Ok, this is the deal. I'm currently in College and go to the Cafeteria to eat. They have OK food for the most part. But how can I go about counting calories with food that is not prepared by myself?

They have labels on certain foods on how many calories are in it, but I doubt it's accurate. Any suggestions?

I know it's best to cook your own food but I really can't right now, just too much work to do, etc. I'd appreciate any help. Thanks!

Well, the best you can do is ball-park it. Estimate how much of each food you eat, then go home and plug that estimate into FitDay - Free Weight Loss and Diet Journal or something of the like.

There is nothing else you can do. If you don't prepare it, how can you be certain?

You can't.

When I was in college, I ate at the caf sometimes. However, I also grocery shopped and prepared most of my meals each day. And that was with 2 majors and a job!

It is a personal issue though. I wanted to be in complete control of my diet b/c I had serious aspirations in terms of physique transformation. If you are merely trying to lose weight, I am sure you can wing it and be fine. Just control your potion size.

stick with foods that you know you can judge - avoiod anything heavily sauced - grilled foods -- especially if it's stuff on a flat top grill - can have oodles of extra oil on it...

Just pay attention to how things are prepared and portion sizes and do the best youo can..

but if you think stuff is inaccurately labelled - talk to someone in food services and ask for proof...