Strategies to avoid junk

richardhopehayley · July 2018

Hi all, looking for tips. I’ve made good progress on my weight loss goals, particularly by establishing good habits and setting up an environment that leads to success.

But there is one situation that keeps appearing where I stumble. My office has chips and other junk food in the cupboards. I resist it about 50% of the time, but then I’ll binge - especially in the afternoons when I’m starting to get hungry for supper. Moderation doesn’t work for me - a small bowl always leads to a binge.

Any tips?

chulipa · July 2018

Have something at your desk to eat that is low calorie

kshama2001 · July 2018

My resistance is also low when I'm hungry. I plan to not get too hungry.

Do you have refrigerator access at work? When I worked in an office I kept carrots, cheese, and hard boiled eggs in the frig and nuts at my desk.

L1zardQueen · July 2018

Do you eat enough calories to keep you until dinner?

cwolfman13 · July 2018

I bring everything I'm going to eat for the day with me from home...I occasionally indulge in some of the food that's in the office, but it's rare. I pretty much stick to what's in my little cooler.

Dani9585 · July 2018

I had to stop eating the office treats. If I had one, I would have many more. Now, I always bring in my own food, including pre-logged treats. Having the "all or nothing" rule has been really helpful for me, as I struggle to manage moderation as well.

cbstewart88 · July 2018

Keep something low-cal at your desk. Don't go into the room where the cupboards of snacks are....

tinkerbellang83 · July 2018

Chewing gum and drinking water/low calorie drinks can be a good distraction.

Taking snacks that meet your calorie allowance too, doesn't necessarily have to be low calorie, if I tried to sit and eat carrot sticks at my desk that would make me want the cupboard stuff even more.

I bring my own snacks and basically consider the stuff that's in our staff canteen "other people's food" in the same way that I wouldn't eat my flatmates food because it's not mine, I tend not to eat the stuff that's in there. So if I want nuts/crisps/chocolate I pre-portion it, plan it into my calorie allowance for the day and eat only that portion.

richardhopehayley · July 2018

Thanks for the great tips everyone! Based on your advice, I’m going to try shifting my eating schedule so I’m eating a bit more in the mid afternoon. Hopefully this’ll make it easier to resist the junk!

L1zardQueen · July 2018

Sounds like a good plan.

fb47 · July 2018

richardhopehayley wrote: »

Hi all, looking for tips. I’ve made good progress on my weight loss goals, particularly by establishing good habits and setting up an environment that leads to success.

But there is one situation that keeps appearing where I stumble. My office has chips and other junk food in the cupboards. I resist it about 50% of the time, but then I’ll binge - especially in the afternoons when I’m starting to get hungry for supper. Moderation doesn’t work for me - a small bowl always leads to a binge.

Any tips?

Pre-log your meals (make small calories snacks like baby carrots w/hummus for example) and eat only the foods you have listed. Drink a lot of water, coffee or green tea (don't overdo because of caffeine), decaf coffee can also be your best friend. Other than that, discipline unfortunately.

urloved33 · July 2018

Tape over mouth

Leannep2201 · July 2018

cwolfman13 wrote: »

I bring everything I'm going to eat for the day with me from home...I occasionally indulge in some of the food that's in the office, but it's rare. I pretty much stick to what's in my little cooler.

This is what I do, too. I also bring snacks that are higher in protein to help me through the 3pm slump. We have a lot of treat foods at my work, but I can usually manage to stay away from them if I’m prepared with my own stuff!

cebreisch · July 2018

At work, I used to have hunger pangs around 10:00 a.m. and 3:00 p.m. They always had chips and other snacks in the office.

I ended up getting a dorm fridge and keeping it my office. I filled it with bottled water, yogurt, string cheese, hard boiled eggs, etc. Notice the trend that they’re all protein.

I also brought protein/fiber bars I got from www.healthsmartfoods.com - the uncoated protein bars. They’re about 100 calories and have about 10g fiber, 10g protein.

Special K used to make a “protein water” powder that would put about 5g fiber and 5g protein in the water flavored as Pink Lemonade or something. Well, they quit making that. So now, I get Nectar. It’s available on Amazon.com (among other places). They have “Roadside lemonade”, “twisted Cherry”, and a bunch of other flavors, but those are 2 of my favorites. It puts 23g of protein in the water. I’ll also add clear dissolving fiber (I forget the name - it comes in a green container and I get it from GNC) to it too. It mixes better if you use a shaker bottle. Start with about 8-10 ounces, then adjust the water in it as you want. I usually use somewhere between 8-12 ounces of water.....the whole bottle of water seems to me to be too weak.

At home, I also have a “snack box” that’s totally mine....until my daughter started using it too! LOL. I have baggies of pretzels in there, protein bars, basically 100-ish calorie snacks that I can go to if I want something to eat and it won’t completely derail me. It’s right next to the dorm fridge I have at home - set up the same way as the one I had at work.

Machka9 · July 2018

richardhopehayley wrote: »

Hi all, looking for tips. I’ve made good progress on my weight loss goals, particularly by establishing good habits and setting up an environment that leads to success.

But there is one situation that keeps appearing where I stumble. My office has chips and other junk food in the cupboards. I resist it about 50% of the time, but then I’ll binge - especially in the afternoons when I’m starting to get hungry for supper. Moderation doesn’t work for me - a small bowl always leads to a binge.

Any tips?

Those chips and other junk foods aren't yours. Why are you taking something that isn't yours?

That's the way I consider food in the kitchen. Unless I put it there, it's not mine therefore I don't eat it.

stej5639 · July 2018

I try not to take money to work so i cant buy anything and stick to whot ive brought in. Also, eat regularly, rsther than waiting until youre hungry. Treat yourself every now and again though and it can stop the cravings, just make sure you adjust your other calories for that day around it. Good luck.