SABOTAGE: Only in your mind.

Attitude is everything, ladies and gentlemen!

This morning, one of my co-workers from another department brought in 3 dozen donuts for the entire store. He's done this before, and it's a sweet (ha!) gesture.

I had brought my usual baggie of cereal for breakfast to eat on my break, but I decided to skip it and have a donut instead. Strawberry frosted, and it was worth every bite. Feeling satisfied in my indulgence, I went about my workday.

A co-worker from my department, a 34-year-old mother of a toddler, had me walk with her not once, but twice to get her own donuts. And the second time around, she insisted that I split the donut with her, saying "I won't take no for an answer" even after I politely declined twice.

So guess what? I ate it, and I enjoyed it.

I didn't get mad at her for "forcing" food on me. If I REALLY hadn't wanted it, I would have stood my ground and told her that I'm trying to cut down on processed sugars, or, accepted it and then pretended to go somewhere else to eat it and thrown it away. I didn't think that she was "sabotaging" my weight loss efforts, because she and all other members of my department know that I'm on MFP and am losing weight. (In fact, one of my younger co-workers is on here too now!) As I ate the half of the donut, I said "guess I'll have to walk more today to burn this off!" and laughed. Because really, that's all it takes-- twenty minutes of exercise and that half donut may not have even existed in my system at all.

The bottom line here is: If you think you're being "sabotaged" at work, school, or in any other social setting, take a step back and really THINK about it. YOU are in control of what goes into your body, and you are also in control of how you handle situations like this. Not everyone will know, or care, about your desires to lose weight. You just have to accept that, and once you do, you'll realize that the world isn't out to get you. People don't only offer you food because they hate you. Or because they're jealous. Sometimes, people just offer you food because they like sharing and are kind, generous people.

Now I know there will be some people proving that there are exceptions to this, because OCCASIONALLY there is malicious intent when people try to "break" other people's diets. In that kind of situation, especially in a work setting, the best thing to do is to gain privacy when you eat so that you are not subjected to scrutiny or temptation. But if you don't want to hole up in your car, you're going to have to face the music eventually. You are STRONGER than temptation, and when you BELIEVE that, the "sabotage" won't only not affect you any more-- it will CEASE TO EXIST!