Cakes and Treats at Work

[WhatTheFlipToDo]

I have worked at my current work place for about a year. I have been consistently a size 12 in clothes for two decades yet I have put on over a stone in that time and size 14 clothes are getting tight. The only variable between this job and my last one is a permanently well stocked table of ‘treats’. So, biscuits, those little M&S tubs of cake bites, donuts, Rocky bars. You name it.

It is a job where you end up incredibly tired sometimes and I have little will power around chocolate at the best of times but when I'm tired it’s a million times worse. Essentially, I eat far more sweet things now due to this bloody table of junk food. Obviously, as I eat things I replace them but then I just eat them again. I don’t know what to do. I’d like to ask the team to save treats for an actual occasional treat but, simultaneously, if I’m the only one who has no will power, is it fair to request they adapt their behaviour for me?

I feel the views in this article sum up my own well. https://amp.theguardian.com/society/2023/jan/17/people-should-not-take-cakes-in-to-the-office-suggests-food-watchdog-chief

Am I being unreasonable to want the team to cut back on the treats so I don’t get even fatter or is this my problem to manage? Genuinely contemplating leaving as I just will not be able to manage my weight without a change in workplace culture.

I agree with you up to a point, as in it would be a healthier workplace if there were no treats, but honestly YABU to suggest people don't take stuff in. Work on your own willpower instead. I say this as someone with poor food willpower! There are drinks every Friday at my workplace too. We don't cancel them because there is an alcoholic in the workplace. There are also little betting things and a lottery in the workplace. The colleague with a gambling addiction just has to find a way to deal. Same with a sugar addiction.

YABVU! Work is depressing, treats are nice.

I’m a teacher and manage to resist the treats in the staffroom due to lack of time to go up there…but my lovely TA bakes pain au chocolat at home three times a week and brings one in to me each time. I’ve gained a stone this year but that’s 100% my fault, and I should learn to say no thanks.

You can’t blame others for your lack of ability to say no.

YABU

Plan ahead. Have a proper satiating lunch or breakfast. Take your own snacks. And make sure what you’re eating is protein-dense: chunks of cheese, slices of roast chicken, a plain Greek yoghurt pot (without flavourings or added sugar - read your labels); carrot sticks and hummus; peanut butter and carrot sticks.

I I’m bad around chocolate but ide never be so whiny and irresponsible that I’d blame my colleagues for my lack of self-control and bad choices.

Because obesity and diabetes cost the NHS gazillions, and I the taxpayer have to fund it. Ditto smoking related diseases and smoking ban.

I don’t really need/want these things but they are there, right next to the kettle, calling to me!

Your posts just get worse.

Fucking own it and grow up FFS.

Track your calories for a week or two totally honestly and be accountable to yourself.

Make better choices. You’re not 4 years old.

As I said it may not be only the OP. A quick perusal of your posts indicates you’re in the same boat wrt fluctuating weight, so this is all rather hypocritical.

I think the first thing for you is admitting that this is an issue with you and your relationship with food rather than an issue with a table with food on. Once you get last this you can start the road to losing some of your weight.

I'm saying we need to take personal responsibility. Why does my having lost weight make that hypocritical? How do you think I did it?

It’s not losing weight at issue it’s eating too much and being overweight in the first place. Which I’m not judging, but I’m not judging OP either unlike you.

Would you add some treats for yourself, like yoghurt rice cakes, chocolate raisins, nuts etc.
So when you are drawn to the table, you go for one of your healthier treats.
Gradually change the treats to healthier options until you aren't craving the M&Ms etc.

I'm the same as you, I have no will power and a terrible sweet tooth. If there are sweets, I'm eating them.
However the girls in office can't be punished because of my glutony.

Hope this tip helps!

surreygirl1987
Exactly this. We are all responsible for our own boundaries in the workplace.

It doesn't matter whether it's caffeine consumption, sweet foods, bring and share lunches, take outs on late nights, meals out, post work drinks, raffles, tombolas, sponsored events, or anything else.

Just because other people choose to partake in it doesn't mean we all have to.

This is why levels of obesity are so high, no one takes any responsibility. Easy to blame others.
If you have no self control and can not say no others should not be punished

Eh? We weren't talking about "judging" the OP, although if we were, I might refer you back to your very kind and understanding comments, such as "Because obesity and diabetes cost the NHS gazillions, and I the taxpayer have to fund it" and "I don’t need this stuff so I don’t see why anyone else does". Sounds pretty judgemental to me. And you haven't explained why my weight loss makes me a hypocrite for stressing personal responsibility.

I haven't "judged" OP. In fact, earlier I expressed sympathy because I know weight management is hard enough even without extra temptation.

But we were talking about whether OP can reasonably expect her office to close the sweet station because it's making things hard for her. I'm simply stating the fact that she can't unilaterally demand to abolish it, and so I suggest she finds techniques to resist it because at the end of the day. I suggest sitting as far out of sight of it as possible and drinking lots of water.

Just don't eat it. It's quite deluded and self centred to expect everyone to stop because you put on a dress size.

I think people are being a bit harsh on you, @WhatTheFlipToDo . Yes, you do need to have willpower, but I also think the management needs to take a look at this culture of unhealthy food and do something about it. They’re likely to have a lot more people off sick if it continues!

As a nation we’re creating an ‘all you can eat’ culture and it’s so, so damaging. If I were leadership team I would ban it.

Instead of seeing this as an obstacle, try to flip it and see it as an opportunity. Grant yourself (non-food) rewards for successfully skipping the free junk "food" and keep plenty of good, high-protein food on hand for yourself. The problem is with you, so you need to "woman-up" and learn how to re-train the part of you that wants to eat that crap. And always have a better choice available, for when you feel yourself slipping.

I have the team sugary snack table right by me and I strictly NEVER have anything off it! (For the very reasons you state!)
Politely decline if you are ever offered anything and take your own snacks to stop the temptation. Do your utmost to not even look at the snacks and don't give in! 💪😄

I have diabetes and have to be really careful about what I eat. I consider this absolutely my “problem” to manage and don’t expect my colleagues - or my husband or children - to moderate what gets kept or eaten near me.

I agree with this.
Why can’t it be both- personal responsibility but also everyone working together for the greater good by creating an environment in which eating healthily is easier?
All this ‘your problem op, you are so entitled’ is very individualistic. Which is all very well but the pieces are picked up by an NHS that is communally owned and funded and is creaking under the weight of the extra costs imposed by an unprecedented obesity crisis.
I imagine most of the people on this thread are in favour of universal free healthcare. They are also in favour of personal responsibility- and yet apparently not in favour of any shared responsibility to create a less obesogenic society.

You told OP she must “find a way to control it herself”. And “you need to be able to get through the day without a doughnut” - that’s judgment rather than understanding.

I’ve already answered your query - I said it wasn’t the weight loss that was hypocritical but the weight gain and overeating - exactly what OP grappling with now.

I’m not judging anyone for having diabetes/obesity I simply said it costs society a great deal. That’s just a fact. Indeed I’m more understanding of OP’s problem and of others who are similar, than you are, who has been there.

OP never mentioned closing the treat table just requesting cutting back. It’s a perfectly reasonable request. They can always say no or have a vote. It’s not that big a deal.

Can you bring fruit instead? It should be easy to loose those few lbs since you know the cause.

Yr problem not theirs, just don’t eat it.

When the UK was far poorer than it is now, eating in public was unacceptable because so many people went hungry.
Tony Blair was convinced that we would be more restrained in our drinking if alcohol was available 24 hours a day, legal gambling was once confined to betting shops and casinos, now it drains bank accounts from phones and laptops.
While in my neighbourhood, it is easy to tell that cannabis has been effectively decriminalised by the local police force, it's worrying that many are keen that personal use of all drugs should be decriminalised.
The assumption that willpower will inevitably triumph over continual temptation doesn't seem to be working in 2023.