I love this idea! and am so stealing it!

The ex-wife of one of my co-workers works for Little Debbie (and Pepperidge Farm!!) and brings in a couple of boxes stuffed with recently out of date goodies for the guys (I work in a collision center) every 2 weeks or so. I've had a handful of goldfish and 1 Oreo in recent memory.

Then the boss man orders in pizza and gets upset when I don't eat any... even though he knows I'm on WW and have been since September.

To be honest, if there's donuts, and I really want one, I have it. Usually it's pretty early in the day and can adjust for the calories in it.

I understand though, there's constantly food around our office. Just today there were donuts, fruit, muffins, etc. for a meeting. I grabbed a banana and went back to my desk.

To me, it really is ok to have something once in awhile. I think it makes it easier to stay on plan in general. Just don't have a lot of it, every day.

Sometimes, when the allure is really bad, I have to imagine that I'm eating them, and it's not what I was thinking they would be. It's like sawdust. And I imagine eating sawdust--or something equally awful.

The funny thing is, that not an hour went by after I posted this that I got a group mail from one of my coworkers announcing 'dip day' for friday in honor of the super bowl. The rest of the day was filled with the people around me talking about the dips they would make, showing me pictures of the dips on their phones from pinterest...so far we have a buffalo chicken dip, a pizza dip, a seven layer dip, and a funfetti cupcake dip. Yes. Cupcake dip. It really is hysterical.

I will give one of my old managers props...for my birthday last june, he took a watermelon, carved it out in the shape of a whale, and then stuffed it with tons of fresh fruit. It was lovely. But in my new area, I haven't seen a single piece of fruit in the seven months since I've been over here.

I think I might try that coworker list as well. The Martha Steward lady will be on there the most, I'm quite sure. And you're right BerryBlonde, she is trying to get it out of her house. She had gastric bypass a year or two ago, so she can't enjoy it much anymore. I too have a love for cooking (my partner is more of the baker) and completely understand...I just wish she sucked at baking instead of rocked at it...

That is an awesome idea and I am totally going to do it next time! A nice visual representation of willpower success!

Superbowl parties... Just another excuse to eat crap. (I have never cared for football in general or Superbowl parties ) I understand that celebrating with food is fun, but why is it that so many people insist on making the least healthful foods they can possibly find? Whats wrong with fruit and veggie trays I ask?!?!?!


That watermelon fruit whale sounds totally awesome btw

I would chart a course the long way around the office so that I wouldn't have to walk past the donut box More steps, and I'm easily distracted enough that the "out of sight, out of mind" thing tends to work reasonably well for me.

Option 2 would be to tell myself "you can have a donut after lunch," and put it off. Chances are that either A) everyone else will have eaten the donuts by that point, B) I'll manage to forget about them, C) I won't actually want one after lunch or D) I'll have one donut in the afternoon and keep that in mind when planning dinner later. Honestly A or B seem like the most likely options in that scenario...again with the attention span thing...

I love this term! lol

We're having a pre Super Bowl happy hour here too. They'll have wings and nachos and other foods that I don't eat but it doesn't really bother me. I bring my own lunch every day and I'll usually bring a cup of coffee to one of our many birthday parties. I'm usually grateful for the break to get away from my desk for a few minutes.

It's the same in every workplace. Funny story to share. I was managing a large project and we had hired some technical consultants to help with the conversion. I lived in Winston-Salem, NC which is the home of Krispy Kreme donuts. The consultants went out to eat every night and on their way back to their motel they would swing through the Krispy Kreme drive through and buy a dozen. One time they got stuck in the exit lane after getting their box of donuts and ate them all before leaving the parking lot, so they went back through to get another dozen. They left after 6 weeks on the job. Between the eating out every night and the four of them going through a dozen donuts a day, they all had gained between 15-25 pounds. They had to come back for another 6 week stint and this time they insisted that their company house them at an extended stay facility so they could cook some meals!

Self discipline is the word here, temptations are all over but if you are strong you can excel even where the wittiest have failed. You need not even carry your own snacks when going for the meetings. Let them eat what they eat and you do what you think is good for your body.

This might sound rude but....I will say it anyways. When people bring in food from home, it actually creeps me out 9 times out of 10. I am neurotic about being clean in my kitchen and my food prep (to a fault even) and I know others aren't like that. That thought in my head keeps me away from any homemade goods unless I personally know and have been to the person's house (you'd be amazed at how some people live, regardless of their perfect hair or fancy car).

I used to work with this woman who made all kinds of baked goods and they always really smelled and looked really good. She used to bring them in this old stained Tupperware container that was probably clean and just overused from all the baking she did but the presentation was disgusting! It never stopped the scroungers who flocked to the lunchroom to inhale the stuff though. These days you can even get a nice container at the dollar store! I guess she was never afraid to not get her brandname container back as who would want it!

I saved so many calories overthinking about the food that was made for parties. And commercial storemade treats never tempt me anymore!

My MIL is like this. Her whole life she would only eat at home. She hates eating out or at anyone's home as she can't be sure it's clean. She won't even take grocery store samples.

So, she's great fun at potlucks. She'll eat what I brought and that's it. Whe she goes out with friends for coffee and some lunch, she'll eat at home first.

While I understand it to a point, it's excessive. Especially with HOT food.

Now, I do pride myself on having a very clean and safe working kitchen space. I don't even like to use the same knives for meats versus veggies (and I don't use the same knives). And yes, different cutting boards too. I only allow meats on the bottom shelf of the refrigerator (to prevent any drips onto something else) and I'm anal about how my grocery bags are packed - no meat and fresh produce together please!

So, I understand being anal about it, but when it interferes with life (as it does with my MIL) then it's more than just choosing to skip it. It's part of an unreasonable fear.

I work on a college campus and there is ALWAYS stuff here. Just yesterday someone made homemade brownies. Its a huge cake for someones birthday or baby shower. We have tacos and other "goodies" at our monthly meeting. When the new gas station giant Buckees opened someone went and brought back 24 huge bags of candies and other snacks... we had stuff on the table for 3 days.
Oh and not only do they bring stuff its also lets go get stuff...
I have 2 Starbucks, Chickfila, 2 Subways, Burger King, Taco Cabana, Chilis, Pita Express, Panda Express and 2 regular cafeterias all within a 3 minute walk from my desk in any direction. *sigh* I know how you feel.

I'm not THAT bad but maybe by the time I get to your MIL's age I might be!!!

And with some people, you can just tell. Based on your description, I think I'd eat at your house lolololol!