So, I am trying to diet, and I bring in my own food to work - usually healthy stuff like oatmeal and yogurt. Today, my food consists of a Slim Fast shake, a banana, and a yogurt. And that will be all I eat today until I get home and have a Lean Cusine for dinner.
Well every day my coworker, who sits in the cubicle next to mine, goes and gets fast food for lunch and brings it back to his desk to eat, and the smell of the delicious (but bad-for-me) food wafts over into my cube and makes me ravenous for some real food. Every day, he gets Quiznos, Chipotle, Burger King, etc. etc. And you might think this guy is fat, but no - he’s skinny, and I am pretty sure he doesn’t go to the gym or excercise regularly.
Meanwhile, I’ll drink my 8 oz. of Slim Fast, my banana, and my cup of yogurt and be starving all day, and still I struggle with my weight (last fall/winter, I was wearing a size 6, but last year’s pants are tight on me, and I am more like a size 8 now… I really want to be able to fit into last year’s clothes and not have to go get a whole new wardrobe this year!)
It’s just not fair… this loser gets to eat fast food every day and not work out and still be skinny, and I have to starve myself just to maintain an average figure. And I have to smell his food every day and be reminded of what I am missing…
I know I might be opening a can of worms (hey, is that low cal?), but I’m just going to suggest that you skip the damn Slim Fast and have some “real” food for those calories. Because yeah, how can a can of that shit compare to…just about anything else?
I know, it sucks, doesn’t it? Some people can just eat whatever they want. I have a friend who’s thin, eats pizza for lunch and dinner nearly every day, doesn’t exercise, and drinks three or more beers a night, and then scoffs at low-fat food. “I don’t believe in diet food. People just need to learn portion control.” I want to sock him in the face.
That said, I’ve had good success with adding veggies through the day to make me feel more full. Sugar snap peas and ginger viniagrette are yummy. I’ve had to make peace with the fact that I can’t eat much salad (I enjoy it on occasion but it will wilt in my fridge) so I eat other veggies. As long as they’re not starchy, like corn or potatoes, you’re good.
I just bought the Slim Fast a few days ago, so it’s just a new thing - I am trying to mix it up a little.
But the fact is, no matter what I eat, it’s never going to taste as good as the fast food he gets every day. It’s just a sad fact of life that the food that tastes the best is usually the worst for you.
How about a large salad with red peppers, carrots, tomatoes, cucumbers, jicama slices, a hard boiled egg (or 1 ounce of lean lunchmeat), a few baked croutons and balsamic vinegar/water dressing? Less calories than your Slim-Fast and much more filling and nutritious.
Diets only work if you can sustain them indefinitely, and it doesn’t sound like this one is going to be that for you.
But oh man, I hear you on the fast food smell thing! Even when I’m physically full on my rabbit food, my monkey brain still wants grease and carbs and dead animal flesh and lots of it.
Actually I have done very well for the past 3 years… I had allowed myself to get FAT and I was miserable, then through adjusting my diet, I lost 60 pounds and went from 195 pounds and a size 16 to 135 pounds and a size 6 (and had maintained that for about 3 years). But in the past few months, I put on about 10 pounds and am up to a size 8 (However, there is sort of a good excuse for the 10 pounds - I was pregnant, briefly, but am not anymore… )
You’re absolutely right. That sounds so good. The only reason I don’t bring in salads more often is because I am lazy (it’s takes a lot of prep work to make a nice salad). But you’ve inspired me.
There are lots of ways to make healthier meals that taste just as good if not better than that Quizno’s sandwich that your coworker is eating. Trust me, even if this guy is getting the lowest calorie sandwich that Quizno’s has, he’s ingesting more than a meal’s worth of calories and fat and not a lot of nutrition beyond that. I used to work at a Quizno’s while I was an undergraduate student in college, and that stuff got old (and unappetizing) very quickly.
Personally, I used to eat a lot of stuff that wasn’t good for me, and then I had a period of time where I couldn’t afford to eat out or ingest a lot of heavy foods. I ate a lot of veggies supplemented with eggs and cheap meat, and after a while, a big portion of veggies with some protein and a little fat on the side was a better deal than a big, fattening meal, despite the fattening meal smelling good. I may not eat a great meal every meal on every day, but I still prefer meals where there’s a lot of fresh veggies (not salad most days) to accompany some fish or lean meat and rice/potatoes/carb of choice. I also am a fan of hearty soups with lots of stuff in them; just about any combination of vegetables, broth/juice, and protein source can be made into a tasty and filling soup. Really, it’s all about creating variety within the healthy foods you like.
ETA: I noticed you said that you’re not as inclined to make lunches that take a lot of time. I’ve got a cheap rice cooker with a veggie steam tray that I use to make “ricer cooker meals” on occasion. Throw some fish/chicken/pork into the veggie tray with vegetables than can handle being steamed for a while, put some seasoning on them, and set up the rice in the rice cooker bowl. Turn it on, let it go for 15-20 minutes, and come back to a tasty meal with leftovers.
I have found that fast food items don’t really appeal to me anymore. The lettuce in particular tastes like it has been treated with preservatives and the food seems to slip through my intestines at an usually fast rate.
It may seem like a forbidden treat, but it is really bad for you.
I’ve been giving myself a “free day”, foodwise, but even on my free day, fast food items are no longer on my short list of yummies.
My condolences on the brief pregnancy and I can definitely sympathize with you on the weight control issue. I lost 60 pounds about 4 years ago and I’ve gained 20 back since I’ve been real busy and I love pasta. Stop by the Trader Joe’s and get a few ready made salads for the week. They are pretty low in calories and if you have that and the fruit, it will fill you up. Making a ready made salad is a lot of work, eating a ready made one isn’t.
Yowza! Only SlimFast, yogurt and a banana? You might find yourself better able to sustain some weight loss if you eat a little more - my understanding is that the body needs a certain amount of calories to function effectively (I believe the number is around 1,200, but it varies depending on your body weight and makeup). Anything less can cause you to keep weight on and/or mess up your metabolism in the long run, making it harder to lose weight down the line.
I second the recommendation to eat more veggies and a bit of protein and a smidge of fat. Not only will you be able to maintain more steady weight loss, having a little protein and fat makes things taste better and can make it more satisfying than a complete fat-free meal.
But it sounds like you’re pretty experienced with weight loss to being with (good job, by the way!), so you probably already knew that.
Wow! I should be getting tips from YOU! Congratulations on all your work.
Lunches are hard for me, even though I work at home. It’s so tempting to just order in some Thai food or take the kids for a walk to the McDonald’s at the end of the block.
I’m planning a big OAMC day with another Weight Watchers friend of mine - we’re making our own frozen meals, both lunch sized and dinner sized. So far, I’ve got three recipes planned:
I think these will all freeze well (although I’m not sure about the peppers in the first one, I may leave those out and freeze just the cooked chicken and chimichurri sauce and use some of the sauce to dip raw fresh peppers in), so I’m making double batches of everything, one batch to be frozen for a dinner for four, and another split up into individual servings and frozen for lunches for me.
Thanks for the recipes, WhyNot, and thanks to everyone else for the advice & support.
For me, it will always be hard because I love food, and I really have to keep my calorie intake as limited as possible because my body just loves to store every extra calorie as fat, especially on my butt and thighs. I will have to be very careful for the rest of my life because my body gains weight very very easily.
Trust me, you’re not alone! I swear I walk a fine line between living the healthy lifestyle and shoving my face in a trough of frosting. That’s the stupid problem - food tastes good!
I’m that guy (not literally). There is a big drawback to all the crap we eat. It really does mess with your energy. I feel like sleeping after a lunch like that. If I have a healthy/diet-like lunch, I’m not worn out and tend to be more productive at work. Besides, most fast food isn’t all that good anyway. I’d much rather have something fresh and healthy, but you can’t exactly get that in a drive-thru can you?
Try the local supermarket deli to get a quick lunch that doesn’t taste like cardboard and is WAY better for you than regular fast food.
I’m not on a diet, but I am kind of broke, which, when it comes to “fast food smells good but I can’t have it”, still applies to me!
I’m only in school part time, and my classes are all in the mornings, so I finish my classes, take the metro and bus home, and make a lunch at home. I’m usually pretty hungry by this time. I’ve discovered that it’s pretty much impossible to leave my class, get the metro, get out of the station, and catch the bus without delays… the distances are just a little too much, and the schedules just don’t quite line up. So I usually end up standing in line at the bus stop outside the metro station, waiting a good 5-15 minutes for the bus to pull up and let us on (it’s usually there, but it’s clearly the driver’s break time). This wouldn’t be a problem, except…
There is an amazing smell of burgers and french fries and who knows what else not-good-for-you-but-oh-so-good food wafting out of the little restaurant across the street. Every day I get to stand there, my stomach growling in hunger, smelling this wonderful smell, and not being able to have any of it! By the time I get home, I open the fridge, and I never feel like having the stuff we have (though I make a lunch from that anyways). I’ve been craving french fries for weeks now.
There’s also a gym I’d like to join up the street… but it’s directly across from a KFC (which I don’t even like, but damn does it still smell good!)
It sucks to have those smells wafting around you. I feel that way sometimes when I light my candles - brownies, pumpkin, coffee, etc. - and I start thinking, “hmmm, I could go for some chocolate right now!”
I just remind myself that it’s a candle and I’ll just enjoy the smell, which is the whole purpose.
Maybe you could just bask in the smell and stop actively comparing his Quizno’s sub to your meager shake? Think that way…
I understand completely - my office is right across from the kitchen.
Fast food isn’t usually a problem, but folks here seem to eat an awful lot of tasty smelling food.
Hungry…so hungry…
A good friend of mine went on a doctor supervised fast to lose weight. He was prett obese. I think he went from around 600 to around 250.
When I visited him the change was pretty dramatic.
OH, btw, he lives in Las Vegas. As we drove around town it hit me how hard it had to be to do the fast because 99% of the billboards around town featured beautiful photographs of food advertising the ultra cheap buffets around town.
But it doesn’t require the advance planning that “real” food does. If you’re not the sort who naturally takes well to planning meals in advance, having to do so can make a diet impossible to stick to in the same way that bad-tasting food can.
Slim-Fast also means you don’t have to try to figure out which thing you’re best off ordering from a calorie and nutrition standpoint, and that can be counter-intuitive. At a restaurant, a salad can end up having more calories than, say, a hamburger, because of the toppings and dressing on the salad. You also don’t have to think about portion sizes, which is another thing that’s not intuitively obvious to some of us.
