I had 3 day-long meetings last week. Lunch was brought in every day- pizza and sandwiches - enough for 15 - 20 people and we had only 8 in the meeting. Then there was the big overflowing candy jars passed around the table every few minutes. Finally, on the thrid day someone brought in a goopy cake that must have been 13" by 26" (and we still only had 8 people at the meeting!)

I had my usual breakfast at home, and my usual packed lunch of green beans, ground beef, and an oz of cheddar cheese every day. The first day was kind of tough because people wanted to make sure I was offered all of the poisonous goodies. By day three it was actually business as usual ("Let me guess - you're having ground beef and green beans today, right?")

I felt really good about the week, and folks were really good at not sugar pushing once they realized I was serious about not joining in AND that I wasn't feeling deprived or left out. These kinds of meetings have been tough for me in the past, and the worst ones are when I'm traveling and it is harder to pack the right food. Getting past the mindset that there is all this free and potentially yummy stuff has been a challenge in the past. Knowing that I'm currently tracking to be at goal in late July makes it a whole lot easier. It also really helped when the coworkers get used to me not joining in the eat-fest. They got really good at leaving me out of the candy jar passing and other food sharing behaviors once they learned that was the right way to include me in the festivities.

Lynda