The free food at work problem :/

We have lab meetings every Friday where the presenter always brings in treats. I can't say no to free chocolate, especially as a student! So I just try to eat well the rest of the day so I don't go too far over my goals on sugar and fat. To be honest though, 1 piece of cake in a week, especially if you make it fit your macros is not going to ruin the whole day or whole week of eating well! I guess it is a case of compromise and having the right mind set, I'm trying to avoid the, oh god I've had 30g of carbs more than I should have done today, whole day ruined lets get a takeaway frame of mind!

However, you could bring in something to snack on instead that is tasty but a bit healthier - maybe some fruit or almonds. Or another option is have the cake and then squeeze in an extra bit of exercise for that day to take the guilt away!

Just walk away from it. To quote my mother, "just because somebody else is jumping off a bridge, that doesn't mean you have to." It gets easier to exert your self control.

As Stef said, you make your own decision about whether it is worth the calories to indulge. If you do, then you make those calories fit. I bet logging that donut and then trying to make the rest of your day work will make you think twice the next time.

Oh my gosh, this used to be so hard for me. It took incredible will power for me to not eat a single unhealthy thing while at work (because there was always loads of free goodies that I LOVED being brought in on a daily basis). After joining MFP, it became easier to just say no because I could easily look up the nutrition facts of those donuts, cookies, chocolates, cakes, pies, pastries, etc and see how those things would sabotage my diet and leave me with far too little calories left for actual meals for that day. I would sit through meetings and watch everyone else eat those yummy diet destroyers while I sipped on water. I swear I used to pay more attention to the noshing than to the actual meeting. I eventually got used to doing this and others have grown tired of offering me food to no avail. As for the soda, I never liked it so I rarely drank it to begin with. I gave it up for good the day I learned it was bad for my health. Sucking on cough drops or vitamin C drops has helped me stay away from snacks at work too. One other thing that has helped me is to save coffee for special occasions. I love the taste of coffee, so I have it rarely as a special treat. If I feel the urge to eat junk food SO badly, I'll try to instead have a cup of coffee with a little cream and sugar and it makes me feel like I'm splurging and having a real treat. I know, I'm weird, but some days I really need to have some bizarre tricks up my sleeve to keep me on track.

Whenever someone misses a call, they have to bring in doughnuts. Which sit right next to my desk (cube). It's a test of willpower, just say no! Yesterday we had chinese catered in, and instead some of us got Panera. I wanted an egg roll so much, but I know I would have had 2 or 3. Just say no, then keep telling yourself no. Eventually the voice stops.

We have quite a few candy jars around my office also. The calorie counting features of MFP help, and I tell myself not to "cheat." I work in a cube farm, so I try to direct myself away from the suppliers. You're right, though, at a meeting it can be just about impossible to say no. (The Cronuts are the worst!) Well, I think I'm getting better, anyway.

Per aspera ad astra . . .

ziggh wrote: »

Im pretty good at buying healthy food at the grocery store and bringing healthy lunches at work, but it's impossible to avoid all the candy/cookies/sodas that other people bring to share or are brought in for meetings. How do you guys deal with this?

Just ignore it.

Smile ... politely say, "No thank you" ... or sometimes if I know the person made whatever it is, "It looks really good, but no thank you".

Yesterday, there was a fund-raiser morning tea for Nepal ... I walked down to the tea room, dropped my donation in the cup, looked at the table laden with delicious things to eat ... and walked back to my desk. I knew I wasn't going to be exercising much yesterday, so I didn't have any wiggle room in the diet for treats.

Maybe later I will ... right now I'm on a mission to lose weight.

Same issue at my job. I resolved it by not eating it.

Afura wrote: »

Whenever someone misses a call, they have to bring in doughnuts. Which sit right next to my desk (cube). It's a test of willpower, just say no!

I have to say that right now, I am so very incredibly glad Australia doesn't do donuts. There are a few places that sell donut-like objects, but they're not particularly appealing, and definitely not comparable to Canadian donuts. It is also rare that anyone will bring some into the office, they're just not that popular.

And thank goodness for that!! I would have such a tough time saying no to good donuts.

ziggh wrote: »

Im pretty good at buying healthy food at the grocery store and bringing healthy lunches at work, but it's impossible to avoid all the candy/cookies/sodas that other people bring to share or are brought in for meetings. How do you guys deal with this?

You don't eat it or you account for what you eat. Your eating and weight loss trek isn't theirs.

A.C.E. Certified Personal and Group Fitness Trainer
IDEA Fitness member
Kickboxing Certified Instructor
Been in fitness for 30 years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition

Send it to me.

Just because it is there does not mean you have to eat it. Or you can eat a little, log it and enjoy. Yesterday someone brought in some Peanut butter fudge cupcakes. I went on MFP looked up the calorie total, decided I could afford to enjoy half of one and logged it. It was yummy.

One day last week someone brought in Pizza and offered me a slice. I decided I didn't want to spend my calories on that, that day. However this week we had pizza at a monthly meeting. I knew ahead it was happening. Planed for it. Enjoyed it very much and went on with my life.

Really you are going to run into food everywhere you go. The world won't stop offering temptations just because you are dieting. Might as well just decide to be responsible about whether or not you make the choice to put it in your mouth.

I work at a start-up in Silicon Valley. It's part of the culture to have the job provide food. We make regular Costco runs and Google Express is always delivering.

One advantage is that it's not random crap that people bring in. We can get whatever we want so I make sure there is always nuts, Greek yogurt, beef jerky, fruit, hummus, carrots, and other food with less sugar. But the guys are making sure there is plenty of candy and ice cream.

So whenever I open the cabinets to get my PM snack of nuts, there are the M+Ms staring me in the face. And I know there are Haagen Dazs bars sitting in the fridge.

What has helped me is knowing how our brains are wired. They are wired to want food if they see it and they are wired to be attracted to free food. Knowing this, I am constantly putting the jars of candy behind the jars of nuts and I also have trained myself not to open the cabinets if I'm just in the kitchen to get a drink. If I can't see it, that helps a lot.

After that I just have rules about how much of this stuff I'm allowed under what circumstances.

Finally, I have a picture in my mind of how I want to look and how well I want to perform at my big race in Sept.

If none of that works, I log it and move one.

I work for a govt dept. We get nothing!! You are all sooo lucky. I really need to find another job!

ziggh wrote: »

Im pretty good at buying healthy food at the grocery store and bringing healthy lunches at work, but it's impossible to avoid all the candy/cookies/sodas that other people bring to share or are brought in for meetings. How do you guys deal with this?

I work in an ER and there is CONSTANTLY cake, candy, and cookies here. I have learned to just bring my own lunch every night and when I see the free food I just walk past it. If I know I have a cushion in my calories then I will allow myself one cookie or one piece of candy or a small sliver of cake just so I don't feel bad, but otherwise I just drink a lot of water, chew gum, and try my best to ignore the food.