In last month's survey, a reader commented that office goodies are her biggest downfall and wanted to know how to avoid office treats. Great question! 

It's hard avoiding the office snack bar every day, much less this time of year when the holidays has everyone excited about food and people are sharing every treat they desire. It's awesome they want to spread the holiday spirit, but frustrating for those of us who want to lose weight or struggle with overeating food. 

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This reader wrote...

As someone who worked in corporate America for 20 years, I know just how hard it is to resist the urge to dive into the office snack bar every hour. No amount of willpower can hold you back when you have snacks and sweets staring you in the face all day tempting you to indulge! 

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Not to mention, you're surrounded by co-workers mindlessly chowing down in front of you making the temptation greater. Ugh! The struggle is real. 

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When 3pm rolls around, it's natural for people to cave and fall victim to these snacks. It's the end of the day, our bodies and minds are tired. They need energy!

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Avoiding the office snack bar is impossible, which is why you need to learn how to deal with office treats when faced with temptation. This one tip will help!

Avoiding office treats doesn't involve running in the opposite direction to hide, drinking more water or eating more vegetables. Sure, you can do any or all of those things, but chances are they're not going to help you that much. You're ability to resist will only last so long before you cave.

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That's why you need to have a plan! 

Have A Plan​

I've said this before. You have to plan to lose weight, and that goes for maintaining it too! If you're not a planner, there's no way around this. You have to plan to eat well. Shift your mind from your weight and food to becoming a ninja focused planner!

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Let's think about this for a minute. Before you go to a meeting with your boss, you have a plan. You mentally prepare yourself for questions about your work as well as good or bad feedback about the quality of your work. Why wouldn't you do that same mental preparation about food?

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You know you're going to be faced with office treats. It's inevitable. Prepare yourself for how you will react in those situation. Will you share? Will you walk away? Will you allow yourself to choose one or will you have a healthy substitute on hand to satisfy that urge?​

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This is where a health coach can be valuable to you. They help you figure out how to change your behavior to deal with these situations using role playing or other counseling techniques.​

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Think of your relationship with food as being no different than how you deal with people. Prepare yourself for how you will react when faced with those moments of flashy food in your face. 

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If you know 3pm is a hard time of day for yourself (like it is for most of us), plan for it! Pack a healthy snack and bring it with you to the office, or keep a stash of food in your purse or desk. When I traveled every week, my suitcase was full of snacks. 

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Some of my favorite on-the-go snacks are apples, nut butter, carrots, hummus, granola bars, nuts, seeds, healthy muffins or cookies and yogurt.

Planning is key to weight management! It sounds so simple and really when it comes down to it, it really is that simple. Watch my Facebook live video to hear 1 additional tip I give to make office treats feel less attractive.

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Be sure to follow me on Facebook so you get to see more of my videos. I'm going to be doing a lot of these as we head into the new year!