Ask HN: How do you control your diet while working at a tech company?

One big factor is just knowing what you're eating. If you're lucky enough to work somewhere that provides meals, request that your food services provide nutritional data so that you can make healthy choices. Once you have that information, it's up to you what to do with it.

Figure out who is selecting the food, and offer to help them choose. They may consider the selection process a hassle and may (or may not!) appreciate the help.

I can chime in a bit in this topic, I've been in similar situations. Comes down to self control, that's easy to say, hard to do...

You need to OWN your diet, OWN what you drink, OWN what you do, OWN all of your actions. I personally will eat a fruit in the morning with a coffee, more coffee throughout the day, mid day I eat either a protein bar (~300cals, or a healthy protein/yogurt/fruit/spinach shake, that can get over 400 cals). I am a really big advocate of fruits, from the sugary-higher calorie bananas (great potassium, bananas are my personal headache killer with a big glass of water), berries, clementines -- easy to eat office fruits.

I personally hate food filled work areas, I have misophonia. I think food should not be in production settings, there should be designated areas for that. Due to some of my coworkers that eat like retarded lhamas and have zero manners (but are insanely smart and talented in their work...), leads me to wearing headphones most of the time.

Mostly sedentary work, I personally eat most of my calories when I am home later after working out/after work.

Resist temptations! Practice healthy habits, build on those habits, habits become habits :)

I also realized I ranted on my reply for you, there is no magic solution other than practicing good habits, practice self control, and then you'll just find yourself making better food choices.

Do what I do at my company that has no free snacks etc on an average day - fast or only drink coffee.

Learn about calories, learn what a 400cal meal looks like, plan from there!

I only succeed by banning myself from office snacks entirely (or only allowing a couple explicit healthy options).

For meals I only eat from the salad bar. It takes a few days to really set this this in motion, but then it's easier to maintain until I've cut the weight I want to.

If you've never succeeded before in losing weight it helps to have a personal trainer if you can afford it.

Drink lots of carbonated water and don’t eat until you hear your stomach making gurgling sounds, then eat until you’re full. I put on some weight in December / January (due to holiday foods, and then an accident that stopped me from exercising for a few weeks). Following these guidelines I’ve shed those ~10 pounds. YMMV.

Edit: at my job we have free snacks, coffee and water, but no meals or sugary beverages so not exactly your same situation.

I’m answering this in a sincere manner: if you want to eat healthy, the just eat healthy. There’s no trick or “life hack” needed.

I just ban myself from eating anything with high carbs/sugar in the office. I find it easier to have classes of food that are not allowed rather than curtail myself at specific levels or count calories.

This is what I do:

20 or 30 minutes before lunch I eat an apple. There was a study a few years ago that showed you can crowd out unhealthy food by eating an apple or pear before every meal.

I bring in frozen vegetables from home and I have to eat them before I eat any of the office snacks.

Never drink soda.

Making clear rules makes it easier to follow compared to having to use willpower and thinking about each situation.

Drink more water. Make a point of picking appropriate snacks. Eat more veggies and protein.

Skip 'carby' food (noodles, rice, bread, potatoes) (this will help you from feeling sleepy later).

> I constantly find myself failing to exercise restraint

at least you know :)

> what strategies do you use to practice moderation? And for those of you who have changed your behaviors, how did you do so?

We ate a lot of Tex-Mex, started ordering chicken soup instead of enchilada plates.

Skipped breakfast doughnuts. Skipped pie and cake.

Didn't add sugar or flavoring to coffee. Replaced all sugary drinks with water.

Did 'quantified self'; every morning weighed myself in the bathroom and sequentially wrote my weight on the mirror with a dry-erase marker.

Keeping close track of all calories, setting a daily ceiling on calories, and trying to burn ~1000 calories a day via exercise so I can enjoy slightly larger meals.

If I feel full after a meal, I know I've made a mistake. Cutting most carbs (not Keto) is a great way to feel more full. Slow down when eating and completely avoid sugary drinks.

I weaned myself off of Coke by switching to Coke Zero then to water/tea/coffee with a sprinkle of a packet of sugar for taste.

Don't mindlessly eat at your desk. It's unsanitary and has been proven to cause people to eat more than they would consciously.

When you skip a meal, don't cave to your body's urge to eat double next meal. You will just send it straight to fat. Remember when you skip meals, then carefully portion the next meal to avoid the set back.

A good low carb, medium-low fat, high protein shake with lots of vitamins is a great way to skip a meal, maintain muscle mass, and avoid the insulin/cortisol cycle that drives fat storage. These shakes should be enough to discourage you from partaking in the temptation around you.

If the shakes aren't enough try celery, carrots, fresh fruit (not dried more on that later), and other low carb foods.

Never keep dried fruit around, it's too calorie dense for our own good. Would you eat 24 apricots? No? Then why are you eating 24 dried apricots?

I still don't bring lunch but I avoid pizza, taco bell, burgers, etc. Small bento box with lots of salad and no fried stuff. BBQ without any biscuits/bread. Rotisserie chicken with steamed vegetables. Protein shakes.

I've found the thing that works for me to do is to log every single bit of food I eat from the office.

I keep measuring cups in the office kitchen and a food scale to weigh my food. If you're eating premade food that doesn't have a label, it makes it a little more difficult to count but apps like MyFitnessPal suggest similar items that make it easier to get a rough estimation of how many calories you're ingesting as well as how the macros break down for the items.

Luckily for me, my office tends to buy a lot of prepackaged items that have labels I can scan into the app to record everything but even then it can be hard to be precise. I've found that forcing myself to log the food I eat makes me think twice about going after the junk food and snacks. Also, the data you'll collect will be invaluable if you're tracking your weight as well and you can play around and see what calorie levels/macros work best for you.

As a side note, intermittent fasting has worked wonders for me when trying to cut weight. It makes it almost difficult for me to go over 1800 calories.

This seems like something many young adults work out in college. The "freshman 15" is exactly what you're describing except with the school dining hall instead of the workplace cafeteria. You just need to learn to say no, it's really as simple as that. If that's not possible consider you may need medication like Vyvanse or other medical help to stop your excessive eating.

I think "dieting" in general is more difficult when you ignore one other part of the equation - exercise/movement.

I find my appetite is much easier to control when I'm lightly moving around most of the day.

Also keeping hydrated (while avoiding sugars) can reduce urges - I drink tea or water.

Finally, keeping healthier snacks around can fight the unhealthy ones if they're a habit.

> And for those of you who have changed your behaviour, how did you do so?

- Notice it when I eat something just to “feel good”, or to distract myself from “feeling bad” because some kind of stressor came up. Food is fuel not a stimulant.

- Notice the moment the urge to snack hits, and ask myself if a glass of water will do. Somehow for a while I confused thirst for hunger, doesn’t happen now.

- Work out: seems to have a positive impact over time on food consumption patterns too.

The most important thing is that you already know this is a behaviour change problem (not just blaming your physical body). Meditation helped me a lot with that.

I have a couple strategies: - If im hungry I drink a glass of water first. Most of the time I drink something that impulse to eat goes away while satisfying my wandering mind. - I like to eat apples, they are sweet enough to be a good snack but not very high in calories. - I bike to work (4mi each way) which helps if I do eat more than I want.

Use MyFitnessPal to track what you're eating and your goal weight. At the end of the day, it'll estimate your weight in 5 weeks if you ate like that every day for five weeks. (e.g., "If every day were like today... You'd weigh 158.9 lbs in 5 weeks")

It's a good incentive to avoid tempting, but unnecessary foods.

I've found that it's much easier to eat healthy when I regularly do some form of cardio exercise at least every other day.

After working out I naturally tend toward healthy foods, maybe because I don't want to undo all of the hard work.

When I don't work out for a while, my appetite and digestion get messed up and I start boredom eating more.

As someone who just ate a bunch of Oreos and a Coke from the snack room, I can deeply relate to this post.

Well, you'll lose if you don't exercise mindfulness. When I started in tech I was 145 and fit as an ox. Finally at one point 2 years ago I was 250 closing in on 260 and I decided to take charge. I'm now at 194 but those 10 years of bad habits can't have done good.

Talking from personal experience here. I am a 33 years old programmer, and I've been working on IT for 13+ years. I have always struggled with weight, and just like you, cooking myself and calorie counting are the only methods that work for me to lose weight (with or without exercise). Starting February I decided to diet (USDA guidelines except the diary recommendations), exercise regularly (4 days a week strength training and cardio, a day of full cardio, light walks the 2 other days), and for the first time started Intermittent Fasting daily , which basically means you have an 8 hours eating window for the total food of the day. Long story short, fasting was a game changer for me, cravings are gone now, I no longer feel the urgent need to eat when I see food or when my eating time starts, its so much easier to control myself and avoid over eating. I've lost about 9 kg of just fat and gained 2 kg of muscle, not to mention I have more energy overall, and doing it is actually very easy, it feels like I'm cheating somehow. As for the social situations involving food, that's the hardest actually. I tend to avoid them or I just attend and sit at the table to drink coffee or tea. Some other times I would just adjust my eating window and/or save calories (if I ingest more calories than normal that day, I would cut calories other days) when there is an incoming event. For me, it helps to see calories and macros (protein,fat,carbs) not as a daily requirement but something I have to comply with on a weekly basis. You will be tempted to follow what most people do during the day (mindless eating at any time), but please don't, it is highly unhealthy. And try to move and exercise , sitting for too long is literately killing us.

My answer is going to be controversial: I don't control my diet (much). Instead, I burn the equivalent caloric intake.

The math is simple enough for engineers. Nutrients and vitamins are important, but most of weight is calories in vs calories out. ~3500/pound of flesh. What did you weigh 6 months ago vs now? Multiply by 3500, divide by 180 and there's your additional calories burned per day you need to hit. (I prefer to aggregate by week and do fewer, longer/harder sessions). Take a morning 30 minute walk. Run the neighbourhood three times a week. Whatever it takes.

I find that being aware of the pain of burning additional calories also tends to make me be a bit more aware of what I'm eating. I love these muffins I can get at my local grocery store, but when I realized they were 500 calories each I went "hold on, that's a half an hour of hard running on the treadmill!".

I found that for me, paying a personal trainer was worth the cost because I have a hard time going to the gym otherwise. I'm still working on that, finding a way to force myself to work out without the trainer, but I like the guy and he really does make sure I get the most of my time at the gym.

I'm really bad at preventing myself from eating junk, to the point where I gained well over ten points on my first month at work…I ended up drinking a ton of carbonated water to fill myself so I wouldn't eat as much and it seemed to help somewhat. That and ten packets of wasabi seaweed because it's low on calories.