aware of my surroundings.

        I don't know at what point my life expanded, was it when I lost 100 pounds? Was it when I left my walking stick at home ? Was it when I said yes to an outing instead of finding an excuse to stay home ? i look back at my last five years and wonder how loosing weight has made such a difference. Be ready to amaze yourself.

        BTW, the liquid diet sucks, one more day and you are over the worst. You can do it.

    • CaseyP1011

      Officially here for a long time, not just a good time💪
      · 0 replies
      1. This update has no replies.
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