Suddenly being in a place where there are restaurants only like 5 minutes from my front door rather than 20 or 30 makes staying on track food wise, pretty hard. I never lived in the dorms so I'm not much help there, except stock your fridge with veggies and fruits to compensate and always eat protein with any meal in the dining hall!
Apartment living can be just, even more so, tricky! Money is tight and it's pretty easy to buy and live off of 39 cent Ramen. Which, honestly isn't the worst thing. It's just really important to pair it with healthy options. There are ways to do this without breaking the bank too.
Check out your local farmers markets
Farmers markets are the absolute best place to buy your produce--for more reasons than one. Produce sold at markets are typically always organic and shopping local is always a great way to support your community. They are also usually great places to get cheap produce. For example, I bought three peppers, a bundle of carrots, and a bundle of Kale for...THREE DOLLARS.
Most small towns have them too and for those of you reading, Chico's Farmers Market is incredible and fun and has such great options. Those of you attending University of Idaho in Moscow are soo lucky with your awesome market. It's big, local, and very close-knit. NIC students have my undivided jealousy with the Hayden Farmer's Market because it is my absolute favorite. Everyone is too kind, the veggies are amazing, and the blueberries there are INCREDIBLE ;).
Befriend someone with a Costco card
Most kids go to the casino for their 18th or buy cigarettes (ew. don't do that.) but I was lucky enough to get a Costco card. Because I can't constantly buy fresh food, Costco is a great option for protein powder and bags of frozen grilled chicken. It's so worth it and their is sooo much food.
Being motivated to workout can be pretty difficult too. You suddenly aren't forced to work out with your track, basketball, football etc team and you don't have your high school weight room at your disposal. If you are lucky enough, your school has a recreation center that is fully loaded with many machines. I encourage going to the gym and doing something different everyday, it's harder to get burnt out this way. If you don't have a rec center, working out at home really isn't that bad. If you don't want to spend money on big programs such as Insanity or P90, that's totally okay. A lot of fitness gurus share their favorite workouts on YouTube. All you have to do is pick up a couple five dollar weights from Big 5 and dive into some videos in the comfort and privacy of your own room. (Autumn Calabrese has a great workout channel).
I know it can be hard to stay on track or get on track; I really have struggled the last few weeks, but with classes and being busy I might as well stay in good shape and focus on my physical self as well as all that mental workout we will be doing soon!
You can do it!
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