Working in fast food + dieting

CelebrityStatus

Not really looking for advice, just tips on what any of you who work fast food/restaurants/cafes/etc do to keep yourself on track.

I work at Subway, which isn't too bad in itself because I don't LOVE sandwiches... but every day they leave the day old cookies out for staff to munch on... and I find I'll eat 3-6 throughout the day without even really noticing.. at 200 calories per cookie! It's RUINING my dieting. I know that it has to be willpower and I'm working on it ... I go through spurts where I won't even be tempted by the cookies for weeks, and then I'll have a couple of weeks where I'm literally like, "EAT ALL THE COOKIES!"

Anyone else have these kind of issues? What do you do/eat/bring to work to help you with it?

seltzermint555

The only food-related job I had was more than a decade ago in a bread store. It was an outlet that sold snack cakes, bread, cookies, etc. The first week I was like "this is gonna be dangerous" because we could have up to 3 treats FREE every shift and the store smelled yummy like a bakery. Within 2 weeks I was kind of grossed out by all of it, to be honest. We didn't actually bake the stuff at the store, but looking at it all day every day and stocking shelves and racks with the stuff, it just did not hold any appeal. I actually LOST a bit of weight while working there because of the physical activity.

The one exception to being grossed out though, was when they would get a certain kind of banana cake in stock (not often). My coworker and I would open 2-3 of the cakes and scrape out the delicious banana frosting/filling stuff and eat just that. With Diet Coke. LMAO

ETA - when I was working there I always brought my lunch, pretty standard stuff like a turkey wrap and fruit and then on 1 day per week I would treat myself to food from a nearby "nicer" restaurant - like a fancy salad, kung pao shrimp, etc...as sort of a treat. It worked pretty well and kept me from snacking on the cakes. A lot of my coworkers didn't bring their lunch and just ate 3 snack cakes or individual bags of cookies or brownies as their lunch and snacks...ugh...not so healthy LOL

HerkMeOff

Why don't you just eat 1 a day...maybe that will help?

CelebrityStatus

To be honest, I don't even really *like* the cookies and it's not that I'm hungry ... It's just boredom and "busy hand" sydrome.

I am doing meal prep now so am going to throw in some low cal snacks hopefully that'll help with restless hand lol.

Kchloee

The closest I've worked is CVS back in college, the busiest one in my city and SURROUNDED by FAST FOOD. It was so hard because we stocked all my favorite snacks and juices, but I just had to stop cold turkey. Eventually I learned portion control - I would share my snacks with coworkers or just save the rest for another day.

Find something else to munch on in the back or just stop.