Dieting with Obstacles Those with special health concerns such as diabetes, fibromyalgia, pregnancy, etc can post here for extra support and help.

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Old 03-28-2013, 01:24 PM   #1  
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Default RANT: Working in a cubicle makes dieting so hard!!!

So, it seems like I've beed dieting obsessively and perpetually since September 2012, while struggling with adrenal fatigue (or CFS -- whatever you want to call it).

I lost 18 lbs, but started gaining this weight back once I started working in a cubicle! There are TONS of cubicles where I work (probably 50-75 desks, I have no idea). I have been yo-yoing like a SOB!

It makes it SOO DIFFICULT to diet! Everyone is eating garbage food that looks and smells so delicious. Some people eat lunch at 11:00am, some people at 2:00pm. Lots of people bring in McDonalds for breakfast, make popcorn and hot pockets at odd hours -- and meanwhile my body is packing away fat because it thinks it's going to eat soon! I hate this place!!!

I can't wait to go back to my old job. I now know I'm not a desk jockey, and every single day I count down the hours until I can escape from this place!

My husband decided to start a whole foods diet with me on Monday, but he had macaroni on Tuesday :P Oh well, I don't care, I even made it for him-- I'm just glad he's trying to be healthy with me!
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Old 03-28-2013, 02:08 PM   #2  
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Wait.... you mean SMELLING food can throw your body off? I work in a cubicle, too... and I thought I was struggling just because of sitting! I swear our work environments are killing us slowly.
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Old 03-28-2013, 02:27 PM   #3  
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Oh YES! There's a hormonal response that tells your body a meal is coming, and it starts preparing itself to store the extra calories. I have a feeling this is more pronounced in certain people, because there are plenty of skinny people that work in cubicles.

Those lucky few must be unaffected. Or their hormones aren't crazy out of control "possessed" like mine are
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Old 03-28-2013, 03:24 PM   #4  
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I work in a call center, and i feel your pain, I pack a lunch bag with good foods (lots of 0 point foods cause i'm on WW).... I also walk laps around my call center every break and lunch, this way i'm not tempted to go eat the bad food in the call center... I've found that the more vocal and open I am about my healthy goals and dieting that I get awesome support from my coworkers around me!!! (including healthier choices for lunch pick up/ordering!) They also hold me accountable when I want to make bad choices!

Keep your head up
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Old 03-28-2013, 03:43 PM   #5  
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I work in a smaller office but I sit closer to the breakroom and yup starting at about 11 until about 2ish you can smell everyone's lunch. I try to sip a cup of hot tea (no sugar) around lunch that way I am taking in something that tastes good but wont add any calories. My favorite right now is mint tea.
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Old 03-28-2013, 03:47 PM   #6  
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Yes! Before lunch I have some TAZO berry tea, and pepperment tea after lunch. I also occassionally have a banana or some pineapple before lunch if I'm really hungry, since it hasn't seemed to affect my weight loss. I wish I could walk around somewhere, but I'm just a temp, so I'm trying to make a good impression on everyone that I'm really hard working.

HA! As I sit here and type away on a message board :P

You just need to take a break every once in a while, right?

Last edited by reanbean; 03-28-2013 at 03:47 PM.
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Old 03-28-2013, 03:51 PM   #7  
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I honestly can't wait until I'm done. I do research all day, and it gets sooo boring. Just when I think I'm getting a lot done, and focusing really well, a couple of people perch right next to my desk and spark up a conversation. My desk is DIRECTLY next to the door, so everyone stops by the door, and rests their arm on my book cases while they talk.

WORST JOB EVER! About 2 weeks left and I'm back to agricultural research, and field work! Woohoo! That should help me drop a couple of pounds! :P
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Old 03-28-2013, 04:27 PM   #8  
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See, see! Someone just made pizza or something! 3:30 is waaay to late to be eating such rich food and upsetting the dieting community! Sheesh...
Now I'm starving And I've already drank two glasses of tea today, and 1.5 L of water.

Sad day...
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Old 03-28-2013, 04:57 PM   #9  
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Quote:
Originally Posted by reanbean View Post
... but I'm just a temp, so I'm trying to make a good impression on everyone that I'm really hard working.

HA! As I sit here and type away on a message board :P
that cracked me up
I'm so sorry for your situation. When I first read your title, I was like, 'heck, I'll switch in a heartbeat' because I work in a deli/bakery during the winter, and even if I've just had a filling breakfast, BAM as soon as I walk in the store I smell first the deli food smells (onions, bacon, brisket) and then the bakery smells; it's like YELLING at my stomach 'come and get it'!

And then in the afternoons I am unsupervised around platters of cookies and a pastry case.

So I had thought that working in an office would be so very much easier when sticking to a diet, but now I can sympathize that it can be just as hard with all the aromas.

All I can say in hang in there!! You look great already.

Hey my cruddy winter job ends in 2 weeks too, yay
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Old 03-29-2013, 11:46 PM   #10  
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Ditto. I live off tea when that happens. Oolong Detox is my fav.
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Old 03-30-2013, 12:18 AM   #11  
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I'm in university so I can sympathize with you. Just walking between classes and I have to pass different food courts and everyone ALWAYS has food from the fast food places during classes. On breaks, its normal to walk with a group to go get some type of fast food like burgers, smoothies. When you can smell a burger, eating those damn carrots gets 1000 times harder.
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Old 04-05-2013, 12:45 PM   #12  
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I feel your pain.... so so much. I work at a grocery store headquarters, so in addition to having the non-stop yummy smelling food from everyone else, we have people bringing in samples and cooking them right around the corner from my cube every day. The women's bathroom is right next to the kitchen. Some cruel man did that I swear. I finally had to tell myself to think of every snack on the break room table as having been sneezed on... so now it doesn't tempt me to EAT it, but the smells leave me hungry ALL THE TIME. I go through so much gum trying to trick my body into thinking it got food.

Oh, and I eat tuna at my desk in revenge when they are really driving me nuts with their food smells.
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Old 04-05-2013, 01:25 PM   #13  
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oh man! I'm sure that a man designed that... I smelled McDonalds earlier, but luckily I was going to get my lunch at that time

The woman in the cubicle next to me is rail thin, but she eats the nastiest stuff. And she lets it cool at her desk for quite a while sometimes. And usually doesn't at at lunch time. Only once I've started to feel hungry again :P
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Old 04-06-2013, 04:38 PM   #14  
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i am in a different but similar situation.

where i work... nobody seems to be hungry, ever!!!!!

when i started working there they told me that lunch was offered by the office: we have a tiny tiny "kitchen", and we eat at the conference room (no place to take a real break). the lunch that is offered to us is a dieters dream: salad + salad. there is also cottage cheese, bread...

here's the problem though: sometimes there is no food. sometimes my boss forgets to buy veggies, or bread. so i starve. an nobody seems to need food!!!

sometimes there is food, but because everyone is so busy, we don't eat maybe until 2-3pm...

i could bring my own food, but first of all, they don't want foods that smell... second of all, it is umcomfortable to all of a sudden say "because you don't feed me, i bring my own salad"... and third of all, sometimes we do eat, and so what do i do with the food i brought???

anywho, i bring apples, but then i get so anxious trying to figure out if i will eat or not, that i get extremelly hungry, and of course working a job where you sit 9hs a day is sooooo boring that food is the only entartainement,... YUP, i have gained weight... because what never is missing at that office is CHOCOLATE!

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Old 04-08-2013, 10:24 AM   #15  
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ooh chocolate. That gets me every time! You starve, and then all you have to turn to is the good (or bad) stuff! Chocolate is my favorite arch enemy :P
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