Tomorrow is a birthday celebration at a pizzeria for a coworker. The food there actually makes me ill, but I know in the past I would have gone anyway. Also, my boss makes wonderful desserts. Sort of a double whammy tomorrow. I am going to graciously skip both, eat my lunch at my desk and go for a walk. I am going to do this a step at a time. Does anyone else have any food related celebrations they need to be strong for?

Good luck with this today. You can do it!

Good luck! I struggle with that sort of thing more than anything. If I could just be a total shut in I'd be okay, but once we add a social aspect I want to act and eat like everyone else. I have a hard time feeling rude when I turn down people's kind offers to go out as well.

Well, Valentine's Day is coming up and aside from battling over not eating those little hearts, I'm sure my family will give me a box of candy.

In terms of work events, I finally found a way to be able to go without participating in the food -- hard to do, but I wanted to honor the people. I found that when I refused food and told them it was because I was on a diet, they would continue to encourage me to just have a little, a few bites won't hurt you, live a little, etc. But when I told them I was under a doctor's care and wasn't allowed to eat those foods, they stopped the pushing. First, it's true I was under a doctor's care even if the only directive was to "lose weight." And the worse that happened was one nosy Rosie asked me what was wrong and I just told her I didn't want to discuss it as it was personal.

So, if it's possible to go to these events and not eat, then just politely refuse the food. If you're struggling with the will power, then talk to the person being honored privately and explain. If they don't understand, well you probably didn't miss much anyway.

I hope you did good!!!

Thanks for the encouragement. I actually got food poisoning so I was not tempted at all. Lol. I know there will be other temptations this week. I'll keep myself focused.

That can be hard! on your commitment to avoid it.