Luckily, my current job celebrates nothing!

"Why must I live in a culture that stuffs fattening foods down my throat, yet mistreats people who are fat?"

is worthy of a magazine article. Let me know when it's published.

You've been so matter-of-fact about your weight, your weight loss and your exercise that I've no doubt the office food-fest will be just another blip on the radar for you. Maybe your quiet example will encourage people to take a look at their own relationship with food.

the elaine line from seinfeld:

there are 200 people who work in this office. Every day is somebody's special day

For your workplace, bring in your own healthy treats, don't worry about sharing. For every fattening unhealthy "treat" you pass up, treat yourself to something nice. A bubble bath, manicure, a nice walk or bikeride.

Sounds insane. Maybe there's a way to join with other people in your office who want to stay healthy, too. I just had an idea...

What if you talked to the new people from the other department and found some fellow runners. Then together you could sign up for a charity 5k or something, and publicly announce it at the office. Raise donations, have a big thermometer that shows how much progress you're making towards your goal...kind of like this blog, now that I think about it.

Anyway, if people understand that you guys (plural) are going for a goal, and if they're supporting it financially, they might be more open to the idea of seeing healthy snacks next to the brownies. Maybe they could even get involved too. 5k = short!

I think it's worth a shot. If nothing else, it will make you feel like you have a voice and it's being heard. Right now the Brownie People are hogging the mike! :) Weight loss is freaking hard. I've been maintaining for a while, but just this week I recommitted to weight loss...holy cow it's a project. You deserve all the support you can get. Go PastaQueen!

I wish I had some kind of advice to share here, but I don't, I'm afraid. Just Say No, I guess. (I like Benita's "Later!" thing.)

It's exhausting, quite literally. If a week goes by without a cake in the break room, it's a fluke.

I console myself with the fact that, for the most part, all those cakes and cookies don't actually taste NEARLY as good as I want them to. A box cake is a box cake and always will be a box cake. They're okay, but they don't even rate a "good" on my "how much will I enjoy this" o-meter.

I choose my calories, my sugars, my carbs. If I'm going to be bad, I'm sure as hell not going to waste those on a box cake! No ma'am!

There's one lady that brings in rum truffles around Christmas time. Hellooooo nurse. I will theif three of those and nurse them aaaall day long. That's totally worth the sugar. Hard, homemade tooth-chippers...err...cookies? No thanks. Someone brings in peanut butter fudge swirl? Oh yeah, I'm taking a piece.

Lucky for me, nobody's caught on to this yet, so I am only tempted by TRULY tempting things a few times a year. If I was weak to box cakes, I'd weigh double what I do now, easy.

If they start bringing in cookie dough, I'm sunk. (or floating due to extra bouyancy, depending on how you look at it).

If I told myself "nope, can't have any never" I'd go crazy trying to avoid it. Not to mention I have to pass it every time I go to the bathroom. And I drink a lot of water. But if I ask myself "would you rather have that piece of dry cake or a lucious chocolate truffle?" I end up kinda not wanting the cake, and yet I never actually promised myself a truffle.

I pushed for a small workout room in the new office building being erected, and was voted down. I am not so naiive as to think that and the prevalence of sweets are unrelated.

I would still bring in the fruit tray from time to time, and set it next to the cakes or bagels or whatever. I'll take a fresh strawberry over a bagel anyday!!

its all about becoming a food snob. why waste your health on shit quality?? the few times someone goes through the trouble of making something really really special..and i mean SPECIAL..then for sure...enjoy the moment. but all those 'occasions' that are marked by crap quality donuts/box cakes or whatever else...just dont even go there.

maybe you can try my trick...at home when there is some sort of treat i take out the frozen berries that i stash away. that way i have something really special to indulge on...while not making my body any fatter. maybe you could stash something away like that at work...

I guess I ask because my work also is continually celebrating day's ending in Y and whether or not it is raining and I have to say...I am the fattest one in the office and I'm not the one perusing the goody table (directly across from me I might add)

I don't think anyone will see it as the problem you do unless it becomes a problem for them.

Love your site! Thanks for all the inspiration.

I love the idea of countering such suggestions with healthy ones like Why don't we all participate in a charity 5K? Or Why don't we put the money towards yoga classes instead (there's a hot yoga studio next door!).

The office I used to work in observed lots of occasions, and we were regularly given sweet treats by students and instructors.

The kitchenette was a gauntlet of temptation until a friend said, "Bleck, *local grocery store chain* cake. I hate their cake."

And the scales fell off my eyes. I didn't like their cake either, nor did I actually get much enjoyment from MOST of the food brought in. It wasn't that the food was really that appealing; it was just available.

I started walking through the kitchen less and only eating food that would be worth remembering a few weeks later (Joanne's homemade caramels and the thick slice of warm pumpkin bread my favorite co-worker would drop on my desk a few fall mornings).

With higher standards, it was easy to walk past the rest of it.

"Why must I live in a culture that stuffs fattening foods down my throat, yet mistreats people who are fat?"

That's the core issue. What is it about our culture that does this with food, debt, consumerism/clutter, etc.? Argh!

Looking at the situation as someone who lost 120 lbs over the past year and a half, I can't help but see exactly the cause in all of the free bagels and pastries and donuts provided on Friday mornings for the company social breakfasts, the monthly birthday celebration gatherings with cake and ice cream and cookies, the "healthy" afternoon pick me ups of Chexmix and pretzels, the crackers laid out at department meetings.

But people don't get it. They look at me funnily for passing up on these "treats", but I know what would happen if I had them, so I don't. It's a sadly carb-saturated world we're living in...

As soon as I learned this - and it works in ALL situations, including Christmas and Thanksgiving -- I lost thirty pounds.

People don't want to sit around munching on carrot sticks & radishes. We want to celebrate with sugar & starch!

Hopefully there will be a shift towards healthier treats. We shouldn't be punishing our bodies with junk- it is no cause to celebrate

That sounds very similar to my approach -- have small servings of the things that actually appeal to me, ignore the rest. As I've lost weight and refined my eating habits, I've gotten WAY picker, and a lot of stuff just doesn't taste good to me anymore. I can also be satisfied with smaller servings of stuff I do like. (Recently I split a cupcake with a coworker, and I was fine with that. The old me wouldn't have dreamed of splitting a single cupcake!)

That said ... even though I don't eat any of it myself anymore, I'm plenty guilty of foisting high-cal goodies on my coworkers. I do enjoy baking, and not to brag, but my coworkers love my baked goods. Still, if someone chooses to not take any of what I bring in, I'm certainly not going to be offended.

Seriously -- I've actually gotten the hang of baking something fattening and not eating a single bite, not even tasting the dough (and I love me some cookie dough).

I'm also lucky that in the sea of sugary, fatty treats, someone will usually bring in a fruit plate. And I'm not the only one who eats from it, either.

I wouldn't say a thing and just do your best...

As for meetings that actually had food I often showed up late (or right on time) for things that involved food so that I wouldn't be tempted to fill up a plate before I sat down.

Lastly I just said no. Just because everyone else was stuffing their faces didn't mean I had too.

It's always going to be a battle but don't worry about offending any one with your no thanks, if you have the willpower to resist the temptation, it is of no concern to anyone else why you choose to pass. Just smile and say no thank you and if they ask why just punch them for being nosy. :)

My other pet peeve is 'coffee hour' at church. Of course the coffee has to be accompanied ONLY by sweets, the higher fat content, the better. My church is not bad, but occasionally, being overweight is mentioned as a sin problem, lack of discipline, etc. But we aren't really willing to get rid of the 'sin temptations.' Come on, people. Even if you weigh 100 pounds, that stuff is not good for your health.

Every blue moon the boss springs for pizza for everyone but that is really, really rare.

My niece works in a medical office with a lot of women; apparently the drug companies are big on wooing them with free goodies and she says yes, there's always a "special occasion" for someone that requires a cake, cookies or doughnuts. I would weigh 400 lbs if I had to deal with that. I really admire people who can handle that kind of deluge of food and resist the temptation.

In a study of word associations, American's associated cake with "guilt".

The French associated cake with "celebration".

That's just a little something to think about.

I read about this from Michael Pollen who recently wrote "In Defense of Food". He calls it the "American Paradox" as opposed to the "French Paradox'.

So far I have read all of his books. He is a fantastic writer and researcher and has changed the way I view food.

I throughly enjoyed this particular blog because it brings up an issue that we need to think about and how we can change it. I think bringing in the tray of fruit is absolutely wonderful of you!!

Even though most of it rotted, you are still making positive changes for you life and affecting the way people view food even if they didn't partake in fruit this time around.

It can be frustrating but hang in there!

Now I work with a mix of 50/50 men and women and it seems like the women are always bringing in goodies.

I've gotten to the point where it really doesn't bother me. I just never partake. As a former overweight gal myself, my "maintain" diet plan it to stick to my rules M-F, have a true cheat day on Saturday and then just somewhat lax on Sun. It works for me. Kind of the carrot in front of the horse to work towards. Due to the rules, the sugar dumps aren't an option so I stay away.

The interesting thing is that most of that stuff disappears even before lunch time! Ew gross! The idea of having sugar for breakfast just disgusts me (I must admit, I've never really understood the draw of donuts). A lot of it has to do with the ratio of men to women....it's about 3/1. Somehow, those boys can eat just about whatever they want. Seriously not fair.

It's true--most of the food that comes in isn't all that great (store bought cakes, etc.) and second, as someone else said, why celebrate (=eat) with people who are not your closest friends anyway? I read something like this as it pertained to business travel, but it applies to regular office work too. When I've had office jobs, the people I worked with were nice, but they weren't my closest friends. So I didn't feel bad about skipping out on office parties, or just coming by at the end or beginning, showing my face, then heading back to my desk (without taking anything) so I could get my work done, get out of work on time, and head home to see my family and/or my friends, who I'd much rather eat with than coworkers.

I saw that book about the "Yes" man, and I must admit, that's the last thing I would need is a project like that. I'm the kind of person who has to learn how to stick up for herself, and I've said yes to way too many things I shouldn't have. Including cake.

I say we start a petition and lobby congress.

-Meg

It's annoying. And I agree, if you complain people act like you're a bitch.

http://icanbearunner.blogspot.com/2008/09/such-pretty-fat.html

By June I had gained 10 pounds I really didn't need and finally said no. Thanks to Jeannette's example, I finally started South Beach after carrying the book around for years. I feel so much better and it's so easy to say no since I feel so much better. But damn, it's still hard somedays.

I now work in a hospital and the ward I work on used to be really bad. We had breakfast for the medical students every six weeks and there was so much food and goodies around on Christmas it was disgusting and overwhelming. The biggest proponent of the feast was the attending psychiatrist a man. He also had a candy dish in his office which he always kept filled. I finally (along with a few others) protested the breakfast for the med students as it created a lot of mess and dirty dishes and no one ever cleaned up. It created a stir but now one even remembers the past breakfasts. We had one employee who brought in cake his wife's department always had left over. A few people protested and said we don't need the cake and it stopped.
So there is hope. I will say at potlucks always have some healthy food along with bad food and because it is a hospital people come and go and no one notices what someone puts on their plate. I have used the strategy of putting some food on my plate and casually throw it away, No one ever noticed.

I did see someone purposely take a small slice, cover it with a napkin, and declare she was going to have it with coffee in a few hours.

My downfall is potato chips. A serving size is one bag, no matter what size. I can eat 1 oz bag or a 7 oz bag. Fortunately, these don't show up in the office kitchen.

I buy beer, a bag of pretzel logs and canned cheese -- a vaguely nauseating department tradition -- for my all-male staff on birthdays. Anything beyond that, well, that's their tough luck. They can go ask their mothers for cookies. :D

They planned their drinks, food, nibbles, who buys, buys what, how much they spend, and keep a big bowl of snacks and candy on the desk at all times. Lunchtime isn't something you have to grab or pass out from low blood sugar it's an 'event' they discuss each day before going.

Strangely with all that emphasis on food only a couple of them are overweight, and they balance it with exercise, taking walks on alternate days on the trails beside the office.

Hopefully your example will shine through and people will turn around. Hopefully. ~j

Why do we adults try to draw the line with what our children are eating in school, yet we go crazy with the bad eating choices when we're away from our kids, at work? It's so hypocritical. Do what I say and not what I do, right?

Id love your thoughts on a post I just did..the concept woke me up and, for some reason, in a way reminded me of you (I say in a way because its in a GREAT WAY....wouldnt want you to misunderstand :))

youre such a warrior role model.

Id love your thoughts if youre online this weekend.

M.

I've seen the preview a couple of times and didn't realize it came from a book. The previous starts with him saying NO to everything, so you might have to write your own book about how that works for you. 8-)

Try cutting out sugar or wheat completely for a week or too. Not as a diet but just to be more conscious of all the times you put it in your mouth unthinkingly. It's astounding really.

Everyone has a different metabolism, and in our culture food is a means of socializing and bringing people together. It's up to each individual to decide if and to what extent they want to participate.

I have done the trick that RG mentioned in her comment above: bring a piece of cake on a plate back to your desk for "later." Sometimes it goes straight in the garbage!

We occasionally have cook offs and I make a point of bringing something healthy (my veggie chili is pretty dang good). We even had a building-wide healthy cooking contest, which was a great idea, and had good ($$) prizes sponsored by the wellness committee. They also sponsor Maintain Not Gain over the holidays, where we join coworkers in groups of four for a weigh in before Thanksgiving and the goal is to NOT gain weight by the new year. And there are prizes for the best teams!

Our company provides onsite fitness facilities with instructors, too, AND gives us free memberships to most gyms in town, so they are putting their money on the line with the health insurance stuff. For the most part the occasional donuts at our desks are something I indulge now and then and try to balance the rest of the day.

After a few months, the other supervisors and I decided to try a radical new approach - 1 cake per month and then celebrate birthdays with a gift card or a non-food treat. We thought this would solve the problem and change things up a bit. Everyone just got mad at us for not making THEIR cake. I tried to talk them into buying my "food should not be used as a reward" theory, but it was a no-go for most of the people - even the ones who complained about gaining weight.

I just pretend the food is someone else's and they might miss it if I had some...or I try to think about all the other people who have probably touched that food and how much I don't want to put it in my mouth after that. Mostly, it works. Sometimes not.

You are right. There is no way to win.

Ick...I was in the shower and I could see the last sentence I wrote...like an echo...what a terrible way to end a comment...

What I meant was thatyou are right: there is no way to have your cake and not eat it, too. No way to make everyone happy. So, I hope you opt for making yourself happy in whatever way that you can - bring healthy stuff when you want, nibble a goodie sometimes, but not every time. This is definitely a downside to going to an office every day.

Good luck with this..Thanks for sharing.

Someone asked if the majority of the people in your office were overweight. The majority in mine are, but the skinniest are those who eat several helpings of cake. So unfair.

When I working in an office, I adopted something I called the "homemade rule." I love sweets, carbs, etc. as much as everyone else but I was tired of all the stuff at work that people brought in (most of it store-bought). I decided I would only eat what someone made from scratch at home. That way, I enjoyed something now and then and was able to appreciate my co-workers efforts. Sorry but store-bought cookies are not the same and don't deserve accolades like homemade ones do! A couple of others in the office starting using my "rule" too. I was lucky of course that not that many people tend to bake. If they did, I would have blown up!

http://doesthisblogmakeuslookfat.com/?p=232

For occasional treats - I totally agree with the homemade rule - if it's storebought and doesn't fit in my plan for the day, I won't touch it. Sheet cake is not worth it. If I have a particularly weak day, I'll eat just the frosting because that's the part I like anyway. If it's something in the breakroom that I really want, I take a little taste. If it's something that is offered to me at my desk, I'll take it, take a bite if I actually want it, and then throw the rest away. Donuts invariably make me sick (too sugary) so I'm not even tempted, and luckily, no one has the sense to like bagels here (or I'd be in trouble).

I mean, I get the signficance that food is the easiest and cheapest way to raise morale and help employees bond/unwind, I've used it myself... but damned if we couldn't find a healthier way to do it.

Luckily, my sattelite office is occupied by three other health concious people. Our part time front desk gal does keep hard candy at her desk for guests but I find that if I don't even touch it I do okay. Other than that, we hardly ever bring food to work unless we all decide to share a veggie pizza on a very rare occasion.