Avoiding free food at work?

I always allow myself a controlled treat. I know I am going to have a scoop of ice cream after dinner (part of my calorie and macro allotment) so it is easier to say no to treats that pop out of no-where. I also allow myself a cheat meal each week, so I don't want to deny my cheat meal by having a mediocre bagel and shmear from Panera that has been sitting in the lunch room for a few hours.

I have the same problem, my company has an entire pallet of costco food items delivered every monday - everything from muffins to snack bar, string cheese to potato chips, etc. We also have catered lunches every other week and a monthly birthday cake celebration.

It is damn near impossible to never take advantage of the cornucopia of processed junk food just steps away.

Instead of trying to completely avoid it (impossible!), I just try to be intelligent with my timing. I will take a bagel in the morning, but save it for after my day time workout. I always have birthday cake, I just ask for the smallest piece.

Life is better with the occasional treat.

Well, its not hard for me to say no 95% of the time because i work with 7 women and 89 men in a Maintenance Department and the stories they tell about their wives etc. I would not risk my health, let alone my diet eating the stuff they occasionally bring in, not to mention too many hands in it or to many folks breathing over it is just a turn off for me. Now the occasional Doughnut from a local bakery called Wilsons, I will indulge sometimes but not every time and the vendors bring us some all the time. Also one of my bosses his wife makes a mean pot of jalepeno cheese grits, but those things are my only temptation.

OH I do have one guy, who brings me fresh fruit, and fresh tupelo honey all the time

Plan to eat some of the treats, log it, go to the gym and burn some extra calories. You set yourself up for failure if you constantly deprive yourself.

I have this all the time at work. I find it helps to look up the calorie content of things. Today is a good example; it's someones birthday, so she's brought in home made cupcakes at just under 400 cals each. When I think what else I could eat for that, it just isn't worth it in my mind.

I would work in a cupcake! They're a major weakness, but they're pretty easy to figure out the calories. Just so long as they're not the jumbo ones like they sell at cupcake stores now for five dollars a pop. Ridiculous!

Everyone realizes that it takes conscious effort to insert food into the mouth, chew, and swallow it, correct?

So, depending upon which circumstance you find yourself in, your reaction will need to be different.

Code Green (food is in the same room with you): do not walk over to it.
Code Yellow (the food is on a table in front of you): do not reach out to pick up the food.
Code Orange (the food has been placed in your hand): do not activate your bicep to bring the food to your mouth.
Code Red (the food is being brought to your mouth): do not engage the muscles in your jaw, which will keep your mouth closed, thus preventing the food from entering it.

**like ***

I grew up with home cooked meals, so if it's not home cooked I'm not very interested. At work most people don't like to cook so it's not that hard for me to resist. Even when it's a potluck most people don't cook, it's usually fast food or something from walmart.

When there is home-cooking I just have a taste, I never have enough for a meal or to feel full. It's just a part of life that you will always have to deal with.
I gain weight from my own cooking! no one else to blame:drinker:

Just say No. That's what we teach our kids - can we have the same will power we expect them to have against something as serious as drugs against a candy bar? I think so.

The two aren't comparable.

Recreational drugs are dangerous, illegal, expensive, often hard to access and not necessary to support human life. Food is necessary, often cheap, legal, and omnipresent. There are often social pressures to eat.

I agree with the "just say no" philosophy. There is always a ton of free food at my work. Leftover meeting food (pastries, bagels, doughnuts), catered lunches of sandwiches, pasta salads, potato chips, etc., my admin keeps an enormous bowl of candy at her desk at all times...

Temptation is everywhere and eventually you need to learn to live with it or you won't succeed in losing *and* maintaining that weight. I try and "just say no" the bulk of the time but do make exceptions. For example, cake at a retirement party = yes. Eating a danish just because it is there = no.

I agree with the "just say no" philosophy.

I have a feeling that if she could have adopted that attitude she already would have.

I have this, too. I'm also gluten free, so it helps to think "well, I can't eat it anyway" and keep walking. Or that it's not special because I have already tried it before. Once it's not a treat anymore because you don't want it or don't care to try it again, it helps.

The majority of my coworkers are aware that I am trying to make healthier choices, so it helps keep me accountable.
If I end up do wanting one of the sweets I get the " Now you told me not to give you any cake anymore, so don't be mad at me" and half the time it will remind me why I'm not eating the sweets and I'll turn it down.

Where can I get a job that feeds me every day? lol.

Ask yourself , "Will I be satisfied after I eat this?" If the answer is "yes" then eat it and log it and move on.

When I worked in an office, I'd avoid looking at treats and think about something I hate. "Bleh; it's all black licorice," I'd tell myself. Thoughts of black licorice are enough to ruin my appetite. I weighed less than I do now when I worked in an office. My kitchen is too close to my at-home work station, and I know exactly what goodies I have in there.