desk job = major food temptations

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  • khall86790
    khall86790 Posts: 1,100 Member
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    Stop taking money to work and bring all your food in from home. That way even if you are tempted, you can't do anything about it.
  • Patty19550711
    Patty19550711 Posts: 6 Member
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    It is rough. I am the only woman in the office and the guys here seem to subsist on caffeine and chocolate! I try to always pack my lunch and 2 snacks to take to work. I also try to make sure lunch and snacks are balanced with protein, good carbs and a little good fat. I did find that by trying to go very low fat, I felt hungry all the time. After adding in some good fat (EVOO, Pecan Oil, etc.), I seem to be able to handle the goodies around the office better.:smile:
  • Mia_RagazzaTosta
    Mia_RagazzaTosta Posts: 4,885 Member
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    Our vending machines have credit card accessibility :sad: but they are on a different floor and that alone keeps me from hitting them up.
  • Pixi_Rex
    Pixi_Rex Posts: 1,676 Member
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    I must have a very involved desk job because most days I forget about lunch all together and end up eating at 1 or 1:30.

    I don't bring change to work with me though and maybe that is the big difference if I know I have no money on me than I have no way to go to the vending machine, and to go to the convenience store down the street means losing my parking spot and thats not convenient at all.
  • jmc0806
    jmc0806 Posts: 1,444 Member
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    almonds are your friend in this case. My desk is like an almond store
  • alexandracandace
    alexandracandace Posts: 1
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    I know how you feel. I work at Subway. And everyone thinks its healthy and so on, ha! One cookie is 300 calories. And I wanna shove them ALL in my mouth LOL... so hard.
  • zoesimple
    zoesimple Posts: 9
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    At my desk job, they have junk food day almost every week, where everyone is supposed to bring chips, donuts, candy, soda, cake or basically anything unhealthy to share with the others. They frown upon those of us who bring veggies and dip or hummus, as it is not considered "junk". The temptation is horrible, and I find it is a bad idea and bad work environment! I feel you..!
  • Jaxxy_Fae
    Jaxxy_Fae Posts: 28
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    I'm a writer so I spend a lot of time sitting at my desk (at home) on the computer. I have a basket with baggies full of healthy/healthier snacks. Each baggie is 1 serving of whatever snack. I have veggie chips, dried fruit, nuts, etc in my basket. All I have to do is reach over and grab a baggie and I know exactly how much I am eating and am not grabbing chips or cookies or something. It's been working pretty well so far.

    Maybe you can do something similar for the office so you have a better choice as opposed to the usual vending machine items?
  • trishgrace
    trishgrace Posts: 285
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    I also have a desk job and we don't have a vending machine, but we have a "junk drawer" it has all kinds of cookies, crackers, chips and suckers. I found that I keep 100 calorie packs of popcorn in my desk, I can pop one around 11 and snack on that same bag all day long and not feel like I am missing out.
  • Brandon74
    Brandon74 Posts: 453 Member
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    So true, especially when people bring something in. I already gave in today.
  • booboojava
    booboojava Posts: 3 Member
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    Agreed. I've gained 20lbs since starting this job.
  • lacroyx
    lacroyx Posts: 5,754 Member
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    I work nights. Desk job in IT field. No vending machines but there is the bimonthly potluck or someone retiring. Tons of food and cake EVERYWHERE! When that happens, I stare at the leftover goodies and go into "Hiro mode" from Heroes. Ahhh...nemesis... and usually resist.
  • KatrinaWilke
    KatrinaWilke Posts: 372 Member
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    This is so true. To make matters worse, there are only a couple of us who worry about our health in my entire building...no joke!! Everyone here is either overweight, out of shape, and/or a smoker. There is always cake, cookies, desserts, and all sorts of junk food in the break room. Not to mention all the pot lucks and burger/brat parties!

    I get stronger each time I resist the temptations!!!
  • marissa3209
    marissa3209 Posts: 45 Member
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    I keep healthy snacks, low cal, in my desk for just those moments. And I have a large water bottle that I keep full and sip throughout the day.

    This! Plus every once in a while in indulge in a little bit so that I don't feel totally deprived (and to remind myself that it's not that great anyway).
  • wolfchild59
    wolfchild59 Posts: 2,608 Member
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    Quit keeping dollar bills and change on hand. That's what fixed me of the habit. :laugh:

    That wouldn't even work at my job. The soda machine, snack machine, and "fresh" foods machine all take credit/debit cards.

    But for me, I just pack exactly what snacks I plan to eat for the day the night before and enter them in my log. That way I know what I have to eat and how it fits in my day. So when I want a snack, I just have one...that I brought.
  • marissa3209
    marissa3209 Posts: 45 Member
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    Here is what helps me combat the temptations... I don't bring cash for one... I can't raid the vending machine if I don't have anything to raid it with.

    They just installed a card swipe on our soda machine...yikes!
  • BioMechHeretic
    BioMechHeretic Posts: 128 Member
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    Water, water, water. All day every day sipping water every now and then. I eat a really solid breakfast, drink water in the morning at work, have a small snack and coffee mid morning, more water, eat a little later lunch, and more water and the day is about over!

    The water really is the magic key for me, I was getting killed the same way as you before I added that into the equation
  • jilliew
    jilliew Posts: 255 Member
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    Aaaaaagreed! Here's what I do:

    I have combated this by spreading my snacks and meals out to even intervals throughout the day. This is what my day usually looks like:

    8am - Breakfast

    9:30-10am - banana

    11am - protein snack

    noon - lunch, and I usually creep on here, so I make sure it takes me the whole hour to eat. I find eating my meals slowly keeps me feeling full longer.

    2pm - another snack

    3pm - coffee

    4pm - emergency snack (which is usually a 100 cal pack of something) on non-work out days, or another protein snack on days I work out, which is directly after work at 5pm.

    I always have a full glass of water or tea at my desk, as well, and if I start getting really bored I take a bathroom break or I go walk around the building for my coffee break.

    It's HARD to combat those cravings and boredom eating things. You have to keep on keeping on, though, and figure out what works for you!
  • MinnieInMaine
    MinnieInMaine Posts: 6,400 Member
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    Develop more sophisticated tastes. I started eating dark chocolate (the good kind, at least 70% cacoa if not 85+%) and since the, milk chocolate just tastes way too sweet to me. I'm also not much for salty snacks so that probably helps too.

    Try packing more snacks and keeping things at your desk. Lots of good recommendations I've seen - almonds (get the cocoa roast kind if you like chocolate), chocolate cereal, pretzel sticks, even instant oatmeal can be a good snack. Just make sure whatever you bring is already portioned out so you're not mindlessly eating.

    Also, really think about whether you're just bored or hungry. You said you get up and walk around - that's good! Maybe you need to listen to music or even audiobooks to help distract you. I know listening to music helps me a lot on days when I need to shut out all the distractions (usually in my own head) and really focus on the task at hand.
  • ChrissieP80
    ChrissieP80 Posts: 112 Member
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    I put on something like 10lbs when I started my desk job. Not only can you not walk away from the goodies that are plonked on meeting desk behind you, but sometimes you greatly reduce your activity too (going from a 'on my feet all day' to 'on my bum all day' job).

    I plan my whole day before I go to work, bring everything I am to eat for work. If I get tempted, I don't eat it until I've logged it. (It's a good deterrent and I won't go overboard if I can see the calories adding up before I eat it).

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