Right now I'm at work and it sucks! I work at A Ben & Jerry's scoop shop part-time (I am a full time law student as well) and it is obviously the worst place to be when you are on a diet. All the ice creams look especially delicious today and we even have some new flavors I'd love to try, but I'm going to prevail over the ice cream with my will power!!!!

So, I was wondering if any of you have jobs that are looking to derail you, or if any cravings are trying to win you over lately?

I have to say that ice cream may be one of my weaknesses, but I have a secret weapon... it's a mixture of Raspberry Riot Mate and Lemon Youkou Herbal teas from Teavana. The teas from there are expensive, but the quality is unmatched. I find that the mixture I have requires no additional sweetening and is simply delicious. Honestly, it is the only thing that keeps me on plan while at work and kills my cravings.

Anyone else have a secret weapon, too?

My husband and his family own a pizzeria. I am there 5 days a week. Its HORRIBLE! I am just starting out, so I am interested in this post too. I am curious what everyone elses secret weapons are.

For me, pizza may be worse than ice cream! I've never met a pizza I didn't like and I find it especially hard because my fiance orders pizza ALL THE TIME!!!! He has horrible eating habits, but I've been trying to simply ignore him. He just frustrates me because he is not really overweight at all!

I keep a 1lb bag of carrots near me and just munch on those when I get cravings. Even if I eat the whole bag, it's only 185 calories. It's great when everyone else in the office is having coffee and donuts.

I hate the whole coffee/donuts/snack food phenomenon! I don't work in an office (yet), but I swear every club meeting at school trying to reel you in by having snacks, or pizza, or burritos, etc. etc. I know I am a poor law student and I would love some free food, but how about some healthy options!?

I lost a lot of weight while working at a pizza place in college. I visualized the cheese as something gross, looked at ingredients that came in looking gross, etc. When I did eat at work I made my own personal veggie pizza with no oil or cheese. (This was before I knew about carbs.) It ended up working out well for me.

I work in an office and people are always bringing in cupcakes or doughnuts and we order in as an office A LOT.
I have a couple of 0 cal 0 sugar syrups I use in coffee.That helps me with the sweet crave ...also...for some reason herbal teas help a lot .
I was never a tea drinker until I started medifast.
When we order lunch in I just make my medifast lunch and eat with them. For us it's only sort of about the food. If I grab my soup and join them I don't feel like the lone fat girl on Diet Island

On saturdays my office orders deli sandwiches for everyone, and I think that's the only day when I don't feel like a giant fat girl. Getting my sandwiches on wheat bread instead of a hero has also made some of my co-workers switch theirs to something healthier as well. But every morning there's bagels, donuts, pastries and all sorts of caloric tom-foolery.

I know that a lot of people say that drinking plain water really helps, but I never really believed them before I really started my journey. But it definitely curbs some minor cravings and makes you feel better overall if you get the recommended amount. I carry a Nalgene bottle around with me all the time and try to drink at least two full bottles a day (64 ozs) in addition to what I drink at home/with meals.

Also, I drink water almost exclusively now. I never drank much soda, but now I only drink very small amounts of cherry coke once in a while and I make sure to count the calories!

As a nanny, I find some days at work are very challenging. I remember one afternoon in particular when the father left me a note asking if I would bake an apple crisp for dessert that evening. It was one of those high end country store brands and it smelled DELICIOUS!!!!
I can't tell you how hard it was to get my mind off that crisp all afternoon. Most of the time I'm pretty good at work. I always bring a snack and even though the parents offer me food all the time, I usually manage to stay OP.
The children love a cooking activity. The best defense I have is to eat before I start cooking, preferably, fruit.
Hang in there, you're worth it!!!

I have heard if you work in a candy store that after awhile it doesn't even tempt you. I don't know about that but I do love cookies and for the last 3 years I have been baking 5-6 dozen cookies every week to take to my church and I can honestly tell you that they don't look that good to me anymore.

When I worked in a bakery as a cake decorator, I never ever wanted to eat cake/icing. But I think ice cream is just so different for me personally.

Anyone else have secret craving busting snack/drink?

I worked at a Tim Hortons for 4 years while I went to college and to pay for college. Then I worked there for 6 months. I restricted myself to a donut a day, then soon I stopped eating donuts because I got sick of them. (even now I hardly will eat a donut that why if they're in front of me it doesn't bother me to say no...along side other sweet things) But damn if I worked in a pizza place, I'd be screwed!

If I worked in an ice cream shop you would have to roll me out the door by the end of the night. I was a waitress all through high school and never had a problem with wanting to eat all night, but ice cream is a completely different story!

As for advice... I've got nothing. Beating cravings on a normal day-to-day basis is still a challenge, so I can only imagine how difficult working at a Ben and Jerry's would be.

It seems like working with ice cream would be the perfect opportunity for some mental conditioning. If you abstain from binging on free ice cream all day, then being in your own environment at home might look like a "cake walk" (sorry ).


- L89