Is your job making you FAT? Part Two: Your office saboteur

We’re not going to have time to get out of here for lunch, so let’s order in Chinese. How many eggrolls do you want?

We’re going to Happy Hour after work for two-for-one margaritas—we can count on you to be there, right? You can skip the gym just one day!

I have a case of the Mondays that only cheese fries can cure! How about you?

I didn’t sleep well at all last night. Come with me to get a mocha at the coffee shop so I can wake up.

I brought a box of doughnuts for everyone!

Does any of this sound familiar? What can be an innocent invitation to lunch/dinner/happy hour/coffee break can easily be a dirty slight courtesy of your own personal office saboteur. You know them. You often love them. And they are making you FAT.

Although rarely executed with any sort of conscious malice, these colleagues exploit your weaknesses by linking the social side of your workplace with consumption, and they offer up high calorie comfort food and drinks disguised as well-deserved stress relief. The old adage that misery loves company could not be more applicable as these saboteurs search for validation from others to justify their bad decision making.

Once you have identified the repeat offenders, it is time to confront them. The first step to keeping these bad habit bandits at bay is verbally establishing your health and nutrition goals with them. Let them know you have made a conscious decision to eat healthier and that giant sandwiches and General Tsao chicken are not included in your plan. Be consistent with your new healthy eating habits, and they will learn quickly that you do not want to go in on pizza, split a hoagie, or drink penny pitchers with them anymore. While at first they might seem hurt or offended by your repeated opting out of their invitations to high-calorie hotspots, they will (if they are good friends with your best interest in mind) eventually start asking you to go places that have menu options conducive to your healthy lifestyle.

When your colleagues see the positive results of your healthy choices (e.g. your butt looks smaller, you have more energy, and you seem to always be in a good mood), they will begin to rethink their own decisions and share these decisions with you. One of my favorite things about being the office calorie Nazi and gym rat is that people share their stories with me. If someone ran 3 miles, I know about it. If someone said “No” to cake, I will have a memo on my desk by 3:00 p.m. about it. Just like they used to share their French fries with me, they now share their strides toward a healthy lifestyle. Trendsetting is not sanctioned only to entertainment and fashion, believe me. I’d like to think I started a workout trend in my office…or at least encouraged a few folks to dust off their old running shoes.

Invite your co-workers to make healthy decisions with you and give them the tools they need to make those good decisions WITH you:

1) Invite everyone to brownbag it and picnic in the park for lunch one day. Lead them in a walk afterwards.
2) If your gym allows you to bring a guest for free, offer to take a different co-worker each week.

3) Bring healthy alternatives to office get-togethers (see Part One: The Office Party for recipes).
4) Offer suggestions for restaurants with calorie-conscious options and be the first one in line to order. I guarantee your co-workers will order at least 100 fewer calories by hearing the healthier precedent you set.
5) Ask your office buddies to join you for a walk or jog after work.
6) Keep fresh fruit or 100 calorie packs in your office or cubicle for anyone who needs something to get them through the afternoon without a trip to the vending machine for a candy bar.
7) Be available for advice about healthy eating and exercise. While you don’t want to be the “pusher,” you can be a reliable shoulder to cry on for anyone in your office beginning this journey toward a healthy lifestyle. You can share your experience and sympathize with their struggles.

8) Offer to "Hungry Girl" people's favorite recipes. In other words, come up with a lower calorie version of your favorite co-workers' favorite dishes, and bring it to the next office party.

9) Don’t be someone else’s saboteur. Wait! What?!?

That’s right. Whether you know it or not, you could easily be someone else’s saboteur. Your favorite sushi place where you typically order a veggie roll with brown rice could be the SAME place your colleague can’t say no to the pork fried rice and cream cheese stuffed wontons. Be sensitive to others’ triggers. Food can be as addictive and comforting as other more obviously harmful addictions like cigarettes or alcohol. I’ll admit it. I can’t eat pizza from a box—it is a trigger food for me. If I eat one slice, I need three. I can’t have one cookie. If I have one, I need ten. So I just stay away from my trigger foods, and I’m okay. It is important to be sensitive to your co-workers' trigger foods and drinks, so you are not setting them up for failure either. Creating an open dialogue about trigger food is a great way to find out people’s weaknesses to AVOID putting them in situations in which they find it impossible to make a healthy decision (like putting a box of pizza or bag of cookies in front of me).

Your co-workers will thank you in the long run, and you can feel good about the positive influence you bring to their lives.