Work Treats

Most of our "teas" take place right outside my office.

So I get up, listen to the little speech that the manager makes regarding the birthday or whatever the situation is, smile and nod for a few minutes, maybe congratulate the person being celebrated, and then go sit down.

So far, I have eaten nothing at these things.

However, when I hit maintenance, I will probably have one small thing rather than my morning snack or whatever.

Lunches out are fairly easy to manage if you go for something fairly light on the menu.

I'm afraid willpower is your friend for office food. I'm a big planner. I plan my meals for the week and buy only what I need at the supermarket. I pre log my food most days so I know where I can fit anything extra in, or not.

Are you an emotional eater? I found the work environment awful when I was stressed or bored and I would eat biscuits and all sorts. I ended up changing jobs because it was an unhappy work environment. Now I'm much happier even when cakes are available. I don't feel the need to reach out for them.

adamjb88 wrote: »

Sarah4fitness wrote: »

Fail to plan, plan to fail. Bring your own food, or have a big glass of water when faced with treats, instead. Willpower.

I do bring my own.. I then feel guilty that i also need to eat what i bought so i don't waste it

Eat one meal. Throw away the meal you brought from home. Once you have made the decision to lose weight, you have also chosen the path that allows you to let go of guilt.

Work treats being so readily available would be a nightmare! Thankfully I don't have that issue, its usually me that supplies the treats on a Friday and only because I bake every Thursday (its my bake off and unwind day ) - I don't eat the treats but I enjoy the pleasure others get from my baking

adamjb88 wrote: »

Suppose the biggest difficulty is that I can't just not go in the room.. I'm in an open office.. And to make things worse they put it on the bench which is two seats away from me.

So even if I'm getting up to get another cup of water or heading to a meeting il just pick at passing.

Worse when they get pizza in - the smell!

Then maybe you just aren't ready. And that's okay too. If you aren't ready to stand up for your own health/weightloss/personal goal then you are going to fail no matter the circumstances. If it really is as simple as walking on by and you can't do that, you just may not be ready. Sit down and evaluate yourself. Find your "why". Why do you you want to lose weight? I know that sounds cheesy but you have to have that in your mind to refer to, it makes the willpower a bit stronger. You can use that time to learn when and where you can fit in the treats, if you choose to, and make it work in your favor. Eventually it will be habit.

This is something I really struggle with at my office. I started a new job in February, and my new office is very food-friendly, and we often have donuts, cakes, cookies, potlucks, etc. I'm especially worried about the upcoming holiday season--apparently from Halloween until New Year's it's non-stop eating, with baking contests and special holiday meals and so on.

I'm so bad about being tempted about food. Whenever an email goes out announcing pastries or whatnot in the kitchen, my mind just zeroes in on the food. "Food available...eat it....food available...eat it..." Even if I'm not hungry, even if I just ate, knowing that food is available for anyone, it sets off this buzzer in my head that I need to eat, eat, eat.

One thing I thought I'd try would be to bring in some sugar-less gum. If I'm chewing gum, I won't eat, because my mouth is already engaged, and the flavors won't mesh. Another strategy might be to allow myself one bit of treat (half a cookie or donut, one piece of fudge candy, etc.), logged as best I can (it's hard because with all that unlabeled food of dubious origin, you have no idea about the calories), so that I don't feel deprived. But I'm extremely nervous about the holiday season and I don't want to get off track!

I am such a sucker for the snacks and where I work, the snack table literally touches my desk so I am always seeing the treats that people bring in. To prepare for this, I usually bring a few pounds of chopped veggies that I prepped/pre-bagged/labeled in grams the weekend before. Its so much easier to just grab them on the way out the door and since they are pretty voluminous they can keep you munching for hours without any damage done. Today with breakfast included, I have just over 2 pounds of veggies with me and I am still on track to log below 450 calories before I head home at 5 pm. I especially like to bring slightly sweet veggies like jicama and snap peas so its not all just fibrous blandness.

Of course there are still times you might still give in, but if it is infrequent it shouldn't do much to hinder your loss if you do so in moderation and log honestly. Also, I keep a full gallon of water on my desk and try to get through at least one a day. With all that going on, your mouth might not even have time to munch on snacks

That sounds like my job too. I used to always eat it 'cause I felt like I had to.

Then I realized, just because it's there doesn't mean I have to eat it. So I stopped.

Actually, this was one of my first NSVs: Walking by the food desk at work every day for a week without eating any of it. Then it was two weeks. Then a month. Eventually I just realized that I didn't even want it anymore.

At first, my colleagues would offer me chocolate or cookies or cake and would be really surprised when I turned it down ('cause I never did before). They'd say "no really, have some!" or "live a little!" or "just have one!" I just smiled and continued to say no thank you. Eventually they caught on and stopped encouraging me to eat it.

Free food isn't "free". It doesn't cost money, but it costs calories. They're your calories; you have to decide whether you want to spend them on junk food at work or on other stuff. You just can't spend more of them than you have.

Just say no. It's that simple.

if i do not want cake i just say no thanks...i can go hang out and have some coffee and chat or whatever...i can be sociable and wish someone a happy birthday without cake. at my office, these things are typically in the morning so i usually just tell them the truth...i just ate breakfast and i'm not hungry.

sometimes i will have cake...sometimes i won't. i've yet to see anyone get offended because i didn't eat cake on their birthday. i also tend to only attend these types of things if they are occurring within my immediate department...i don't attend all 95 employee's birthday celebrations at work.

adamjb88 wrote: »

Suppose the biggest difficulty is that I can't just not go in the room.. I'm in an open office.. And to make things worse they put it on the bench which is two seats away from me.

So even if I'm getting up to get another cup of water or heading to a meeting il just pick at passing.

Worse when they get pizza in - the smell!

To me, this is the same as when people complain that they can't stand to have certain foods in their house while they're losing weight, because the temptation is too great.

We have free will, though. We can choose to consume them or to not consume them. We're not helpless slaves to smells or temptation.

You're changing your lifestyle, not temporarily dieting. There will always be tempting foods around. You have to be an adult about it and just say no to the things that don't fit in your plan. You don't have to deprive yourself of everything you like -- even while sticking to a 1325/day diet while losing weight, I made room for chocolate every day -- but you do have to have enough self-discipline not to indulge just because it's there.

Look, if you're married, you don't go out and sleep with any attractive person you meet. If you work in a retail store, you don't embezzle from the cash register just because the money is there. Well, it's the same with food. Just because it's there doesn't mean you have to eat it.