I have been mentioning our office in some discussions so I might as well expose it because it is one of the reasons for my hesitation to go OMAD. Ours is a big office with many employees that there is a birthday celebration almost every week. When there is free food, I don’t think I have the guts to refuse the invitation to eat. I am posting this scenario because I want to know if you have the courage to deprive yourself of free food. Any one here?
Resisting the invitation for free food
- Thread starter Corzhens
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Oh, I've been in office environments like that too - it's hard! Especially when your co workers ask "why aren't you eating any cake?" or whatever else is on offer for free. I have been able to do it but it certainly takes some willpower! You could always pack some away and save it for your eating window?
Hello everyone and thanks @Corzhens for your honesty. The reason why everyone on Omad diet should have near-complete discipline is the temptations. Imagine this: you've just had your one meal of vegetables at 1:00 Pm and it's clocking 7:00 Pm when a lovely friend offers you a mouthwatering fried piece of chicken!
At this time hunger has started to set in and the scent alone is mind changing. So, cheers to all who have stuck to their Omad diet principles; it's not easy.
At this time hunger has started to set in and the scent alone is mind changing. So, cheers to all who have stuck to their Omad diet principles; it's not easy.
Refusing for free food to your friends or neighbor is a little awkward they will feel you dont like what they offer to you. From what I do when my friend or neighbor offer me a free food is I taste it a little and tell them how good is the food. By the way refusing for delicious food is the hardest decision you will ever face.
I always consider anything that is given to me for free as a blessing. I was taught to never refuse free foods. I've experience your problem, every Friday in my office before we have free foods. Even though I'm already full I can't refuse because it will be rude. My boss gets angry if you don't partake in the foods that she prepared. On your part, maybe you can try to explain to them that you are on a specific diet. I'm sure they will understand.
This thread made me smile because I remember this one scenario during the times I am struggling with my weight management. It was in our office when my officemate celebrated her birthday and she brought a huge amount of food that can feed everyone in the faculty twice. I felt quite awkward and guilty because as much I want to avoid food, I felt that its kinda sad not to oblige to a generous and kind offer. In the end, I accepted the offer but I didnt eat so much.
After that, I went contemplating on how should I handle those kind of situation if I face it again in the future.
Here are some of the things I usually do:
First, I always try to tell my family, friends and colleagues about my situation. In a very courteous way, I always explain to them that I have certain limitations in my food intake so I ask for their understanding if there will be times that I would have to resist their offers.
Also, I see to it that I am consistent with my eating habits so that the people around me will believe my situation.
Finally, I always see to it that I avoid overstaying during parties and celebrations. As soon as I have paid respect fo the person who invited me, I always bid goodbye earlier than most of the visitors
After that, I went contemplating on how should I handle those kind of situation if I face it again in the future.
Here are some of the things I usually do:
First, I always try to tell my family, friends and colleagues about my situation. In a very courteous way, I always explain to them that I have certain limitations in my food intake so I ask for their understanding if there will be times that I would have to resist their offers.
Also, I see to it that I am consistent with my eating habits so that the people around me will believe my situation.
Finally, I always see to it that I avoid overstaying during parties and celebrations. As soon as I have paid respect fo the person who invited me, I always bid goodbye earlier than most of the visitors
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Yes, that’s also one of the factors why I had to eat the free meals they offer in the office during occasions. I’m afraid that they might think that I was snubbing their food and it’s out of ethics especially in our office which is a bank. But with the temptation and craving, I guess it is easy to understand that those 2 factors, are not easy to curb. My husband’s advice is for me to declare to everyone in the office that I was on a diet. However, I find that too personal.
While it is not always that easy to resist the urge to take part in free meals, I believe that it is necessary that we see the need to adjust our time for Omad to eat only during the period of free food at your office. This is necessary as you are trying to discipline yourself when we are talking of doing a diet.
That's the thing as we have come to see that for us to achieve our diet goals, we should always try as much as we can to be focused. Rejecting the food in a polite way is one way that we can get things working pretty okay for us as well.
This is even more tempting when you are caught up in the middle of a celebration. Birthdays are the most notorious when everyone around has to be fed a cake by the person celebrating.
Yeah, OMAD may not be for you since it's more important to partake in their celebration as coworkers and it's part of the culture of your company. But you can still diet even not OMAd, just reduce the portions of your other meals or don't eat anymore after, you even get to save money.
Yeah, it is really hard I also experiencing this right now ma'am you're not alone. It is really hard since some people think when you don't accept invitation in gatherings you seem disrespectful to them. My solution for this is to let them know in advance that you are in OMAD. Letting them know that you are in these diet will help you to respectfully decline their invitation. I believe in starting a diet, the people around you should know about this so that they will help you through this journey.
This can be a tough one, especially when everyone is eating and your stuck there watching. If you know in advance that people are going to be eating e.g an office party, I think that you should take the day off OMAD. If its a regular thing then you will have to find a way to resist. If it is a one off do yourself a favor and take the day off , then the next day just continue with OMAD. In my opinion this is the biggest flexibility that you have with OMAD.
What I do is I try to schedule cheat days so when I know an occasion is coming up I will delay my weekly cheat day and just have it on the day someone is having a birthday. If it is unavoidable and if I feel like giving in to satisfy my cravings or hunger I will do it, but I won't eat just for the sake of it or appeasing social norms because ultimately my health is more important.
Quite a wise tactic you have got. The only big problem with that is you developing social issues at the work place. Some co-workers might think you either hate or envy them to miss their big occassions. Also there is the issue of the evwnts which come up as total surprises.
I also have times where free foods are offered to me back to back and I still discipline myself while still enjoying the free food.What I do is to get my own package and store it away until my time to eat, this is like eating my cake and having it back.So discipline yourself to eat within your OMAD window.
That's right. It's hard to say no when everyone else is eating. Whenever free food for everyone is offered, or for a treat, the urge is even harder and I feel out of place if I won't join in the fun. It usually happens in the office. If I have the option to take it home then I will just take it home but sometimes it just feels awkward if I will not eat too.
I think that's the best way to respond. Not to refuse completely but just take a little so as not to ruin the diet. I agree that we can't say no all the time. Anyway, there's an option to burn the calories as you've mentioned through exercise.
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