[duckling]

Oh how I feel your pain.

I work in an office in a hospital and it's torture when I'm dieting. The cafeteria is actually amazing and this week, for example, is Fiesta week. Nachos are my weakness, so I have been staying out of my office as much as possible- at least during lunch time. I also stay out of the break room when I know there are treats in there. There is a woman who literally walks around with a giant basket of treats and I just have to bite down and say "no thank you" when she offers- as tortuous as it is.

And like others have said: water, water, water.

[swtbttrfly23]

I agree with the idea of bringing your own stuff for the most part, it will be a lot cheaper in the long run and a lot easier to figure out calories, etc. But what about doing some more research on these places that the other people like to eat from? Is it at all possible to find out some of the nutritional info of some of the foods from these places? That way, if you do have to cave for a day or two, you still have a solid plan in place that won't destroy your diet for the day. Say they go to McDonald's and you just can't resist! But if you also know that X dish is X amount of calories, you can still work it into your diet. If you have healthier options as your "go-to" meals from these places, then it's not so much of a free-for-all.

And I also reiterate: water water water!!! Sweet nectar of the gods ;-)

[juliana77]

My office has breakfast for us every day, and a freaking frozen yogurt machine installed! There are always cookies or something in the afternoons, and we tend to have lunch brought in for meetings at least once a week.

I went cold turkey on the breakfasts. (I used to have breakfast at home and again at work!) Same with the desserts. They get these gian bakery cookies that must be 300 cals. Not worth it to me! I can't escape the lunches, but if we order individually I can choose something low calorie - otherwise I stick to salad with minimal dressing and some protein.

I plan my whole day out ahead of time and bring my morning and afternoon snacks. Now, my afternoon snack is usually 200 cal worth of almonds. If there is a particularly amazing dessert (not lame cookies, but say fresh cannoli or something) I will swap my 200 cals of almonds for 200 cals of dessert. Anyway inthink the secret is that I am never willing to forego dinner to have extra junk at work!

[teetee93]

The same thing happened to me. I started a new job for the summer and I packed a healthy lunch. And when it was time for my break, I went into the staff lounge and there was this HUGE vending machine. It had everything I wanted. But I ate my lunch and then called my best friend so she could talk me out of buying it. But that only worked for a day. The next three days I bought things from there. But then on the fourth day I didn't have any money. So I solved my problem. I don't bring money to work anymore.