New job - already fed up with unhealthy ‘working lunches‘

[AliceSeal]

I’ve been in my new job since February and in the main really enjoy it. However, we have monthly ‘planning meetings’ which so far are always scheduled to run through lunch (usually 11-3) and the bosses arrange for a lunch to be provided. Last month, it was a job lot of Greggs ‘beige’ - sausage rolls etc, and today it was stacks of dominoes which everyone could pile in to.

I haven’t said anything so far as I don’t want to appear ungrateful, and the majority of my colleagues seemed ecstatic with these choices, but as someone who is quite big on health and fitness, this is really irritating. We get a 5-10
minute break from this at most which isn’t enough time for me to do much more than go to the loo (big office with microwave facilities downstairs and always a queue over lunch).

Would you ask to get a longer break so I can have my own lunch? I’m just conscious this will delay the meeting for everyone else so very wary of asking.

You know a healthy diet is a balanced diet your eating sounds extreme and disordered i hope if you have kids you are not banning food and making an issue of it.

Oh bugger off. There's no obligation for them to provide a free lunch in the middle of a work day. Don't like it? Don't eat it. People who go out of their way to be difficult just end up spoiling it for the rest when it's inevitably cancelled.

This is the easiest way to single yourself out as the office pain in the arse. Go right ahead op, particularly as you're singling out people's unhealthy food choices & dress sizes.

I take it you haven't passed your 6 month probation period yet if you only started in Feb.

I think you have issues with food. Working lunches are a thing, you either eat what’s offered or you bring something. You don’t hold up the meeting to make your lunch and you certainly don’t look down on your colleagues for enjoying a treat and being a size 14 - ffs! This is part of your work culture. Deal with it.

If you need to say, ‘respectfully’ it isn’t respectful. Don’t be ‘that’ judgy person. Life’s too short for sneering.

OK, so you have such a rigid diet that you can’t either be flexible once a month, and you can’t bring in a suitable alternative such as a salad or wrap because it’s not hot, and you can’t bring in food to microwave because there’s a queue. Can you eat half before 11am and half after 3pm? Eat your meal prepped food cold? Excuse yourself for 10 minutes to go microwave something?

What’s a macro ? Anyway if it must be warm, bring it in a flask

Just cold lunches. Maybe other meals of the day are okay to be cold? 🤔

.

Bring your own lunch or eat a slice of pizza once a month (unless you have an allergy).

You are being very precious!!!

You can forsake your hot macro counted meal once a month for a cold macro counted meal!!

I wouldn't want to eat a greggs sausage roll either but I would just quietly take my own lunch on that day.

Respectfully, if you can't go without food for a few hours once a month perhaps you're as greedy as you consider your fat colleagues to be.

Respectfully, this sounds like disordered eating of a slice of pizza it a sausage roll once a month throws your macros off to make a difference.

And you couldn’t possibly have a cold lunch ONCE a month?! This is just you being fussy

Then do as others have said - eat before, or after, or bring in a flask of soup/stew on those days. It is once a month only.

Eat the supplied lunch, take your own lunch (cold or in a vacuum flask) or go hungry. Do not extend the meeting for everyone else. Perhaps whoever is currently ordering lunch for the meeting would gladly have you take over?

Respectfully you sound extremely judgemental.
And people who feel they have to say respectfully are.probably not being respectful

Oh FFS eat the pizza, take a salad or go hungry. It's once a month and yet it seems that despite being an adult it is an insurmountable problem for you. How to you manage to hold down a job?

No one cares about your macros. Your diet, your choice, your responsibility to sort out.

Feel free to complain and let the entire office know you are bringing insufferable main character energy to the meeting where you will spoil their once a month junk food binge.

Well no wonder they are size 14 /16 if they eat pizza once a month. (Sarcasm in case anyone didn't get that)
Ffs - totally 1st world problem - respectfully op- get over yourself.

I also thought that people outgrow alcohol by their early 20s, and yet, this site is full of people who have continued consuming alcohol into adulthood.

Take some warm soup in a thermos.

Or go really wild and have a cold lunch one day per month.

@AliceSeal I would have thought that even a healthy diet would allow for bad food once a month or so.

Sorry OP. Your sound difficult and like you're looking for problems (and potentially have serious issues around food?). This is seriously a non-issue that happens max 12 times a year. There are workarounds and any normal person would be flexible and not cause a scene.

Not at all, I like my colleagues, regardless of whether some are a bit on the podgier side!

Going forward, I think OP's company should add a questionnaire to their candidate screening protocols for potential new employees.

My top suggestions straight off the bat would be -

On a scale of 1-5, (1 = hard disagree, 5 = hell yeah), how strongly do you agree with the following statements:

• My body is a temple. Neither Gregg's sausage roll nor Domino's pizza shall ever pass my lips. Not even once a month at my new team's planning meetings. No siree.

• I don’t really like cold lunches, I meal prep and have something which fits my macros for tracking too so eating junk isn’t really an option.

• Woe betide you if you are a dress size 14/16+. I shall take to MN.

what a sad sad life. having to count everything and worry about such pedantic things. we are all going to die one day, we don’t know when. just relax abit. my uncle was like you and tracked everything. run marathons, was always picking at his slightly overweight wife. he died age 52 with brain cancer. btw size 14/16 is not something to sneer at its very normal size

If you “don’t like” cold lunches so won’t bring your own, and won’t eat what is provided (fair enough) you are being a bit princessy.