"Cake in the office is like passive smoking" - is there a thread on this yet?

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www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-64315384

My initial instinct in response to this is WTAF, and to start making a big batch of brownies.

Having said that, I do think it's our culture making us (as a nation) fat, and that this isn't the responsibilities of individuals only.

But still - what is there to go to work for, if not the office cake?

The two girls in my office who talked the most about dieting / being fat were the ones who always baked brownies & brought them to work. I shared a desk with them & my daily exercise was going to the shop to get their 11am / 4pm buckets of coffee / chocolate / crisps. Never ate any of it myself...

Never mind the office cake, the problem is that our supermarkets have shelves overflowing with shite - hidden sugar in things you wouldn't expect (like some pesto), "zero" drinks that are appallingly bad for health, cereal bars that people think are a good choice but actually for sugar and fat they are worse than a chocolate bar. You have to be really careful to avoid it all. At least an office cake is a bloody cake and you know that it isn't great, particularly if you are trying to lose weight.

On the other hand, there are a lot of people who won't take no for an answer when cake etc is offered in an office. Will badger others 5 times etc.

@NeverDropYourMooncup Now you see if you told me that, I’d go out of my way to make a gluten-free cake next time so you could join in too. I’d not be able to leave someone out if I thought they wanted to join in! 😂

On a general note, I don’t work in an office any more, but it’s honestly not that hard to just… not eat the cake. Or do eat the cake. If you want the cake. It’s not one bit of cake in the office that makes you obese, it’s all the other stuff away from the office, and the lack of exercise because you’re stuck at a desk all day and probably go to work in a car because the office is miles from home and public transport sucks. And you’re too bloody tired to go to the gym after work because you’re working long hours. And good, properly healthy food is more expensive than processed stuff. There are so many factors that cause people to be overweight, and a brownie with your coffee on a Friday is only a tiny part of the picture. Sort out food advertising, pricing, and active transport options, and then maybe we can start fretting about Nigel from accounting’s birthday doughnuts…!

Still can't accept your kindness, though.

It's been the cheapest and easiest way of losing 30kg, that diagnosis, because you can't eat anything - or trust the 'oh, it's definitely safe, it was from the vegan section, no I haven't kept the box'/what are you implying about my baking when you ask if I use clean scales and always open a fresh packet of butter and scrub the oven, pans, counters and the measuring spoons if I'm doing gluten free? Oh, that? It's just a bit of (insert barley containing ingredient here).

I've found you can't trust anybody, even though it would be nice if I could.

Yes I do agree that it is complex. I put on weight after my mother died, and I think part of that was an absolutely primal desire to feel more solid, more robust. A protective layer, more reserves.
This time has been similar but also to do with not wanting to socialise as much, and wanting to comfort myself with sweetness.

It's amazing how people try to convince themselves how little extra calories it takes to gain weight.
A 1lb of fat is 3500 cals.
So a slice of cake per week or biscuits every day could add up to 1lb or more of fat per month. 12 months is over a stone. It's easy to see how weight can creep up on us all.

It obviously isn't the same as passive smoking, but it is right that a culture of cake at work can be really difficult to resist and there is often and element of "pushing" the cake onto people who did say no first time.

Yes of course people can and should say no of they don't want it, but the same applies to illegal__ drugs and we object to those being pushed.

what a load of cobblers

I actually agree with this too. There's often the wannabe Nigella who regularly bakes and brings in cake to the office. Then gets offended if you don't eat it.

Normalising eating cake or sweets in the office everyday is a problem. Weight creeps on so easily through 'invisible' eating habits (extra snacks, treats and sugar).

Although the unofficial office baker does make me think of the Queen in Ben and Holly!

There’s always been cakes etc where I’ve worked but I do exercise some self control - although I’m a sucker for home baked goods.
The most out of control person I worked with used to buy her baked goods from the on site cafe & eat them while simultaneously complaining how ill she was!! People have to take some accountability.

Oh give over.

Only if you're filling your face on a load of other garbage.

If you're an otherwise healthy balanced eater who exercises, that's piffle.

I always got shit at work for declining. Every turns into Mrs Doyle. And then goes and made a comment about my weight (as in 'its not like you have to worry about eating cake).

So actually I think peer pressure is a real issue but that's fundamentally different to passive smoking where you have no choice.

There is a culture where saying no to cake isn't respected straight away and you do get pestered or picked on for not confirming to the office expectations.

Things like McMillian coffee mornings which add even more emotional pressure don't help either.

An extra biscuit a day or couple of slices of cake a week is exactly where an awful lot of obesity comes from. The kind that creeps up on people.

Most people who gain weight are found to only be eating the equivalent of one chocolate bar too many a day. This all adds up though.

Also people vastly underestimate portion size and calories.

Go into Starbucks or Costa and look at the calories in one small cake for reference. It's absolutely frightening.

Very often people when they cut their own slices will do large pieces unaware of how big it is.

I'm 5'2". My calories for the day should be around 1500. A cake at a coffee house is rarely much less than 500 calories. And that's without thinking about a drink.

10km on my exercise bike which takes me around 40mins, only burns 150 calories.

Basic maths says I can't eat that slice of cake and maintain a healthy weight without dropping something else from my diet. I don't have enough 'spare calories' in my weekly diet to eat lots of cake on a regular basis.

Thousands of other people, particularly women who are below average height, will have the same issue.

Until you see it written down and you start to grasp roughly the difference between calories in and calories out, you don't grasp how finely balanced it can be for a lot of people.

I just said no to cake when I was on a diet, if someone insisted then I said again "it looks sooo gorgeous but honestly I won't be able to stop if I start haha" and that shut people up.
This is so ridiculous!

There are so many comments on this thread suggesting that it’s easy to just say no to the cake.
If that were true then we wouldn’t live in a country where most of us are overweight.
Lots of people struggle with impulse control. Lots of people have been raised by parents with eating disorders and/or have developed one themselves. Lots of people have e.g. ADHD and are constantly craving a dopamine hit. Lots of people have emotional issues that are temporarily quietened by a slice of cake.

Lucky you if you are so perfect that you can easily say no. For the rest of us, please don’t turn every available space into a cake dispensary.

Typical nannying. Sucking every last tiny bit of joy out of life. Why Don't they ban everything but carrots and water so nobody can be tempted to eat a slice of cake they don't really want
Get a f*ing grip!!!

Until you see it written down and you start to grasp roughly the difference between calories in and calories out, you don't grasp how finely balanced it can be for a lot of people.

But I do grasp that as I stick to a calorie controlled diet and track it on an app. 1200 when I'm losing weight, 1700 when I am maintaining.

However that's for a run of the mill day and I never consume any calories "earned" through exercise so there's a safety margin. If I'm going out to eat with friends or want a piece of cake to celebrate someone's birthday then as long as I'm eating within those calories the rest of the time, it's fine. I might not lose weight but I won't gain.

Most the time it isn't the odd chocolate bar or piece of cake that causes the issues - it's not being honest with yourself about the other stuff that is in addition. The double helping of Mayo, the amount of oil you cook with, the handful of chips you ate when making the kids tea, what you think a portion of cheese is v an actual portion. I think those are more dangerous.

I'm having terrible FOMO because I so rarely get office cake. <sniff>

A slippery slope towards banning coffee shops and bakers shops their tantalising window displays.

Don't care, but if this is an example of her work, then as I said before: what a waste of taxpayers' money.

I hate to state the bleeding obvious, but I shall make an exception here...

It's called 'Birthday Cake' for a reason.