Where do you eat lunch?

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J_Fabulous
J_Fabulous Posts: 63 Member
in Food and Nutrition
For those working in an office, do you bring your lunch from home or do you go out every day for lunch? We have a cafeteria in our building which offers healthy and not healthy choices. I pretty much get the same thing every day so I can manage my calories. I am wondering if I am sabotaging myself by not preparing meals at home and bringing them in. Your thoughts?

Replies

  • lx1x
    lx1x Posts: 38,310 Member
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    Buy lunch and take back to work.. only on occasion I bring lunch
  • sytchequeen
    sytchequeen Posts: 526 Member
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    I bring lunch every day. I have a fridge in my training rooms, so I pop it in there and usually eat it at my desk. I would love to go out for a walk round, but once there are delegates on site I can't really leave them without a responsible adult :D
  • missysippy930
    missysippy930 Posts: 2,577 Member
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    As long as you are logging what you are consuming, and are within your calorie deficit, it’s personal choice.
  • RelCanonical
    RelCanonical Posts: 3,882 Member
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    I think as long as you're meeting your goals with your estimates from lunch, there's no need to bring a lunch. Is it a free lunch at the cafeteria or do you pay? That could be the only major advantage I see to bringing a lunch. I would probably eat out more often if it didn't get so expensive, but I bring my lunch to work instead. I often purchase inexpensive frozen meals so I don't have to prep as often, but it's still cheaper than going out.
  • SuzySunshine99
    SuzySunshine99 Posts: 2,983 Member
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    My company provides free lunch for us every day, prepared by our in-house chefs.
    There are many options, including an awesome salad bar, so it's easy to make choices that fit in my calories.
    The downside is that since I did not prepare it myself, the calorie count is just a guess, but it has worked for me.

    So, it depends on your personal needs (and your budget) whether or not you bring food from home. You can get a more accurate calorie count on food you prepare yourself and control your portions more easily.
  • seltzermint555
    seltzermint555 Posts: 10,742 Member
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    I'm lucky enough to have a 2 mile commute with mild/moderate traffic so I go home for lunch 4 days a week. My husband works from home and cooks our meals.

    The other day I have a standing lunch date with my senior dad who lives nearby. We go to restaurants, a mix of nicer places like BBQ or Thai and fast food.

    Occasionally I bring my lunch to the office if I need to skip my lunch break...maybe once a month. I usually bring leftovers or an egg salad sandwich, string cheese, fruit, etc.
  • ceiswyn
    ceiswyn Posts: 2,255 Member
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    I generally make my own lunch. Who knows what's in the 'healthy' options offered by others?

    Was this innocuous looking curry actually fried in a boatload of olive oil before the sauce was added - but it wasn't ghee so it's 'healthy'!

    How many 'healthy' and high-calorie seeds did they add to this salad?

    How much 'healthy' humous did they slather on this wrap before adding the veg?
  • LyndaBSS
    LyndaBSS Posts: 6,964 Member
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    When I was working, I brought my homemade lunch in to work every day.
  • smolmaus
    smolmaus Posts: 442 Member
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    The lunches I prep myself cost less than £5 a week. If I was eating out it would be closer to £5/day or an extra £1000/ year. Easy choice.
  • MikePTY
    MikePTY Posts: 3,814 Member
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    I get lunch delivered every day from a food service. They usually have an option that is the "healthy" option. I do my best to estimate the calories based off of what is in the dish. Obviously that leaves a margin of error but it has worked well enough for me overall.
  • Terytha
    Terytha Posts: 2,097 Member
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    I usually bring lunch. If I forget or run out of groceries, I go over to the coffee shop next door for a wrap or soup or something.

    I used to just not eat lunch, but that stopped being sustainable when I started going to the gym before dinner. =P
  • skelterhelter
    skelterhelter Posts: 803 Member
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    I always bring lunch. It's always something simple like a sandwich, or leftovers from the night before. Once in a while I'll splurge and grab a slice of pizza if my lunch doesn't seem particularly appetizing that day lol.
  • cwolfman13
    cwolfman13 Posts: 41,876 Member
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    J_Fabulous wrote: »
    For those working in an office, do you bring your lunch from home or do you go out every day for lunch? We have a cafeteria in our building which offers healthy and not healthy choices. I pretty much get the same thing every day so I can manage my calories. I am wondering if I am sabotaging myself by not preparing meals at home and bringing them in. Your thoughts?

    How would eating at your cafeteria be sabotaging yourself if you're hitting your calorie targets?

    I usually bring my own lunch, but that's largely because I typically work through lunch and don't leave the office.
  • kshama2001
    kshama2001 Posts: 27,897 Member
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    When I worked in an office, I spent a few hours on Sundays making lunches and dinners for M-Th. On Fridays I had takeout for lunch, ate half, and had the rest for dinner.

    These days I work from home and make my lunches and dinner most days.
  • Duck_Puddle
    Duck_Puddle Posts: 3,224 Member
    edited September 2019
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    What are you sabotaging? You’re eating something that presumably you like enough to eat it regularly, and it fits your goals.

    When I worked in an office I usually brought my own food because it was a whole lot less expensive to do so. I was morbidly obese at the time.
  • traceyc83
    traceyc83 Posts: 72 Member
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    I finish work around 1230 so I eat lunch at home
  • Squish815
    Squish815 Posts: 150 Member
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    I bring in leftovers from home. Even though there are only 2 of us at home, I tend to cook enough for at least 3-4, so just freeze the leftovers and use them for my lunch at work throughout the week. Saves me a little but of money too!
  • DancingMoosie
    DancingMoosie Posts: 8,613 Member
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    I bring my lunch. I buy a huge bunch of kale ($.99) on Sunday, chop it up, and use it as a base for salad or hot lunch for the week. I either cook it with dehydrated veg, egg, soy, sesame oil, and Sriracha for Asian style, or just use leftovers from dinner the night before to add protein.
  • paperpudding
    paperpudding Posts: 8,986 Member
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    I take my lunch in a lunch box every day except Wednesday

    We have reps come in to do a presentation every Wed and they provide lunch - what it is varies and I just estimate the calorie level for them.

    I have a frozen lean cuisine meal in freezer of staff room for the rare occasions when I forget to pack a lunch or the rep cancels.

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