Co-Workers Comment on Your Food Choices?
bellaa_x0
Posts: 1,062 Member
does anyone else NEVER hear the end of it from their co-workers when you bring your own, pre-portioned food to work with you?
I find it interesting that people feel the need to comment on my choices, meanwhile I don't say one word about theirs. also particularly interesting that the people who chime in with their opinion the most are the ones who should be a little more health conscious themselves. I guess it makes them feel better about eating loads of gravy covered meat with corn and mashed potatoes when they nag me about my "healthy" food (I had chicken thighs, asparagus and sweet potatoes for lunch). and don't get me wrong, i love gravy, corn and mashed potatoes - in moderation, of course!
ugh.
I find it interesting that people feel the need to comment on my choices, meanwhile I don't say one word about theirs. also particularly interesting that the people who chime in with their opinion the most are the ones who should be a little more health conscious themselves. I guess it makes them feel better about eating loads of gravy covered meat with corn and mashed potatoes when they nag me about my "healthy" food (I had chicken thighs, asparagus and sweet potatoes for lunch). and don't get me wrong, i love gravy, corn and mashed potatoes - in moderation, of course!
ugh.
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My favorite is the response when I decline a lunch invitation, "But you can order a salad." I have to bite my tongue to not say, "I brought my own damned salad, and it was carefully weighed, and I know exactly what's in it." Eventually, I decline enough to no longer get invitations, and I'd prefer it that way. :-)0
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I find a good throat punch effectively puts a stop to such comments.
Although it usually has the side effect of getting a one-on-one chat with your HR rep.
Seriously though...I find my life much less stressful the more I can ignore those kinds of people.0 -
Smile and nod.0
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Occasionally from new people at work. But most of my co-workers are familiar with how I eat by now.
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Ignore the idiots.0
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My favorite is the response when I decline a lunch invitation, "But you can order a salad." I have to bite my tongue to not say, "I brought my own damned salad, and it was carefully weighed, and I know exactly what's in it." Eventually, I decline enough to no longer get invitations, and I'd prefer it that way. :-)
SOOO much this^^^. I don't get invitations anymore, lol. I would always get the same answer. "You can always get a salad." Honestly, it's not about eating a salad, and actually some salads have more calories then other entrees. I don't even eat salad very often. They don't seem to get that I can eat things other than salads, but I need to keep track of how MUCH I'm eating. That's hard to do when eating out all the time. Now if it was only occasionally, I would just go and not worry too much, but they would go out to eat nearly 3 to 4 times a week.
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I had one co-worker who would look at my food and comment all the time for a while. I finally just started telling her that I wasn't asking her to eat it. She no longer says anything. Other than that we get along great. The funny thing is that it wasn't even crazy stuff. It would be things like chicken and veggies and she would make a face like I was eating balut or something.0
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I feel lucky that I have a group of ladies at work who are very supportive. A lot of us keep each other accountable like.. Oh no, you didn't bring those chips in here. Or come on let's get that water down. lol. I don't take offense to it and neither do they. We are each others accountability buddies. Now my family... that is a whole other story. My husbands family constantly wants to "go eat" and when I do go with them they constantly comment on "how little I eat" and how I "shouldn't starve myself". I'm like really, it's not starving myself it's portion control. lol. Bump them and their healthy metabolisms.
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I have co workers who seem to compete on who can eat the least at lunch time. "all I have is a cup of chobani". "all i have is celery and water".. ok.. i'm exaggerating a little. Anyways- I NEVER participate in that, never comment. But the minute I heat up my carefully home-made, weighed out leftovers, and walk out from the break room with that AND a healthy salad to boot.. well the comments fly. "MMM, something smells so good! must be GPD's lunch!".. I take it mostly as a compliment. There is the occassional "I could NEVER eat like that". To which I ignore as best I can. I AM 'eating like that', and I AM getting healthier and losing weight. Not breaking any land speed records doing it, but it IS coming off. And I'm happy. so neener neener on them.
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My coworkers don't usually make negative comments. I however, bite my tongue when I see my supervisor, who is out sick every other month, eat chick fil a every morning with a giant coke. We also get starbucks, donuts, cookies, cakes, etc brought in to us every week and I decline more often than not. Actually, I had a tough time with the uber delicious cookies today but I did it!!0
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Most of my co-workers know how I roll after three years of kicking *kitten*. Nobody really says anything anymore...I look the way I look for a reason...and they look the way they look for a reason...and they know what those reasons are.0
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annacsophia wrote: »My coworkers are usually jealous. I prefer to bring my homecooked meals as opposed to a sandwich or frozen meal. Just the other day I was heating up my buffalo chicken meatballs with ranch yogurt dip and people loved the smell!
Ohh that sounds amazing! I might have to try something like that! I bet my husband would LOVE that!!!0 -
annacsophia wrote: »My coworkers are usually jealous. I prefer to bring my homecooked meals as opposed to a sandwich or frozen meal. Just the other day I was heating up my buffalo chicken meatballs with ranch yogurt dip and people loved the smell!
Ohh that sounds amazing! I might have to try something like that! I bet my husband would LOVE that!!!0 -
cwolfman13 wrote: »Most of my co-workers know how I roll after three years of kicking *kitten*. Nobody really says anything anymore...I look the way I look for a reason...and they look the way they look for a reason...and they know what those reasons are.
this +1
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ashdawg8790 wrote: »annacsophia wrote: »My coworkers are usually jealous. I prefer to bring my homecooked meals as opposed to a sandwich or frozen meal. Just the other day I was heating up my buffalo chicken meatballs with ranch yogurt dip and people loved the smell!
Ohh that sounds amazing! I might have to try something like that! I bet my husband would LOVE that!!!
that does sound delicious!!!0 -
Oh my favorites:
"That's all your eating?"
"You're eating again?!"
"I don't know how you eat the same thing everyday."
"I don't know how you do it."
My response is typically the same to any comment or question
Summer is closer than you think or You don't know how I do it because you wont even try0 -
Eventually if you decline them enough they will just become spiteful and even more hateful. They will switch over to never inviting you to anything EVER and make sure to never tell you about food being brought into the office. Even if it is something you can eat.
You'll start to get "are you sure you can eat that?" *smug giggle* if you bring in a food item that meets your calorie goals for the day but is generally deemed "unhealthy" by society. For example, 1 slice of pizza with salad and carrot sticks. etc.
Have fun 0 -
Mine are all usually quite complimentary. A couple are wanting to lose weight but haven't hit the right lets go for it moment.
Only slightly negative remark was from one guy who first accused me of starving myself (after several of his own failed attempts at weight loss). I showed him my food for day and got a rather confused expression and a " but how do you lose weight eating all that?0 -
I work in a bakery/deli and so it's an easy place to build the habit of mindless snacking, which I'm trying so very hard to break. It's not easy when they keep offering you bites of cream cheese balls, tres leche cakes, fried potato wedges... It's practically torture watching them eat it and making myself decline because I know I'm not hungry. If I politely decline the offer, I always end up getting dieting advice. Which bugs me, too. I know what works for my body and what doesn't.0
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rainbowbow wrote: »Eventually if you decline them enough they will just become spiteful and even more hateful. They will switch over to never inviting you to anything EVER and make sure to never tell you about food being brought into the office. Even if it is something you can eat.
You'll start to get "are you sure you can eat that?" *smug giggle* if you bring in a food item that meets your calorie goals for the day but is generally deemed "unhealthy" by society. For example, 1 slice of pizza with salad and carrot sticks. etc.
Have fun
Wow, that has never been my experience.0 -
MonkeyMel21 wrote: »rainbowbow wrote: »Eventually if you decline them enough they will just become spiteful and even more hateful. They will switch over to never inviting you to anything EVER and make sure to never tell you about food being brought into the office. Even if it is something you can eat.
You'll start to get "are you sure you can eat that?" *smug giggle* if you bring in a food item that meets your calorie goals for the day but is generally deemed "unhealthy" by society. For example, 1 slice of pizza with salad and carrot sticks. etc.
Have fun
Wow, that has never been my experience.
Not yet.
"Uh... rainbowbow, i thought you don't eat junk food?" "Oh, you mean this bag of chips? I am eating a small dinner tonight" "Uhhuh, yeah, sure".
I can think of 10+ times this has happened to me by different people. When they see you eat "healthy" all the time, when they see you weigh things, and when they see you maintain weight loss long term they generally think it's their personal responsibility to make sure you don't get fat again. Apparently.0 -
JenAndSome wrote: »I had one co-worker who would look at my food and comment all the time for a while. I finally just started telling her that I wasn't asking her to eat it. She no longer says anything. Other than that we get along great. The funny thing is that it wasn't even crazy stuff. It would be things like chicken and veggies and she would make a face like I was eating balut or something.
just had to google balut... i almost barfed lol
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Pet Peeve!
Even if the remarks are complimentary, like "Oh, so healthy!" or "That looks great I should be as healthy. You always eat so healthy! " It still strikes me as obnoxious. I'm eating a salad. It's not earth shattering and I'm sure you've had one at some point in your life too. Also:
A. I just want to eat lunch and not respond to phoney office niceties and oooohing and aahhing.
B. I'm not trying to impress anyone or show that I'm better than them. I just like to cook and eat good things.
C. At my job a lot of the people who say these things look pretty healthy themselves and don't seem to struggle with diet problems, so I don't understand the patronizing fawning over my healthy meal.
I think a lot of this behavior is sometimes just standard workplace chatter--something people say because they're in the break room with you and feel the need to say something, regardless how pointless or awkward. It's like the lunchtime equivalent of TGIF. Haha.
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rainbowbow wrote: »MonkeyMel21 wrote: »rainbowbow wrote: »Eventually if you decline them enough they will just become spiteful and even more hateful. They will switch over to never inviting you to anything EVER and make sure to never tell you about food being brought into the office. Even if it is something you can eat.
You'll start to get "are you sure you can eat that?" *smug giggle* if you bring in a food item that meets your calorie goals for the day but is generally deemed "unhealthy" by society. For example, 1 slice of pizza with salad and carrot sticks. etc.
Have fun
Wow, that has never been my experience.
Not yet.
"Uh... rainbowbow, i thought you don't eat junk food?" "Oh, you mean this bag of chips? I am eating a small dinner tonight" "Uhhuh, yeah, sure".
I can think of 10+ times this has happened to me by different people. When they see you eat "healthy" all the time, when they see you weigh things, and when they see you maintain weight loss long term they generally think it's their personal responsibility to make sure you don't get fat again. Apparently.
I'm glad I don't work in that environment. It sounds toxic. No one ever comments on my meals. I get asked to lunch every other week or so. Sometimes I go, sometimes I don't. Depends on how I feel and what kind of deficit I have built into my week.0 -
I have a co-worker that doesn't eat vegetables, or anything green unless it is skittles. She constantly makes comments about the food I am eating, and that avocado, broccoli, and the like are "gross" and "disgusting". However, she eats processed *kitten* and candy all day long, and her teeth are literally starting to rot, and even though she probably weighs 100 pounds less than me and we are the same age, she is on tons of medication for blood pressure etc, so I just ignore these comments and smile, because my dentist told me my teeth were beautiful and perfect(sorry, bit of a big head on this one!) and I know my healthy choices make me happy and feel good.
Totally understood how hearing these comments day after day can be infuriating, and I've thought about a throat kick lots of times too:
ceoverturf wrote: »I find a good throat punch effectively puts a stop to such comments.
Although it usually has the side effect of getting a one-on-one chat with your HR rep.
Seriously though...I find my life much less stressful the more I can ignore those kinds of people.
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does anyone else NEVER hear the end of it from their co-workers when you bring your own, pre-portioned food to work with you?
I find it interesting that people feel the need to comment on my choices, meanwhile I don't say one word about theirs. also particularly interesting that the people who chime in with their opinion the most are the ones who should be a little more health conscious themselves. I guess it makes them feel better about eating loads of gravy covered meat with corn and mashed potatoes when they nag me about my "healthy" food (I had chicken thighs, asparagus and sweet potatoes for lunch). and don't get me wrong, i love gravy, corn and mashed potatoes - in moderation, of course!
ugh.
Not really. But living in New York, you pretty much see a row of salads and quinoa dishes across the row of work desks at lunch.
When I first started changing my diet, people definitely noticed and commented... but I used to be the one organizing Shake Shack Fridays with the field crew, and due to p90x was dropping pounds and gaining muscle in a very short amount of time -- so I was going to generate attention whether I wanted to or not.
Nowadays nobody cares. And I consider social events / free lunches an occasion to break my standard diet, anyway. 0 -
When I was first changing things up and not doing intermittent fasting, yeah I'd hear stuff all the time. Fortunately it was generally positive stuff, with a couple "I couldn't ever do that" type comments. I would always emphasize that it was what I needed to do for me, and remind myself that often people saying this want to show you they see your efforts, but don't always know how to say it without coming off the wrong way.
Now that I do IF, I don't eat during work hours, so I don't tend to get comments unless I spend my lunch hour where coworkers can see I'm not eating. People don't invite me to eat, but I don't mind. My job is so interaction-intensive, my lunch break is my me time. While I'll occasionally eat outside of my window, I'm not usually hungry. People at work have seen me lose about 75 lbs over the last two years and don't bug me much any more about my food, now it's just comments about how "skinny" I'm getting.0 -
initialsdeebee wrote: »Pet Peeve!
Even if the remarks are complimentary, like "Oh, so healthy!" or "That looks great I should be as healthy. You always eat so healthy! " It still strikes me as obnoxious. I'm eating a salad. It's not earth shattering and I'm sure you've had one at some point in your life too. Also:
A. I just want to eat lunch and not respond to phoney office niceties and oooohing and aahhing.
B. I'm not trying to impress anyone or show that I'm better than them. I just like to cook and eat good things.
C. At my job a lot of the people who say these things look pretty healthy themselves and don't seem to struggle with diet problems, so I don't understand the patronizing fawning over my healthy meal.
I think a lot of this behavior is sometimes just standard workplace chatter--something people say because they're in the break room with you and feel the need to say something, regardless how pointless or awkward. It's like the lunchtime equivalent of TGIF. Haha.
THIS^^^
Except, in my case, "C." is with a bunch of over weight people who are actually bewildered; yet have worked with me for 10+ years and NEVER ONCE taken my advice on losing weight, etc! Waste of my breath...0 -
My co workers know how I eat after all these years. They know I always bring my own food and don't eat out, so they don't even pass me the menus anymore
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