So I work for a government training organization and there are many hails and farewells (welcoming and saying good bye), monthly observances, formal balls....you get the idea. I am responsible for two organizations, that are not collocated and while their missions are complimentary, there really isn't a lot of joint events between the two. All of this is to set the stage for the food gauntlet I had to face at work this week.

1. Wed. Farewell for the senior protocol officer....formal luncheon buffet style. So my strategy going in was to use a salad plate only, get a good amount of salad, and the put small amounts of whatever else I could on top. (I'm just in the 3 month diet phase now). So not too bad, salad, mixed veggies, small amount of roasted potatoes and a pitifully small roasted chicken thigh. Put one in the win column!

2. Thu. Farewell to two of the tech nerds in organization number one. This group had the bright idea to have an open "snack area" from 1000-1400 so I took some olives and mozzarella cheese. No one brought salad, but this one went pretty good as well, had fresh veggies, some fresh pineapples, 2 small meatballs and two fresh tomato, basil, mozzarella on small bruschetta with balsamic vinegar. Ate socially and then had meetings the rest of the day so I was out of the office. Put a second one in the win column!

3. Fri. Farewell to one of the instructors in organization number two. This one was a "comfort food casserole" potluck....ugh. So I made a big salad with lots of veggies and brought a bottle of dressing. Plan going in was to use the same technique as Wed. But there was a giant problem here....there was very little protein and lots of potatoes, pasta and cheese (melty kind). I took very small portions of three things on top of my lettuce and then I went back (first mistake) and got more of a couple of the potato dishes (mistake number two).

I've been thinking about why Friday was so much more difficult to navigate than Wed and Thu because I truly did not feel deprived/upset/anxious at either of those two. I think there were two important differences.

A. the first two events were controlled...the lunch was one time through the line and then the program started/I left the scene of the second one. On Friday, since I don't get to see these guys that much (I used to work with them daily but then got promoted and am now located with the other organization even though I am responsible for both) so we sat around chatting, people kept going back to the buffet line, passed out cake...

B. I knew going in what was going to be available at the first two...not the third.

So you may be thinking, but Beth, Friday doesn't seem like such a big deal...and lunch wasn't...but for whatever reason, it led to lots of snacking/eating while I was making dinner which hasn't been a problem for me in the past few weeks. I'm still working on why one triggered the other....right now I'm blaming the carbs!

I guess my takeaway from this week is that I will always have the social aspect of my job and I've got to use this time before I have surgery to keep experimenting with what will work for me. I'm also taking a good lean protein to the next potluck in organization number two....they really need it. Beth