College for Fatties

My college, which will remain nameless, has over 50 vending machines on its campus (that I could guess-timate, of course) and a food cart for sandwiches, etc. in every building-- that's not to mention the cafe, the place to get salads (that are drenched in dressing), and the grill. Oh, and did I mention that there is a Taco Bell, Wendy's, and McDonald's all well within a mile?

Ridiculous. It's like we walk around from class to class, and you start feeling that familiar growling in your stomach, and you figure "Oh, I'll grab something from the vending machine." There's 200 calories. Then you meet up with a friend at the cafe to study and you end up getting a smoothie... that's about 600+ calories and you'd never know it. They're delicious, but evil. Then you go to a few more classes, and decide to grab lunch before work. Go to the grill? Another 600 - 700 calories. Feel like a salad? 300 calories. All of a sudden you've eaten half a day's worth of calories and you feel like you've barely eaten anything at all. That smoothie's a killer.

I also work with kids at an after-school tutoring program, and they get snacks. Well, have you ever tried to be surrounded by 7, 8, and 9 year olds chowing down on rice krispie treats with milk without wanting to grab one (or two) yourself? I've even tried bringing my own snacks and, trust me, it's difficult. No adult snack ever seems as good as a kid snack. And you never just want one kid snack either.

So today I have classes, and therefore I sectioned out my snacks and lunch and entered it all in at SparkPeople ahead of time. It gives me a good idea of what I'm already going to consume, so if I do want to grab something extra, I can easily figure out whether it's worth it or not. Apparently, by 6 0 clock tonight, I'll have consumed 913 calories which is pretty awesome because then I have plenty of calories left over for dinner and a snack before I do homework.

I'm also pretty excited because I had a stroke of genius for lunch. I made english muffin pizzas with a salad and some Kraft Free Caesar Italian Dressing (all together - 286 calories). Of course, having PCOS, I really can't have anything white or overprocessed (white bread, sugar, etc.). So my "recipe" started with some honey wheat multi-grain english muffins, used 1/2 tsp of Prego Heartsmart Red Pepper & Roasted Garlic sauce for each side, and I didn't have any mozarella so I used 1/4 cup of finely shredded sharp cheddar cheese. I didn't have any veggies in the fridge, but next time I might put some chopped mushroom and red pepper or maybe some spinach on top. All I'm saying is that it's delightful. English muffin pizzas were the highlight of my childhood. So this is bound to be pretty satisfying, and lo and behold, low-calorie.

Also, I must say, if you're a cracker and cheese person (I am), I suggest you look into Kellog's All-Bran Multi-Grain Crackers. They are beyond delicious and a serving size is 18 of them! That with an ounce of some good cheese is a really beyond awesome snack. YUM.