Tempting Baked Goods at Work

Off Topic
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[quote]Powerpuff wrote:

[quote]JPCleary wrote:

[quote]blackhand wrote:

[quote]Broncoandy wrote:
Have someone stand next to the snacks, and address everyone who approaches as “Fatty”, while asking if they’re sure they should have another slice of cake, and randomly blurting out “MMMmmmmooooo” whenever someone takes a bite.[/quote]
This. Never underestimate the value of public humiliation.

Call Terry Tate, Office Linebacker. This would be right up his alley.[/quote]

Never gets old…[/quote]

Why had I never seen that? JP, that was hilarious! “The office environment is violent…” Soo funny, and intimidating, but mostly really funny. [/quote]
you’ve never seen that??!! youtube it, there are 5 different “episodes” of him.

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[quote]dshroy wrote:
you’ve never seen that??!! youtube it, there are 5 different “episodes” of him.[/quote]
This one is pure gold. And you see TT give some fatty a ride on the pain train.

63

TL;DR: Exercise self-control, but respect others and don’t set them up to fail. Respect all needs.

I think it’s more than fair to request that such snacks be limited to the break room, and that for any organized activities, healthy alternatives be provided.

I don’t have a particular problem with temptation myself, but it’s taken a fiar bit of training and an aweful lot of “thanks, but no” to get there.

I also take preemptive action by having my own healthy alternatives available: whey powder, cottage cheese and Greek yoghurt, carrots, fllax, and oats.

Truth is there’s a lot of social pressure to conform, and a lot of folks struggle with this. And strength trainers/atheletes/fitness buffs aren’t the only ones dealing with this. I’ve been at offices where lunch was regularly catered (it’s typical in Silicon Valley, less so if you’re in San Francisco where walkable alternatives exist), and the lunches were very frequently disasters.

That said: I started my fitness kick at a large campus-based job site which had a gym (minimal freeweights, though some), and cafeteria with a pretty good salad bar (salad + chicken FTW). So sometimes work can be conducive to good living.

Biggest issue is less the food and presence of it, but the “just have one” ribbing that can go on. I have a very practiced “Thanks, but no” response, which gets much colder if it has to be repeated. Most people know better than to push the issue. There is a very fundamental role of food as a bonding and sharing device, and it’s deeply ingrained in people. So yeah, there’s a lot to overcome.

Given the posts here about habits, social circles, sabateurs, etc. (just today, Shelb’s got a spill “The Company You Keep” (http://www.T-Nation.com/strength-training-topics/660), and Shugart’s “Sabotage” article is a classic I’ve referred people to multiple times: (http://www.T-Nation.com/readArticle.do?id=636910).

There’s also what we know about how additictive certain food choices are – soda, fast food, the sugar + fat + salt combination noted by David Kessler in The End of Overeating. While it’s good and fine to push personal discipline, it’s helpful to keep in mind that some deviously smart people have been working for a long time to make bad foods highly attractive.

I’ve got no problem taking potential pitfalls and minefields out of my environment. A big part of my success has been taking free will out of the equation by NOT having bad food choices around, by training myself to think of them as poison (which is why I get very insistant and firm when “friends” push that shit on me), and by making the good stuff a matter of habit.

Suggestion: run a poll. See who feels one way or the other. Request healthy alternatives. Have a “no food on the floor” policy in the office (your IT staff will love you) if that’s what it takes – closed packages and out of site at the very least. And if it comes down to it, just to piss everyone off, “sensitivity training” as to dietary requirements and choices.

64

[quote]DJHT wrote:

[quote]polo77j wrote:
For those on the self-restraint side of the fence, let’s look at it step by step in Debs office:

I’m assuming Deb doesn’t work in some sort of day-care rugrats running around all crazy like. I’m assuming she works in an office with reasonable adults who lead reasonable adult lives. I’m also assuming these reasonable adults have reasonable adult responsibilities that they’ve accumulated through their own choice processes, one way or the other. And in that process of choice there must’ve been a fork where they chose to go the route to where they now stand struggling with making a simple fucking decision of whether or not to eat the goddamn cookie.

Now, you and I have made choices where we would look at the fucking cookie and evaluate whehter that 150 cal cookie fits into our goal structure. But not these fucking snivveling bags of personal failure. No, they struggle with a simple choice of whether or not to eat a fucking cookie. Honestly, if this choice is one of the hardest choices they have to make then why the FUCK do banks loan these fucking people money for purchases?

Seriously, these people are stuggling with a decision my 6 year old niece makes on a daily basis with nary a thought about it. Does she want the cookie or no. And she makes the right choice every fucking time. There’s no struggle.

I know I know, my niece isn’t an adult and will probably feel no consequence to eating a cookie. Shit, she’ll probably eat thousands of cookies between now and when she gets to be a neurotic 30 something standing in an office under the judging eyes of her co-workers struggling with the self awareness of a choice that could reverberate throughout the entire solar system!! DO I EAT THE FUCKING COOKIE OR DON’T I?

With such decisions that have generations of life hanging in the balance how does one sleep at night? I’m actually surprised these people don’t have trouble deciding when it’s appropriate to inhale and/or exhale. I’m surprised Deb’s office isn’t littered with unconscious bodies of people who couldn’t decided when it’s prudent to breathe.

It’s amazing that people have made it as far as we have with all these weighty decisions like when it’s ok to eat cookies and did I breathe too much yesterday and if i did, do I cut down on my breathing today? And I’m not apologizing for the rant. I’m bored in between classes. I’m about to go to my Inter. Macro class and just aced my Financial Acct. exam so I’m all fired up on caffeine and cocaine. Anarchy, I don’t know what it is but I like it.[/quote]

This brought a tear to my eye, been missing Polo’s occasional rant. [/quote]

You My Boy Blue!!!

65

Where are you people working??

My last office job didn’t feature “tempting baked goods”. What it DID feature was a Chinese financial controller named “Chin” who smelled of mothballs and wept a lot.

66

[quote]PimpBot5000 wrote:
Where are you people working??

My last office job didn’t feature “tempting baked goods”. What it DID feature was a Chinese financial controller named “Chin” who smelled of mothballs and wept a lot.[/quote]

Did you hit that?

67

[quote]DJHT wrote:

[quote]polo77j wrote:
For those on the self-restraint side of the fence, let’s look at it step by step in Debs office:

I’m assuming Deb doesn’t work in some sort of day-care rugrats running around all crazy like. I’m assuming she works in an office with reasonable adults who lead reasonable adult lives. I’m also assuming these reasonable adults have reasonable adult responsibilities that they’ve accumulated through their own choice processes, one way or the other. And in that process of choice there must’ve been a fork where they chose to go the route to where they now stand struggling with making a simple fucking decision of whether or not to eat the goddamn cookie.

Now, you and I have made choices where we would look at the fucking cookie and evaluate whehter that 150 cal cookie fits into our goal structure. But not these fucking snivveling bags of personal failure. No, they struggle with a simple choice of whether or not to eat a fucking cookie. Honestly, if this choice is one of the hardest choices they have to make then why the FUCK do banks loan these fucking people money for purchases?

Seriously, these people are stuggling with a decision my 6 year old niece makes on a daily basis with nary a thought about it. Does she want the cookie or no. And she makes the right choice every fucking time. There’s no struggle.

I know I know, my niece isn’t an adult and will probably feel no consequence to eating a cookie. Shit, she’ll probably eat thousands of cookies between now and when she gets to be a neurotic 30 something standing in an office under the judging eyes of her co-workers struggling with the self awareness of a choice that could reverberate throughout the entire solar system!! DO I EAT THE FUCKING COOKIE OR DON’T I?

With such decisions that have generations of life hanging in the balance how does one sleep at night? I’m actually surprised these people don’t have trouble deciding when it’s appropriate to inhale and/or exhale. I’m surprised Deb’s office isn’t littered with unconscious bodies of people who couldn’t decided when it’s prudent to breathe.

It’s amazing that people have made it as far as we have with all these weighty decisions like when it’s ok to eat cookies and did I breathe too much yesterday and if i did, do I cut down on my breathing today? And I’m not apologizing for the rant. I’m bored in between classes. I’m about to go to my Inter. Macro class and just aced my Financial Acct. exam so I’m all fired up on caffeine and cocaine. Anarchy, I don’t know what it is but I like it.[/quote]

This brought a tear to my eye, been missing Polo’s occasional rant. [/quote]

x2 That rant is a T-classic. Very, very funny.

68

My work is a lot like the office and office space combined (don’t get grabby!) but the staff are 50% Dwight.

I think the poll is a good idea. I think at the least people should be able to say ‘enough already, put that near someone elses desk’ (and if they put it on mine I’m okay with that :wink: )

[quote]PimpBot5000 wrote:
Where are you people working??

My last office job didn’t feature “tempting baked goods”. What it DID feature was a Chinese financial controller named “Chin” who smelled of mothballs and wept a lot.[/quote]

haha apparently somewhere better than you :PPPP

There is free food everywhere everyday at my work. A quick walk to a couple departments and a birthday will be found. I have some cake buddies where we acquire cake for each other in the afternoon and grab each other a piece.

But I won’t tell you about all multimedia goodies surrounding my desk…:smiley:

69

An additional comment: I know a lot of people who are trying to lose weight make a point of limiting what they have access to at home, I think this is a good idea for people who end up ruining their diets all the time. But at work it gets tricky. I believe it really is hard for some people.

For the record there are no obese people in my office (a couple on other floors but not witing reach of our goodies) so people are just looking to be not chubby as opposed to saving themselves from gross obesity.

We also have a gym and I’ve noticed a disturbing trend. The people going to the gym point out to each other that they saw them at lunch in the gym and they earned it with regards to the junk. I like to comment “Yeah go ahead and completely make that work a waste of time” but it’s another example of the sabotage people face, even if it’s good natured and passive.

70

[quote]

haha apparently somewhere better than you :PPPP

There is free food everywhere everyday at my work. A quick walk to a couple departments and a birthday will be found. I have some cake buddies where we acquire cake for each other in the afternoon and grab each other a piece.

But I won’t tell you about all multimedia goodies surrounding my desk…:D[/quote]

Evidently! Cake…departments…buddies…“desks” - it’s like you’re working in Willy Wonka’s Chocolate Factory or something! :slight_smile:

71

[quote]theBird wrote:
When my colleagues start eating muffins, I just shake up 2 scoops of my whey and drink. My cravings go away pretty quickly after ive downed my shake.
tweet tweet[/quote]

Gee, and all this time I thought you were strictly on birdseed and bugs.

72

[quote]Powerpuff wrote:

I liked the suggestion of putting up a jar of sugar-free gum or candy as an alternative.

[/quote]

roflmao

73

When I feed myself I do my best to eat healthy but when someone brings goodies into the office I consider it my duty to protect others from themselves by devouring as much as I possibly can thus saving them from eating it. I do the same favor for my children at home when my wife bakes. I’m like the soldier who jumps on a grenade to save the rest of his patrol.

Pfffft sugar free gum

74

[quote]polo77j wrote:

[quote]DJHT wrote:

[quote]polo77j wrote:
For those on the self-restraint side of the fence, let’s look at it step by step in Debs office:

I’m assuming Deb doesn’t work in some sort of day-care rugrats running around all crazy like. I’m assuming she works in an office with reasonable adults who lead reasonable adult lives. I’m also assuming these reasonable adults have reasonable adult responsibilities that they’ve accumulated through their own choice processes, one way or the other. And in that process of choice there must’ve been a fork where they chose to go the route to where they now stand struggling with making a simple fucking decision of whether or not to eat the goddamn cookie.

Now, you and I have made choices where we would look at the fucking cookie and evaluate whehter that 150 cal cookie fits into our goal structure. But not these fucking snivveling bags of personal failure. No, they struggle with a simple choice of whether or not to eat a fucking cookie. Honestly, if this choice is one of the hardest choices they have to make then why the FUCK do banks loan these fucking people money for purchases?

Seriously, these people are stuggling with a decision my 6 year old niece makes on a daily basis with nary a thought about it. Does she want the cookie or no. And she makes the right choice every fucking time. There’s no struggle.

I know I know, my niece isn’t an adult and will probably feel no consequence to eating a cookie. Shit, she’ll probably eat thousands of cookies between now and when she gets to be a neurotic 30 something standing in an office under the judging eyes of her co-workers struggling with the self awareness of a choice that could reverberate throughout the entire solar system!! DO I EAT THE FUCKING COOKIE OR DON’T I?

With such decisions that have generations of life hanging in the balance how does one sleep at night? I’m actually surprised these people don’t have trouble deciding when it’s appropriate to inhale and/or exhale. I’m surprised Deb’s office isn’t littered with unconscious bodies of people who couldn’t decided when it’s prudent to breathe.

It’s amazing that people have made it as far as we have with all these weighty decisions like when it’s ok to eat cookies and did I breathe too much yesterday and if i did, do I cut down on my breathing today? And I’m not apologizing for the rant. I’m bored in between classes. I’m about to go to my Inter. Macro class and just aced my Financial Acct. exam so I’m all fired up on caffeine and cocaine. Anarchy, I don’t know what it is but I like it.[/quote]

This brought a tear to my eye, been missing Polo’s occasional rant. [/quote]

You My Boy Blue!!![/quote]