Thank you for all of your wise words, rockinrobin!!!! I appreciate them more than you know :hug:

Originally Posted by Shmead:
If it were me sitting there, that cupcake would have seemed to glow. It would have seemed the size of a basketball. I would have assumed that everyone in the room, whatever else they were doing, was watching The Cupcake with half an eye, paying attention to what I did with it.

Oh my gosh! This is why I LOVE this place. I swear, that darn cupcake almost jumped off the screen and GLOWED at me! :D

You really made me laugh. I have lived with glowing, basketball sized cupcakes ALL MY LIFE.

Originally Posted by Shmead:
It took me 30 years to realize this is abnormal, that food just isn't a big deal for a lot of people. They don't really care that much what they are eating, they sure as **** don't care what I am eating.

This is something that I still have not adjusted to and am surprised when friends make comments like, they bought candy and 'forgot' that they had it in their house. I cannot have things like that in my house, because I am super-aware of its presence, and it either drives me batty avoiding the temptation, or I give in and eat, followed by the guilt. I avoid those things by just not having those things in my house, but I'm still amazed by 'normal' people who can.

I too just "know" when there's something "there". I don't necessarily eat it, but I am "aware" of it's "presence".

I'm kind of on the opposite end of the "telling folks at work" spectrum. If I'm not held accountable, then I backslide. So, for me, it works to tell my closest work buddies. Funnily enough, both of them are guys. I get to celebrate my losses on Monday with them, and they're so supportive of me. We tease each other, but in fun, and it's great knowing that I can eat lunch with them every day and I'll never feel pressured.

Granted, there are other people in my office that I would *never* tell, because they're horrible and mean, but having that at-work support group is kind of awesome sometimes! When it's the right people, anyway!

jennyplain, I'm with you on that! I tell my co-workers I'm "dieting"...I bring my breakfast, lunches and snacks and skip eating out with them for lunch. They understand, they are extremely supportive...I'm realizing that I'm really fortunate in having the 8hours a day support group.

I think we need to let go of the emotional attachment to food in general -- we assume we're hurting someone's feelings if we don't eat? WTF? who cares? I certainly could give a $hit if someone eats or not LOL so I can only imagine they think the same about what I eat! A simple "oh, no thanks" is fine, you don't have to explain anything, they won't force it down your throat right? I agree with the not throwing it out, someone else might be completely in the mood for a sugar-fat-icing-bomb, so more power to them!

Great job POKEY!!!!!!

I completely 100% know how you feel, no one other than my husband knows that I am counting calories and now that I am SUPER AWARE - I can't believe how many bad thing people offer me and eat, all while saying THEY are on a 'diet'. I think it makes people feel good to say they are on a diet, I just don't want to talk about it - if they notice I have lost weight, GREAT, otherwise, I am not saying anything.