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How do you deal with food pushers?


GSG

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A little backstory here: I'm trying to lose some weight (again) and I've been pretty good about logging my food (Lose It app) and getting daily exercise. During the week I'm an early riser (5 or 515 am) and then I take the dog on a decent walk. I usually eat my breakfast at around 630 or 7. I take an early lunch (11 am) so we have coverage at work.  I usually have a snack in the afternoon and try to workout after work for at least 30 minutes or take the dog on another (longer) walk. My gf and I have been really trying to increase our veggie intake instead of carbs and sugars. We've been spiralizing veggies for pasta, etc.

 

Anyway, at least a couple times a week a coworker tries to force me to have what amounts to a second breakfast: breakfast burritos, bagels, donuts, etc. They're SUPER insistent that I absolutely HAVE to have something to eat. I've explained to them so many times that I've already eaten. If it's something planned ahead (sometimes we do breakfast for birthdays instead of cake/ice cream) then I will adjust my other meals/snacks to accommodate the festivities.

 

So my question is, how do you deal with these food pushers? I came pretty close to losing my s#!t this morning as 2 of my coworkers were hammering me about having a breakfast burrito after I had already told them I had eaten breakfast.

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But really, in our office, it seems that everyone is on some sort of unusual dietary experiment (myself included). However, whenever we have some sort of celebration, everyone will bring in a bunch of food that no one wants to eat, so much of it simply sits there. But no one harasses each other about their food choices. Maybe you should take on a sad expression and ask your coworkers to respect your dietary needs. Give them a little guilt trip. Honestly, they are being pretty rude to you.

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Maybe just say, "I've already had breakfast, but I'll join you for a cup of coffee."  

 

If that doesn't work do what Ulty said about grinding the burrito into the floor with your heel.  lol  

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Just now, Ulty said:

But really, in our office, it seems that everyone is on some sort of unusual dietary experiment (myself included). However, whenever we have some sort of celebration, everyone will bring in a bunch of food that no one wants to eat, so much of it simply sits there. But no one harasses each other about their food choices. Maybe you should take on a sad expression and ask your coworkers to respect your dietary needs. Give them a little guilt trip. Honestly, they are being pretty rude to you.

 

The part that kills me is that most of the people in our office are always talking about their "diets." We have a few on keto, a few on some "shake" diets, etc.

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I went through this a lot when I started my new job almost two years ago and it was a big cultural shift from my previous job - people here eat a lot of junk food, bring treats all the time and generally are less aware of their health.

 

My advice is to stick to your guns, set the tone and, if necessary, be forcefully direct. One thing that stopped people from harassing me was they would see all the healthy food I brought for lunch and realized that I just wasn't going to partake in a lot of unhealthy eating habits.

 

Another strategy is to just be up front and honest with them by saying something like - 'Healthy eating and watching what I eat right now is very important to my health, so it would really help me if you all respect these decisions and no longer try to get me to eat things I've repeatedly said I don't want to eat.'

 

Last resort, head to HR. Hopefully it doesn't come to that but it may be necessary.

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I have a few coworkers that are constantly organizing food days, ice cream days, pizza days, etc. For every little occasion they want to force carbs and sugar into the office. What bothered me most was they were always going around with "Sign up sheets" and demanding to know what I was going to contribute. I politely declined the first couple times, but it was incessant. 

 

I ended up sending an email to them with our supervisors CC'd and said something like "I appreciate the inclusion for the food days however I am adhering to a diet and am requesting to not be included in any future food days." 

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In my family my wife is the food pusher.  She always makes a large supper meal.  It's generally pretty good, so I eat way more than I need.  Lately, I've been eating earlier than usual, by myself, to avoid overeating at her daily banquet feast meals.  I'll often fill up on vegetables or fruit, and I've cut back on consuming bread, pasta and meat.  That, and I've been trying to drink a lot of water, and get a fair amount of exercise in each day.   I've dropped ~ 15 lbs this spring and summer.  I'd like to drop another 10 lbs or so.  *like*

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Talk to HR and file a complaint.  Explain that the burrito reminds you of a penis and you view this is sexual harassment in the workplace.  Contact the ACLU and inform of how you are being treated and document EVERYTHING.  Let your employer know that you will seek restitution if the co-workers are not forced to take a sensitivity class and/or terminated.  

 

Or just stay out of the office lounge area.

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1 hour ago, GSG said:

A little backstory here: I'm trying to lose some weight (again) and I've been pretty good about logging my food (Lose It app) and getting daily exercise. During the week I'm an early riser (5 or 515 am) and then I take the dog on a decent walk. I usually eat my breakfast at around 630 or 7. I take an early lunch (11 am) so we have coverage at work.  I usually have a snack in the afternoon and try to workout after work for at least 30 minutes or take the dog on another (longer) walk. My gf and I have been really trying to increase our veggie intake instead of carbs and sugars. We've been spiralizing veggies for pasta, etc.

 

Anyway, at least a couple times a week a coworker tries to force me to have what amounts to a second breakfast: breakfast burritos, bagels, donuts, etc. They're SUPER insistent that I absolutely HAVE to have something to eat. I've explained to them so many times that I've already eaten. If it's something planned ahead (sometimes we do breakfast for birthdays instead of cake/ice cream) then I will adjust my other meals/snacks to accommodate the festivities.

 

So my question is, how do you deal with these food pushers? I came pretty close to losing my s#!t this morning as 2 of my coworkers were hammering me about having a breakfast burrito after I had already told them I had eaten breakfast.

 

That's bizarre. What business is it of theirs what you eat or when?

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1 hour ago, Enhance said:

I went through this a lot when I started my new job almost two years ago and it was a big cultural shift from my previous job - people here eat a lot of junk food, bring treats all the time and generally are less aware of their health.

 

My advice is to stick to your guns, set the tone and, if necessary, be forcefully direct. One thing that stopped people from harassing me was they would see all the healthy food I brought for lunch and realized that I just wasn't going to partake in a lot of unhealthy eating habits.

 

Another strategy is to just be up front and honest with them by saying something like - 'Healthy eating and watching what I eat right now is very important to my health, so it would really help me if you all respect these decisions and no longer try to get me to eat things I've repeatedly said I don't want to eat.'

 

Last resort, head to HR. Hopefully it doesn't come to that but it may be necessary.

 

+1 here and good suggestions with the other responses to the other posters.  The only tweak I would make to @Enhance's direct statement would be to include something to the effect of 'When I tell you I'm not interested in joining you for breakfast and you insist anyway it makes me feel like "fill in the blank".  I used to work in what sounds like a similar office to you and I had especially thickheaded co-workers who just couldn't take a hint.  I tried using dead faced cold language "No."  Didn't work.  I tried using jokes, "Ahh geez, I just can't I'm getting older and the 'ol metabolism isn't what it once was."  I finally had to tap into my old Emotional Intelligence books and it finally worked.  This sounds particularly exhausting and I'm sorry you're going through a frankly stupid situation at work.

 

The sarcastic part of me wants you to tell your co-workers that you don't need to eat at work because you know how to budget your time effectively and are able to eat before coming into work.

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1 hour ago, Fru said:

I have a few coworkers that are constantly organizing food days, ice cream days, pizza days, etc. For every little occasion they want to force carbs and sugar into the office. What bothered me most was they were always going around with "Sign up sheets" and demanding to know what I was going to contribute. I politely declined the first couple times, but it was incessant. 

 

I ended up sending an email to them with our supervisors CC'd and said something like "I appreciate the inclusion for the food days however I am adhering to a diet and am requesting to not be included in any future food days." 

 

Ugh, I had this situation too.  It took a while but after I repeatedly told these people that I planned to contribute, "Nothing."  They finally took the hint.  It took a serious death stare and some hostile body language to get the point across though.  

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I had this happen to me for about 9 or 10 years...food was constantly put on my plate without my expressed permission and I rarely had a say in what I was going to eat.  Sometimes, get this, I was force fed and sometimes I was verbally threatened...I was told that if I didn't finish everything on my plate I would not get any snacks later.  It sucked and I didn't know how to handle it so I just waited it out until I got to college.  I just had to wait it out...Moms can really be tough.

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1 minute ago, teachercd said:

I had this happen to me for about 9 or 10 years...food was constantly put on my plate without my expressed permission and I rarely had a say in what I was going to eat.  Sometimes, get this, I was force fed and sometimes I was verbally threatened...I was told that if I didn't finish everything on my plate I would not get any snacks later.  It sucked and I didn't know how to handle it so I just waited it out until I got to college.

:cop:

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