Binging on free food at work

Drink plenty of water. Eat the snacks you've brought as planned. WHEN you eat the free food, make sure it's within portion and fit it into your daily calories. Good Luck!!

Eat it, log it, skip meals if you have to.

just say no


lol but seriously, there are a lot of good suggestions in the responses here. Cant say it much better. Good luck and keep the long term goal in mind

My suggestion, if you haven't done so already, is to spend some time looking up how many calories are in biscuits, bagels, cake, cookies, etc .... I find it easier to resist food when I think about how many calories are in it and what eating it will "cost" me.
Edit: I have the same problem -- it's not easy to pass up free yummy food! You're not the only one with this problem.

Along the same lines as this...

Make yourself log it before you eat the free food or search it before making the decision to eat it. That way you know how much it will "cost" you before it goes into your mouth. It may help to curb the mindless eating. You may not find the exact item but something close should be in the database and will let you see an estimate of the calories you could potentially eat. Then you can base your decision to eat it or not on that knowledge.

You are not alone! It is difficult at times when free food is everywhere! I find that pre-logging it or at least researching the calories gives me a chance to think about it before diving head first into the chip bowl. Then I can use that knowledge/moment to decide to say no, opt for a smaller piece, only take a taste serving or something altogether different.

This was mentioned by another commenter, but a health/fitness challenge in your workplace could be a cool way to try and switch up the environment. I'm sure it's different because you don't work for a big company, but I work for a gym and there are several companies who do this sort of thing. For example, they will pay for part or most of the employees gym membership if the employee checks in and works out x amount of times per month. You could suggest a modified version specific to your situation- if the other teachers start bringing healthy options to share instead of cookies, cake, etc, the school could award the person who chooses the healthy option over the sweets the most often an awesome reserved parking spot or something. I think most people actually do want to make good choices, but there is so much social pressure to eat junk when it is there and others are eating it. You could be the one to start a positive change! Good luck

I work in an office that always has sweet and savoury treats, chocolate, cakes, biscuits, I find it really hard to resist.
What works for me most of the time, I take my own lunch and treats into work each day which I pre log, I do give in sometimes, but if I do I log it and then do an extra workout or go for a walk to help burn it off.

My colleagues know I'm watching what I eat and I've asked them not to bring food in for me, they understand and respect me and try and keep the food away from me as much as possible.

It does get easier.

I also work in education and there are bake sales literally every day! I was eating so much crap and was feeling really bad about. One day I decided I just needed to stop buying the baked goods. I started just donating money to the students and not taking the baked goods. Once I got in this habit, it was easy to stop eating the junk!

chew gum or brush your teeth and put on your best and most expensive lipstick. Looking pretty and feeling elegant and expensive will stop you from selling yourself short :flowerforyou:

Just think of it this way. They are giving some food, if you eat it, you'll gain weight and it'll leave your body in a few hours as poop. If you say no, you'll stay healthy and get closer to your goal. Which one would you go with?
I'd also try to stay away from the location where food is since they can be very tempting sometimes.

chew gum

I just think about all the germs going around. And people sneezing ...and coughing...and doing god knows what to the food when they prepare it.

Nope. Not worth it.

LOL....my husband never eats other's homemade food...we rarely go to restaurants either...he gets sick all the time. just saying..

Completely understand where you are coming from. I work at a dr's office where the drug reps, patients and employees are constantly bringing in lovely sweets and other foods. Our office buys us lunch for every staff meeting, the reps bring food everyday both breakfast & Lunch. And although we all think "oh I just had a little bit of that chocolate muffin" we have a little bit every single day and by the end of the week you have just eaten a whole box of muffins!

It's definitely tough...so this week I started taking other routes thru the office to get to my desk or eating my snacks before I go any where. Also make sure I have been drinking a lot of water before I step foot near the kitchen(s)---we have 3 here!

You could quit your job. Or, you could take responsibility for yourself. I know that's not what you want to hear, but it's what needs to happen, regardless of your sensibilities.

Rigger

This. Nothing anyone on here is going to help you. It is up to you to develop the will power to not what you don't want to eat. You are an adult. Sorry.

I am sitting at my desk as I type this, eating a turkey and spinach sandwich brought from home while my colleagues eat a fully catered hot meal in the break room. I can tell myself over and over and over that I can be like them and use "portion control" and "moderation" and "splurge a little"..... in reality I will eat plate after plate of that *kitten* until there's nothing left on the serving platters but that weird lettuce-like garnish and crumbs.

I cannot eat food when its quantity isn't limited to a correct portion (by someone else, not me). When this sandwich is gone, it's gone. But if I go in that breakroom there will be enough goodies to snack on for the rest of the afternoon... and that's just what I would do.

Yes, it makes me hate life in this moment. But so would the result of bingeing on free food that I only gorged on because it was available and unlimited.

This

I used to be the same way, but you know that just because it didn't cost you anything money-wise, it's costing you something calorie-wise. You need to remind yourself of this, and if you know there will be food, shoot, I'd save my money and allow for it in my diary, because free food! Also, what Lolbroscience said. That's wasteful, and the cake cow will cry!