Weight Loss

So how the heck am I supposed to behave myself when I have to go through the cafe for coffee, bathroom, microwave, etc...and they serve food like mac and cheese with fried chicken, yesterday was pasta and shrimp scampi in white wine sauce....you get the idea.....it looks so good, while my low sodium soup does not.....woah is me!

Isn't there another way to get to the bathroom etc...

I don't think any soup would look good compared to that :-(  

No suggestions other than to keep focused on your goal and know that the soup is better for your body thant the fat loaded scampi.

My prayers are with you :-)

Tell yourself the guy who cooked it didn't wash his hands first.

And there's a weevil infestation in the pasta storage cupboard.

And the "chicken" is actually skunk meat.

 

Talk to the people at the cafe about having some healthy alternatives.  Shrimp is great.  It's what people do with it that ruins it for someone who's watching what they eat.

Trust me...every day when I get my measly salad from the salad bar, I suggest that they should have more healthy alternatives...I guess they are more interested in what the majority wants....because let's face it, most people don't bother trying to eat healthy these days!

And I wish there was another way to the bathroom as I am drinking 4-5 mcdonalds large size glasses of water per day and I pee every half hour! Ugh!

They're probably looking to cook whatever's cheapest for them that they can charge the most for :(

Can your desk be moved?

Original Post by vegetariangeek:

Tell yourself the guy who cooked it didn't wash his hands first.

And there's a weevil infestation in the pasta storage cupboard.

And the "chicken" is actually skunk meat.

 

 lol, there's some genius ideas! I'll try and think like that next time! lol

Granted I don't have to walk THRU the cafe, but we do have one in our building that I walk by all the time, and while it's tempting, the food usually isn't as good as it looks! So just enjoy the images and smells, and go eat the reliable-always tastes the same-soup!! ;)

Actually that's the problem....it is reallllllly good....he gave me a sample of the mac n cheese.....so all I had to log were 23 cals....I still sort of had some and didn't blow my diet!

Hmm, I don't have a cafe in my office but I work in a mall and we do have a food court.  I can smell the cookies baking every morning and the hot dogs/hamburger smells every lunchtime.  I try to avoid going into the food court at all costs. 

Alas, our lunchroom isn't much better.  Besides TPTB ask that instead of having parties for everyone's b-day, if it's your day, you bring in 'treats' for everyone.  I brought in a fruit plate for mine last year.  I was the only one with a healthy 'treat' idea. 

Besides the regular birthday treats vendors and some of the bosses will regularly buy treats for the office....bagels, donuts, cookies, huge cookies, all sorts of nuts, candies, chocolates, pies, cakes, pastries, chips.  That is not to mention when we get our lunches bought for us which is usually pastas and pizzas and potato salads and pasta salads or sometimes burgers all around. 

My first year here I gained 30 pounds.  Now I just TRY HARD to say no.  I've found that it actually pisses people off too!  WTF, why???

Woe is us!!!

edit to add:  today there is cookies and pound cake in there.

okay, this may sound mean......... and I hope I don't offend anyone here. This is merely my own motivation for not eating bad foods in my work cafe. I have the same problem at my work, we have a pretty amazing cafe with great smelling foods and chips, fresh baked goods, a variety of high calorie drinks, etc. what stops me from choosing the delicious bacony cheeseburger that was on special today is looking around me. I swear every time I'm in there, I see obviously overweight people ordering breakfast burritos, biscuit sandwiches, cheeseburgers, large sodas, donuts!!! And that's all I need to say, "may I please have a fat free yogurt" ( that's usually my 3pm snack). I go in there craving chips or a muffin or something and almost like clockwork, someone is already there ordering something awful and it reminds me of my own goals. It sounds horrible, but sometimes looking at the people you don't want to look like is as motivating as looking at the people you do want to look like. Good Luck.

upgrade the soup that you're bringing to work! (i have a french soup fetish, so soup sounds like heaven to me.)

but maybe it would help if you packed your own lunch which is healthier but still yummy? there are plenty of 'seems unhealthy but is actually pretty darn good nutrition-wise' alternatives out there. think frozen banana with PB, or honey oatmeal with cinnamon, or grilled portabello mushroom pasta... *drool*

 

I think it helps to think of the healthy, low calorie food you could be having. I feel like I need a high volume of food to be satisfied, so I would MUCH rather be able to eat more broccoli and oatmeal than have pasta or cookies. I think of how many bowls of that I could have versus a measly cookie, and then it doesn't seem worth it at all.

Or if that doesn't work, try thinking of the money you are saving.

Something that's always hard for me (related to the earlier post on how sometimes seeing people who look bad ordering the bad food) is when you see thin, non-overweight people stuffing their face with the unhealthy food.

Usually my method is to think past just weight alone to the really poor nutritional content of the food and the longer term health I'll be able to enjoy by avoiding those foods (trans fats, etc.).  Sometimes the people who eat those foods don't externally look heavy or whatever, but there are more drawbacks to eating that junk than just being heavy that you can focus on!

It is my belief that dairy is actually the devil so your office cafe can't be LOL! 

Here's my argument

Dairy: It is delicious in all forms (cheese, ice cream, milk, etc).  Its always tempting me because its in EVRYTHING! Most of it is high in fat (at least the good stuff). And, here is my true dilemma, it causes me severe abdominal distress because I'm allergic to it.

I guess we can each have our own personal devils.

Is your cafe pricey at all?  One thing that helps me is to really think about the prices and if it's worth it monitarily...usually, its not.  You could even go high tech about it and make up a spreadsheet, subtracting how much you spend on meals you bring with you. 

Well ironically the special of the day is reasonable (bad for me) but the fruit and salad bar is exhorbitant!

Valsgoal said "My first year here I gained 30 pounds.  Now I just TRY HARD to say no.  I've found that it actually pisses people off too!  WTF, why???"

I would say take a piece and slap it on your rear and when they freak just tell them you are cutting out the middle man. They won't get snotty anymore after that ^_~

Original Post by pcarpintero:

okay, this may sound mean......... and I hope I don't offend anyone here. This is merely my own motivation for not eating bad foods in my work cafe. I have the same problem at my work, we have a pretty amazing cafe with great smelling foods and chips, fresh baked goods, a variety of high calorie drinks, etc. what stops me from choosing the delicious bacony cheeseburger that was on special today is looking around me. I swear every time I'm in there, I see obviously overweight people ordering breakfast burritos, biscuit sandwiches, cheeseburgers, large sodas, donuts!!! And that's all I need to say, "may I please have a fat free yogurt" ( that's usually my 3pm snack). I go in there craving chips or a muffin or something and almost like clockwork, someone is already there ordering something awful and it reminds me of my own goals. It sounds horrible, but sometimes looking at the people you don't want to look like is as motivating as looking at the people you do want to look like. Good Luck.

 I don't think that sounds mean at all.  You have to realize somehow that your choices are better than others. Not as if you are looking down at everyone else for their choices but just realizing how much better your organs feel because you are eating healthy.

Funny this thread is out today.

I went to Redners and got a salad from their salad bar.  A mixture of leafy greens, 1 cucumber slice, 4 olives, 4 red onion slices, 1 hard boiled egg, a touch of oil, vinegar and slight touch of honey mustard.  Oh, so good!!!

Then I come back to work.  All the other girls ordered out to the local pub and have wings, fries, cheesesteaks, etc. 

Just before their food arrived (which I didn't know was coming) I was raving about how good my salad was!  Haha. 

I just love some of the posts on this site.  Skunk meat. That's great.  I think I will give that one a try.

Those skinny people eating high fat/calorie foods - some of them don't actually look that great, if you look closely.  Bad skin, no muscle tone, flab around the waist.   Flaws can be found.

Just tell them to take whatever and rub it on their thighs because that's right where it's headed.  I'd still have a chat with the cafe people about offering an alternative entree.  Healthy doesn't have to mean crappy tasting.