I Just wondered what people ate to stop them craving everyone elses food. I work in a office where everyday they are eating bacon sandwiches and fast food i manage to say no alot of the time but fall off the wagon at least twice a week.
Its the smell. Most of the time i dont enjoy the taste and end up feeling guilty after. But I guess i feel left out if i dont get one.

Any advise would be apprehiated

Carrieanne

You can eat anything as long as you keep portions small.

Welcome, Carrieanne. The only thing that works for me, so far, to keep out of junk at work, is to bring my own planned out lunch and no money for anything else. It helps that I don't have a job where you can eat while working. So, I only have to face temptation on break time.

I bring healthy snacks to keep at work. Fruit, granola, nuts, baby carrots, even the occasional piece of dark chocolate. I also have a stash of loose leaf teas and a teapot, because I am bad about plain water, but I like the tea flavor.

Thanks For all the comments brought in Celery and carrot sticks today and a few raisins to give me something sweet. So hope fully will be able to pass on the friday junk lunch.
Thanks Jenni been and bought some fruit teas this morning to get rid of my daily caffene intake

I don't work in an office, but I DO work in a small family owned business that just happens to be a gourmet coffeehouse, complete with a stocked bakery. Within a two minute walk I've got a pizza place, a nicer restaurant and a mom and pops breakfast/lunch diner that is both delicious and disgusting lol.

Before I started my diet I was tempted by all the food, all the time. I'd find myself eating things at work because of the convenience and then about once a week would order from one of the other restaurants around town.

One of the biggest changes I made was bringing a really big water bottle to work. It's 32oz and I try to fill it up twice a day at the least. I find that often times, drinking water is enough to make me forget about all the food options and coffee drinks around me temporarily.

I think celery is gross, so instead of making myself eat food I don't really like (and honestly makes me resent dieting) I tend to splurge at places like Trader Joes or other grocery stores that offer healthy options and stock up on snacks there. I rationalize that I'm spending just as much eating out as I would be at the store.

I also pack a lunch with me but I don't do tv dinners or cold sandwiches. I try to take the time to make a nice meal the night before that I can look foward to. Today for lunch, I'm having three turkey muffins, 92 calories a piece. Just google low cal Turkey Muffins.

Another cool thing I've done is put my wallet on a diet. When I started losing weight, I also decided I could try and save a few pennies. I spent an entire day playing with excel, budgeting every last dime into categories, with of course a misc. category for unexpected expenses. I put aside money every week for food, and once it's gone... it's gone! I make sure to go to the grocery store first and spend most of it on the week's food. I save enough out so that if I want to go out on the weekend or go to subway for lunch, I can, but it's never enough to cover lunch or dinner while I'm at work.

I had friend once who, when she went on a diet, every time she would be tempted or close to spending money on fast food or ordering out, she'd figure out what she was going to get (if she would actually order it, including tax) and she'd put the money in a jar. Then she'd look up the calories for the food and write it down. At the end of the first month, she was shocked at how much money she WOULD have wasted and how much extra fat and calories she WOULD have ingested!I don't really have the time for that but it'd be cool if I did!

Good luck!

Onic, I agree with you about the water and the savings... fill yourself up on water. That also helps to shrink the stomach I believe.

I think the craving stuff gets easier as it gets along - having lost 60lbs, I have that to spur me on to say NO when people are going to the chip shop.

If you fall off the wagon at least twice a week, allow yourself to fall off on Fridays. It may help you to stay motivated if you have a treat at the end of the week.

I make myself either a hot meal to put in the microwave/left overs or a pasta & egg salad with low fat dressing, take it to work in a tuppaware and don't carry cash.
Eating better at lunch makes you feel better as if it's not fatty it gives you a bit more brain power in the afternoon too.

I had to laugh when I read this. I work in an office too where there is lots of temptation. We even at one point had a table of shame where once a month we would go to walmart get all the cookies, gummies, and chips that we wanted for this table which would be visited at various points throughout the day.

I agree with the others. It is best to try to be prepared by bringing in your own stash of healthy food choices. The things that you know you like but won't over indulge in. Hang in there you ca do it!

I can totally relate. We have a person in our office who brings in a cake everyday at work.. That is EVERY-FREAKIN'-DAY unless he is on vacation. And I work in an office full of men, so the cake is usually polished off before lunchtime. So I usually make it a point to never go near the break area before lunchtime.

And when lunch time rolls around, I have a different battle to fight.. We have a bunch of Indian guys who bring these awesome curries and the aroma fills the entire office around noon time. I really have to control myself to not stuff them in a locker and steal their lunch

Thanks Everyone for the brilliant tips and advice really apprehiate it!!

i work for a school where the staff lounge is often filled with treats and where all the kids eat lunch when it's not my lunchtime....where i would tend to eat during their lunchtime (because the smells made me hungry) and then eat at my regular lunchtime as well...and then nibble with them at snacktime later....and wander through the staff lounge to get goodies...lol

i try now to not go to the staff lounge until the end of the day (when all the goodies are gone) and instead, run my copies and faxes at the front office and go to the bathroom at another part of the building and just NOT BE IN THERE....which has helped...i also tend to run errands during the kids lunchtime now so i'm not in the building smelling all that...and bring a small snack for myself for their snacktime, like a boiled egg for some protein, or a piece of cheese so i'll eat something healthy instead of their kiddy snacks

I too bring a lot of healthy food that I enjoy (carrots, fruit, fiber one bars). I eat a big breakfast and lunch to make sure I'm FULL. I've learned I'm more susceptible to eating junk when I'm starving. And, of course, I have to remind myself that I will feel so much better if I stick to my plan.

I work at a hospital--there is a multitude of smells there, some good--some not so good. So, when I encounter something I don't want to smell at the time, I place a little Vicks Salve in my nares.
I stop cravings immediately and whatever smell is going on at the time is instantly taken from me!

Welcome to the site! I've been calorie counting as my method of portion control, and when I find myself wanting a piece of cake/something equally delicious, I normally consider how many calories it would be.. and how long I'd have to exercise to burn it off. No cake is that delicious,

I work at a school summer program where we keep lots of snacks for the kids in the cabinets in the class and do home ec cooking 1x a week so it is temptation city since it is the norm for us to eat with the kids. We also have som staff events where we bring in food. I bring a healthy lunch, I'm not hungry, but when we make ice cream sandwiches or pizza with the kids it's hard to say no.