Birthdays, baby showers, edible gifts from clients, and overzealous bakers can make your office into one big calorie trap. If you’re not careful, your workplace can wreck havoc on your waistline. These five tips can help you stick to your diet without being a cubicle curmudgeon.
1. Pack your own snack
Pack an indulgent but figure-friendly snack in your lunch bag and you’ll find it easier to resist whatever sweets are up for grabs. Try some Greek yogurt with granola and chocolate chips sprinkled on top, or peanut butter and honey drizzled over a piece of whole-wheat toast. You easily can satisfy your sweet tooth without going up a jeans size.
2. Invest your calories wisely
Dieting is like balancing your checkbook—you need to hold yourself accountable for the calories you spend. One bite of a cupcake isn’t going to kill you, but eating a whole one every day will make the numbers on the scale soar. Pack a snack three days a week, but let yourself indulge a little on the other two. By planning ahead, you can cut back on your midmorning snack to keep yourself within your targeted calorie range.
3. Don’t graze
On the days you choose a high-cal office treat, be vigilant about just how much you’re shoveling into your mouth. A sliver of cake will seem pretty measly portioned out on a big paper plate. And studies show that you’re much more likely to go overboard and load up on seconds—or thirds—if your brain doesn’t think you’re getting enough.
Researchers at Cornell University invited faculty, staff, and students from the nutrition school to an ice cream social to test how plate size can influence your diet. Guests were randomly given different sizes bowls and were told to serve themselves. Unsurprisingly, those with the bigger bowls ate about 30% more than the others. Even nutrition experts are prone to slip up when their minds think they aren’t getting enough!
Keep a saucer-size plate or small ramekin at your desk and you’ll trick yourself into thinking you’re eating more than you really are. And never, ever eat directly from the office candy bowl. Pick out a handful of jelly beans and put them straight into your ramekin.
4. Sip something warm
If your cubicle mate’s chocolate chip cookies never fail to trigger an overeating impulse, it’s best not to take a bite. Fill your belly with a warm, low-calorie beverage instead.
I find most teas boring, but some of the more decadent flavors—think vanilla caramel or gingerbread—can fill you up with zero calories. When I get the urge to splurge, I head to Starbucks for a tall soy Misto with some sugar-free caramel syrup. It costs me only 70 calories and, more importantly, it tastes like a really rich treat.
5. Choose the weightier option
If the calorie content is relatively the same, always choose the treat that weighs more. I reach for pretzels and cheese instead of potato chips because even if the portion sizes are similar, I’ll end up feeling much fuller with the heavier snack.
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Comments (6)
PGX fiber supplements are a great tool for helping me survive cravings.
My “munchies” hit in the evening. On nights where I forget to pop a couple of PGX, my cravings for carbs and especially snack foods shoots through the roof
This post has some info/links for PGX – It’s a weight loss article about a friend of mine – http://healthhabits.wordpress.com/2008/08/11/the-transformation-begins/
Hi, my name is Kitty and I just want to say first of all that this article has helped me through my eating disorders. There is nothing more in my life that I love but to have this article do the same for other people.
looking for an exercise program that i can do at home since my budget doesn’t allow me to join a gym. I am 42 yrs. old, 5′7″ tall and 170 lbs. The only time i weighed this much is when i was pregnant with my two sons, which by the way was over 20 yrs. ago. I am having a really hard time with accepting my fatness, which by the way I HATE, please help.
the thing to remember about starting any exercise program you chose is Dont Rush it! When I started to feel out of shape, a simple yoga ball from anywhere comes packed with simple exercises to start you out. you dont have to rush to start looking the exact way they do in the instructions either…take your time and your body will begin to talk back to you.
next thing you know, those 5 situps you do every other day turn into 10 and then 20 over the course of a few weeks. You will naturally want to begin varying your exercises simply because you’ll just get bored doing the same thing over and over.
The yoga ball I bought has 2lbs of sand in it so it doesn’t roll around when I’m sitting on it and feels great when I hold it standing upright and twist slowly from side to side because there is just a little bit of momentum pulling the rest of the twist.
My chill approach to working out has netted me a loss of about 15 pounds in 2 months…I feel so good inside and bought a bike and now am more active than ever. Of course the workouts subside once in a while but the idea for me is to just not get too lazy, stay active which automatically results in your body wanting better foods.
Go out there and do something!
Cheers.
Victoria,
I have purchased a few workout videos (Thin Thighs, Pilates for Dummies, Hip Hop Abs) and 5 pound weights that were fairly inexpensive and allow me to exercise without leaving home. If your tv package has On Demand, you may find free videos on your tv.
Great suggestions on tips to keep office snacking from derailing. The tip on drinking something warm works for me since it always brings on comforting thoughts.