How to Say “No” to Sugar at Work

How to Say “No” to Sugar at Work

There’s always the person at work who brings in the donuts or cookies. They either don’t want them at their own house for fear of eating them. Or, they love treats and want to share the love with colleagues.

Whatever it is, you’re tired of those sugary treats tempting you….and succeeding. So, I’m going to teach you how to say “no” to sugar at work with less willpower. Yes, LESS willpower. Let’s go.

Know Your Reason Why

Our human brain needs some sort of motivation to do an action and NOT do an action. So, if you’re going to say “no” to sugar, you’ll need motivation to do so.

So know your reason why you want to say “no” to sugar. Does it make you feel bad physically or emotionally after? Are you trying to lose weight? Are you simply trying to cut down on sugar?

Once you’ve answered, dive a little deeper. For example, if you want to say “no” to sugar for the reason that you’re trying to lose weight, ask yourself why you’re trying to lose weight? What’s the impact on your life if you lose the weight you want to?

Getting to the root of your true “why” is highly motivating. Especially if you think of all the ways your life will improve just by successfully saying “no” to sugar.

Tip: It’s helpful to write down your reason(s) and put them in a spot at work to serve as a reminder. This way, your motivation to “say” no to sugar is there every day for you to see it.

• LISTEN OR READ: Eating Habits And How You Experience Life (Podcast Episode)
• LISTEN OR READ: Why Willpower Fails (Podcast Episode)

Catch Onto Your Brain

As I mentioned earlier, your brain needs something to motivate it to take action. This means it needs something that triggers or cues it to want to pick up the sweet treat and eat it.

Oftentimes at work, this is an emotion such as stress or another uncomfortable or unpleasant emotion. Sometimes, it is just SEEING the treat. Other times, it can be that someone is directly offering you the treat and you find it tough to say “no” to the person.

Catching onto your brain just means to notice why it wants to eat the sugar. Is it an emotion or is it seeing or even being offered the treat?

Just think about it for a moment and if something doesn’t stand out to you, then next time you are tempted, take a moment to see what triggered you.

• LISTEN OR READ: Part 1: Eating Behavior Triggers (Podcast Episode)
• GET WEEKLY TIPS: Eating Habit and Weight Loss Tips

“Treat” the Trigger

Once you’ve determined your trigger (what cues you to want to eat the sugar), you’ll “treat” it. Now, by this I just simply mean you’ll decrease or manage it.

Below are common ways to “treat” some common triggers:

Uncomfortable Emotion

An emotion is just a feeling in your body that is fueled by your thoughts. When you keep thinking about the negative emotion or the thing you perceive caused the negative emotion, it just keeps that negative emotion alive in your body.

So instead, manage or process the emotion by naming it. Then describe how it feels in your body. Take a few slow deep breaths. Allow it to pass.

You’ll be experiencing that emotion for less time, making it less likely to go and grab the donut to try to feel better.

Visual Trigger (Seeing the Sugary Treat)

What you can do here to “treat” or decrease the trigger, is make it less visible.

You can move it to a new location that is less visible (your colleagues will most likely thank you!). You can also walk a different route, so you don’t have to walk by them.

When someone brought in treats to work, I would walk by and say to myself “no thanks” every time I walked by. I literally got in the habit of doing that and it became very easy to not even have a desire for them.

Someone Offering You

Many times when someone offers you food that you don’t really want, you feel like you’re saying “no” to the person. Like you’re offending them or hurting their feelings.

Instead, think of it as you’re saying “no” to the sugar. You’re saying “no” to letting the sugar set you back on your goals. You’re saying “no” to any physical effects it may have on you.

If you feel the need to explain to the person why you’re saying, “no” (you don’t HAVE to explain), you can simply say that you’ve set some goals for yourself and sugar interferes. Or even that it doesn’t make you feel well (physically or emotionally).

Believe me, they’ll understand. If they don’t, oh well. It’s YOUR body.

• LISTEN OR READ: Stress and Eating Habits (Podcast Episode)
• LISTEN OR READ: Part 2: Making it More Difficult (Podcast Episode)

Celebrate!

When you do say “no” to sugar successfully, celebrate! Think of it kind of like a toddler learning how to walk. Some successful steps, some falls, some more successful steps. To encourage a toddler to keep taking the steps, a little cheering can help.

Same thing goes for any time you are successful with an eating behavior. Cheer yourself on. Celebrate!

This can be a little mental “woohoo!” or a smile. You can even make little check marks on a calendar and reward yourself with a non-food reward after you reach a certain number of checkmarks. So fun!

It’s important to have that little celebration or reward to keep encouraging it to turn down the sugar treat at work.

• LISTEN OR READ: Sugar Cravings and Your Brain (Podcast Episode)
• LISTEN OR READ: Part 3: Rewarding Yourself (Podcast Episode)

Final Notes (& Then Some)

When building or breaking habits, repetition is key. So if you want it to become an easy habit for you to say “no” to sugar at work, you must repeat the process above as often as you can.

It doesn’t have to be perfect. It doesn’t even have to be every time. If you give in and say “yes” to the sugar, no big deal. You haven’t lost what you’ve already accomplished unless you COMPLETELY give up.

So don’t quit on yourself. Keep that true “why” in mind each time. You’ve got this.

P.S. I can help you change your eating habits for life. Even the most painfully stubborn ones.

If you’d like to talk about your struggles and goals, I invite you to set up a free consult here.