I had a thread similar to this posted in another area, but decided to move it to the support forum. Here is my question to you... Is your job making you fat? Do breakfast carb-fest meetings, Mexican food buffet luncheons and dinner/cocktail meetings and receptions all get in the way of your weight loss progress?

I am having a difficult time losing weight as a result of my job. I work for a non-profit so there are constantly galas, fundraisers, cocktail receptions, trips, lunch meetings, breakfast meetings and late night functions. Healthy choices are often not an option so I try to make the best of the bad choices I have before me and eat small portion sizes, but it over results in over-eating later!

Can anyone share how they balance a very social work position with their nutritional, diet, exercise and weight loss plans? I know it is possible, I just need some advice and I am sure that others do too.

SW 165
CW 163
V-day Goal 154
TG 130

Yes It is very easy to gain weight at my job...We have a full dining center downstairs that has every kind of sweet imagined...we also have a company store with candy and chips and cokes....luckily for me they have healthy choices in each, so Its up to the employee to make the right choices....

now at my other job it was harder because the only food they had was vending machines and we were at a desk all day long....I gained prob 15 pounds just working there.....

Amazingly, no! I lost weight when I was working, and hopefully I will when I start again. I work retail, and the store is in a complex with no fast food places around - except for one hot dog stand, and I hate those things! I have to go to a grocery store to get food, or else I'm SOL.

Yes, it did! At one job, the boss/owner didn't want to give out raises so she would stock the break room all sorts of junk food all the time, and order in lunch a couple times a month. Nothing healthy, all chips and salty fried things. My next job required me to travel extensively and had to eat all my meals 3-4 days a week out. At that time I wasn't really watching my weight and went with the flow, eating what ever I wanted when ever I wanted. I put on 10 pounds in 6 months at that place.

It's hard when you work in a culture of eating. I had to step out of the lunch bunch at work because they would always go out to the "all-you-can-eat" places.

Sarah

Yes, yes, yes!!! Birthday parties, leftover Halloween candy, etc. And I sit all day which is the WORST. What I did (while I was pregnant) was bring in a plate of veggies and dip and leave it at my desk to munch on (and share).

Your post made me think of something I read about Oprah. Now you know she goes to alot of evening social events! I read where she does not eat after 7pm, so she usually has her meal before she even attends a function. You might try that, and stick to just consuming calorie-free beverages.

BRING FOOD WITH YOU! Keep healthy choices at your desk and eat before you go to a meeting, luncheon, gala, whatever. Bring a bottle of water or calorie-free drink with you (I know lots of people say diet soda is bad for you, but when I drink a carbonated beverage, it makes me feel fuller so I don't eat as much). Events at restaurants are more difficult, but you can always just order an appetizer or order veggies instead of fries...

I used to work in a restaurant. Talk about temptation and always having food around I eventually just had to STOP eating anything they had and bring my own food in a lunch bag. Everyone was very understanding and supportive. I know it's hard to pass up free food, but your health is worth it

Yes and no. There's one woman who's constantly bringing chocolate into the office. She also constantly complains about her weight despite being tiny.

But there's also a fridge and a microwave to bring almost any sort of healthy food you can think of. It's far enough away from the city centre to get a bit of a walk at lunchtime, but close enough to make it worthwhile to go into the shops. The chocolate that does come in isn't forcefed, and you can turn it down without offence. The office is over the road from the gym so I can go before work.

There might be negatives, but I prefer to focus on the positives and the ways I can use my work to help fit things into my healthy lifestyle. The main one being exercise - if I have to go in anyway for work, I may as well pop by the gym on the way.

The first thing I thought when I read the title of your post was "YES!". But then I decided to own up to the fact the I have been making me fat. However, having a super sedentary job sure doesn't help with the weight loss process. The candy/chip boxes in the break room don't help, that is for sure. But as long as I take the time to plan things out and bring my own food, I am doing an amazingly good job at dropping the weight. Things are going to be interesting when I am up against a huge deadline and don't have time to leave my desk for more than a couple minutes. I have had to work around the clock in the past and it is going to take even more planning to navigate that successfully.

Ah, considering my full-time job is being a student..I don't really think it makes me gain weight. Besides the horrid school lunches (I've picked up packing lunches, thankfully), it keeps me in decent shape. My school is five floors up, hence five flights of stairs, and I-- of course-- am at the top level.
To be blunt, I've definately invested in walking shoes because of that school! xD

The availability of food at the job isn't so bad, but the stress levels....yeah, they affect me, and when they do, it's hard not to hit the vending machine. Sigh.

It hasn't, but if I'm not careful it will. I was just asked to work with a client up in a different state several days a week, monday and yesterday being my first two days at the client's offices. Well, between hotel room service for dinner and breakfast, and eating more for lunch while with the client than I normally eat, it will get dangerous if I don't watch what I am doing.

I have to go up again next week (and every week until May). But I am aware now of the pitfalls and am trying to think of healthy alternatives.

Thank you so much for logging onto this thread and giving me your input. I would love to keep it coming. I always think to myself " Gosh, it would be so easy to lose weight if losing weight was my job- if I were an aerobics instructor or Hollywood star! It is the attorneys, secretaries, doctors, computer programmers or in my case, the PR professionals who really have a hard time navigating the diet battlefield. But, it is not an excuse to fail and there are ways around it as I am learning from all of you. Keep up the good work!!!

SW 165 at 5'7
CW 161
V-day Goal 154
TG 130

temptation, temptation!

Beware of Pharmaceutical reps. bearing food.....(doctors are known to eat ANYTHING, especially fat and sugar)...Today there is both chinese and gourmet pizzas...I'm eating the tops of 2 veggie slices.....and salad.

I had a real issue when I started my healthy living plan. I work for a large health insurer, that provides gym facilities and encourages everyone to live a healthy life. We sponsor most of the high profile half marathons and 10k runs in the UK.

When it's busy, or when things are tough, or when we have done a great job, we are rewarded with chocolate, danishes, bottles of wine, bacon butties (sandwiches) and other stuff.

I actively campaigned that our company should put its money where their mouths were and start thinking this through. So they started providing fruit hampers and non food rewards as well as the junk. So will power is still required but there are alternatives now.

I do as Jillybean has suggested. I make sure I have plenty of healthy emergencies in my drawer. If I am going to a function, I take a little box of food in my rather large handbag. I try and plan for every eventuality. I allow myself a bit of leeway at times, but those times are always planned.

At the end of the day my job didn't make me fat, I made me fat, but it certainly didn't help! But things have changed and lots of others in my company have benefitted as a result.