Thanks Jay. I sometimes wonder how this poor body of mine carried around another person. Mind you, sometimes my knees remind me that it wasn't an EASY job.

Zelma

Totally understand this! I work at Starbucks HQ so not only do we have a store full of goodies to choose from we also have:

1) Coffee Tasting/ company meeting every Monday morning. There is usually something to eat to go along with the coffee... cakes, cookies, chocolate, nuts... you name it.

2) My department (finance) is famous for always having crap, I mean, goodies available EVERY. SINGLE. DAY. If it's not chocolates, it's chips, or cakes, or candy. Seriously. I don't know HOW I avoid it, but I do.

3) New Frappuccino's are made on a regular basis and given out free to "try"... shoot me now!

Basically, I'm surrounded by it. BUT - I just don't WANT that stuff. I really don't. Once I had a long conversation with myself about what I really wanted I made the decision to CONSCIOUSLY choose those things that I put in my mouth rather than just eat it because it's there. It is HARD that is for sure, but at some point in your life you have to just say NO if you believe it will sabotage your efforts or it doesn't fit in your plan.

I say no every single day, except on Friday's I work a frappuccino or a brownie into my plan. I HAVE to do it this way, there is no other way.

(I still have a bag of chips in my desk drawer that was given to me 2 weeks ago. I haven't truly, honestly, wanted them yet, so until then... that's where they stay!)

I have a problem with work too. I work in a restaurant--fortunately only 2 nights a week--and when I'm there I find it virtually impossible not to snack almost constantly through the evening. (I was virtuous for about a month, but now I'm back to snacking.) Part of the trouble is that the food isn't 'crap.' It's really nice food--good french cheeses, candied nuts, marinated olives, high quality french bread, prosciutto, garlicky croutons, smoked salmon, etc etc, all just laying around begging to be snacked upon. And that's before I order my dinner--usually some kind of seafood (or occasionally I'll have steak) sauteed in butter (!) served with a salad. It doesn't seem to have hindered my weight loss, however, (and it didn't contribute to my re-gain, either, because I gained during a three month period where I wasn't working at the restaurant), and I think part of this is because being a waitress means spending about 6 hours on my feet walking around briskly carrying things. Since it's only twice a week, the walking seems to balance out the cheese :) But I *always* go to the gym on days I'm going in to work!

It's a miserable business.