How to resist trigger foods at work?

[CrimsonMama]

I've been scouring the internet and I just cant seem to find anything relevant to my situation! And I am desperate! So I am reaching out here!!!

The situation: I was doing really well with my dieting. I've struggled to overcome obstacles at work as I work around food, serving food and left overs are free so its extremely tempting to have cheesecake or sticky toffee sponge or other sweet treats.

I've mostly got around this by allowing myself just one bite rather than a whole portion.

But recently the chef has started home baking these super delicious cookies for me to take around and hand out. And I'm afraid it's a trigger food for me. Especially big fat choc chip cookies. I find it hard to resist her stem ginger , vanilla and almond ones too. But sometimes I can just have one or very very occasionally resist altogether. I take my own sugar free cookies (just two) and add them into my calorie count to try to resist the chefs ones. But the choc chip ones are irresistible. And I end up having 2 or 3!! And they are big! Like 4 inch diameter.

When she makes lemon ones I can totally resist as I dont like lemon much! And on the days when she doesnt work the other chef doesnt bake so it's just normal biscuits which I used to find hard to resist but now dont bother me as I have my own "cookies" and a banana that I take to work.

But these damn cookies!!!

And it's getting bad as yesterday i just binged for the whole day after work after feeling like 'a failure' for breaking my diet. I ate so much my tummy hurt and I felt sick and I stuck my fingers down my throat to be sick on purpose to 'undo' some of the bad. And I felt pleased about that!

Today same thing has happened with cookie temptation- the choc chip ones! I ate 5. Most I've ever eaten! Came home and ate more rubbish. Not quite as bad as yesterday and I am not going to make myself sick. But I want to get back on track and I need to know how to stop myself eating these cookies!

Advice online mostly presumes you can avoid them. But I have to walk around with them as part of my job! So no avoiding!

What can i do!!!

[SewMore]

Oh dear, how difficult. Could you decide to choose one cookie, put it aside to eat in the evening when you are home again, and focus on knowing you can have it later but not now? Then when you are home, celebrate your fantastic resistance, and after your meal, decide if you really want to eat it, and perhaps just eat a 1/2 and put the rest in the freezer?

[CrimsonMama Restart June 2023 in reply to SewMore]

As it's a trigger food I am pretty certain I will eat it! But I like the idea! Just having one would be an improvement and if all my focus is on knowing it's there and I CAN have it, just not right away, might distract me from the others!

It's certainly worth a try!!

[SewMore in reply to CrimsonMama]

Yes, that’s what I hope for you.... you will know that you can have one, the one that you will like the best, but not right now - good luck! You can do it!

[Lytham 3 stone]

Hi good to see you back ! I try to avoid even one, one would be enough to set me off! Would you like to join us on the weigh in today? Here's the link, hope to see you there! x

healthunlocked.com/weight-l...

[Hasel17]

I would see and treat it as poison and I always did.

I would have never eaten something during my work, especially not when I was in the restaurant/hotel business except in my breaks and self-prepared or homemade.

My hands might be full of gems and whatever and no one knows which illness the other person has. And for me, it doesn't matter if the food is open or wrapped.

I already drove everyone crazy with my handwashing between each step when I prepared a meal for someone else.

[itselenax]

This situation sounds a lot like me to be honest. Last year, we were in the exact same situation with trigger foods and bingeing. It's going to be hard to resist these foods but the most important thing is that you don't punish yourself for eating these cookies. Please don't. There is nothing inherently wrong with eating a cookie - they taste great! It's only when you punish yourself by bingeing, purging or restricting that it becomes an issue. As someone above said, try just eating one cookie. Savour the taste of it and make it last a really long time. Try to use willpower to not eat any more. It is really hard and doesn't happen straight away but you need to train yourself essentially.