Color Me Fit: weight loss, fitness, exercise

Ah, campus. Good old campus. Ye whose old prefab buildings half-covered with graffiti still are to be my home for at least three years. Ye whose restaurants are both geared towards students’ needs as well as to their downfall.

Let’s be honest, our campus restaurants (I say ‘campus’, but there are actually… eight of them scattered around town, four of which are indeed in or very close to the main campus itself) aren’t that bad. They even display nice posters about nutrition, what their meals are composed of, and how a meal contains everything a person needs. It’s really not that bad: we get salad, fruits, yoghurts/other desserts, a small cheese + a small bun of bread to go with it, and a main dish made up of vegetables + pasta/rice/French fries + different meats/omelette/fish. This is what is included in the basic bundle; if we want more, we have to pay extra for it, and if we want less, or want to doggybag something, w’re allowed to do it as well.
Sure, a certain amount of those foods aren’t exactly the best choice one could make–I’m pretty sure that what I saw on the label of one of the vanilla-flavoured dessert creams was actually HFCS, and seeing French fries available at every meal is very tempting to some (oddly enough, I don’t like them that much, so it’s easy for me to avoid them). Nevertheless, at least there are veggies, legumes and fruits, so we do have a choice. It’s not like we’re stuck among pizza, pasta, French fries, or did you want pizza again? only.

But the quantities… Oh my God, the quantities! If I could bring a kitchen scale there and not look like a complete dork, I’m pretty sure the food in my plate (yes, in the plate only) would weigh a good pound. I’ve been and am still able to wolf down what are definitely too large quantities of food for my own good, yet finishing such a plate is downright hard even for me. I don’t even try, mind you. I’d feel sick.

Countless times, I’ve had to tell the serving ladies to give me less food. Countless times, they have looked at me as if I was some kind of raving lunatic, clearly out of her mind. “What! So much food for a decent price, and she’s turning part of it down? Is she crazy?” I can read it in their eyes. I suppose few students actually ask them to give them less rice, or to not overload their plates with French fries.

This said,

1) I’m not 18 anymore, and I sure don’t need to ‘grow up’ or whatever the ‘in’ excuse is nowadays to gorge on tons of French fries.

2) Even at 18, eating that much would have made me gain weight. It has in the past, and it still does.

So excuse me, serving lady, while I leave half or two thirds of my food on my plate. I know this is a waste, but I honestly couldn’t care less. That was one of the reasons I asked for less; if you couldn’t be bothered giving me less, I’m not going to be bothered eating it all.

Alright, I’m being a little nasty, because those ladies (the guys are at the pizza stand, never at the regular food counter… weird) are actually very nice. They just seem to very seldom meet people like me. Who did say that French people as a whole eat smaller portions? It may have been true years ago, but I’m afraid it’s not the case among students.

There’s a good side to it, though: I don’t need to buy bananas, apples or kiwis anymore, I can get them with every meal at the campus restaurant, because once it’s time to eat the one I’ve picked, I’m always already full.

Tags: food, campus, university, college, dieting