My "cubicle partner" just recently had gastric bypass and is big into eating healthy and working out, so it's helped a lot to be able to talk to her.
It's just another thing that you have to learn to change once you make the decision to change your life, ya know?
Both of those are HUGE! It is great that you have a partner in crime that is literally just a few feet away. Then you can be eachother's voices of reason when the other is being easily tempted.
Also, you are right about just learning to change it. It will get easier. And everytime i see a positive result form the changes it makes me want to stick to the plan even more.
I so feel your pain. I was in probably the worst shape of my life when I worked an office job.
What I can reccommend is to get your workouts in, keep a big bottle of water, and gum and hard candy can be saviors at squelching appetite. Of course if you can't eat at your desk that's going to be no help. Brown bag, brown bag, brown bag! It got me dropping weight when I was prepping for x-mas and working 12 hour days 6 days a week. Granted I was running up and down the store escalators typically with armfuls of merchandise 10 of those hours, so I'm sure the cardio helped too!
Planning doesn't take much, I personally slice the veggies one night a week, buy pre-washed and pre-cut fruit. As for not having left-overs, frozen meals and the south beach wraps (grown-up lunchables! ) are easy, portable, and you know what the nutrition values are.
I know exactly how you feel. I work in dispatch for a law enforcement/fire agency.
I'm not sure how your agency has it setup, but at ours we usually are able to getup and walk around for a few minutes ever so often if need be. Also, we have a pool going at work. Almost everyone is in on a diet of some type. We try and be a support team for each other.
If we order out: we try and choose healthy food or choices depending on where we choose from. Ocassionally, we are just bad, but most of the time we aren't.
Also, I find it helpful to have snacks, water, and drink easily available if I need it.
WORK OUT! Me and a friend work out each night after work (if we are both working that day) and I go on my breaks sometimes just to get on the treadmill in the training room at the department for a few minutes.
My office is not even 30 ft from the building's cafe. Every morning I can smell breakfast tacos and muffins and fatty foods galore. It used to drive me nuts but with my bowl of kashi in the morning, I'm good. And like others have said, planning is key. Just knowing I have breakfast waiting for me in the office deters me from buying those ultra fatty breakfast tacos.
It is definitely a challenge! I take my lunch/snacks with me, but my department is a bunch of candy/chocolate freaks! There is so much sugar around me I amaze myself each day that I have managed to stay away from it. I work for a very large coffee company and we actually have a cafe in our building with all the stuff that is available to our customers. Cakes, cookies, lovely sandwiches and every coffee drink available. I keep reminding myself that I'm in this for the long haul, that the end result is what I want MORE than cheesecake or chocolate or a double shot mocha java chip cappuccino... Remember why you are doing this. Plan as much as you possible can and be firm. Be annoying if you have to in refusing anything that is not on your plan. Think of your end result. Do you want to push it out one day further? Be honest and true to yourself and don't give in to just the taste of something sweet or naughty
Well I just spent my one hour lunch break walking for about forty minutes and then coming in to an empty conference room and doing 50 crunches. Whew!! It feels so good.
I am convinced my company is in on a conspiracy to try and make me gain weight.
Every Tuesday it's donut/bagel day. It's hard to turn down free food But it helps that it's on Tuesdays, so I can be prepared, and psche myself up for it the night before, and eat a bigger than usual breakfast so I won't be tempted.
Every other Friday (payday) is also donut day. I just don't go into the room that has the donuts.
Once a month, there is a company wide celebration for peoples birthdays with cake and icecream.
Once a month we have our own department celebration. The woman in my office makes these amazing homemade cakes. I can't resist them. I only have a small piece, and I justify it by saying: Hey, I didn't have any of the other stuff all month, so I can have this!
The worst is when Payday Donut Day, Company Cake Day, and Department Cake day all fall in the same week. Paired with Bagel/donut tuesday, what is a girl to do?
PLAN!!! I always have extra food on hand here. Yogurt, fruit, veggies, whatever. And I hardly ever go out for lunch.
Well I just spent my one hour lunch break walking for about forty minutes and then coming in to an empty conference room and doing 50 crunches. Whew!! It feels so good.
WOW...look at you go! Doesn't it feel so much better than eating greasy, prectically indecipherable fast food?
I agree that planning helps tremendously. Like you, though, I don't typically have leftovers from dinner to pack up for lunch (not because I eat out or anything, but because I only make enough for dinner for one meal so that I am not tempted to go back for seconds). And so, I plan out my week's lunches on the weekends. I'll make a big batch of whatever sounds good for that week (or even a few different things for variety) and portion out into Gladware containers for the week. Things that work really well for this:
pasta (or spaghetti squash) with sauce
sandwiches (yes, I've been known to make 5 pbj sandwiches on a Sunday afternoon to last me the week)
stir fry
just about anything in a crock pot (recent faorites have been a thick potato and sausage soup or chicken breast w/salsa, veggies, and cheese)
I also keep things at work for those days when you just forget to grab something out of the fridge in the morning. I keep instant oatmeal, boxes of all-natural creamy red pepper and tomato soup, a jar of all-natural peanut butter, and sometimes bread and fruit (canned fruit is especially good for this). I'm not sure how your kitchen situation is at work, but I also have access to a fridge/freezer, so I bring in a couple frozen meals (Lean Cuisine, Healthy Choice, SmartOnes, etc.) and stash them in the freezer for those days when I just don't have anything else and don't want to cave in to restaurant food.
Yeah...I'm definitely going to have to jump on the Leftovers For Lunch bandwagon. The only thing is that usually at lunch time, I'm not even hungry - I would just eat whatever everyone else wanted to go eat. So today, when I walked instead of eating, I wasnt missing anything.
The only thing I have to be concerned with is my addictive personality - in that, when I focus on cutting calories and exercising, I'll eat next to nothing and exercise for hours a day (which makes you wonder how I even got to this weight in the first place!)...and I'm like that about everything. Like, when I get into a painting mood, I'll stay up for two days straight painting. Certainly helps with the motivation, though.
Candy is the thing that kills me ! I work with kids, and there are always sweet treats around. I keep sugarfree Nips caramels in my desk-- they last forever and they seem to nix that chocolate craving.. also Plain LF yogurt with a sprinkle of Splenda in it hits the spot.
Candy is totally my problem too- I have such a sweet tooth, and love the sugar boost when I start to droop mid afternoon- I just had a little bag of gummi bears- I'll have to try the nips!
) are easy, portable, and you know what the nutrition values are.
But it helps that it's on Tuesdays, so I can be prepared, and psche myself up for it the night before, and eat a bigger than usual breakfast so I won't be tempted.
