HOW THE EF TO STAY SLIM WITH A 9-5.

Um, so you just worked 5 hours, you have a 30 minute break, and another 5 hours of work to look forward to....and your options for break food... ARE. FUCKING. WHAACK. 

UGH. GIRL. I HAVE BEEN THERE. Slash, I'm still there? I don't know if I've ever brought this up before because I semi HATE working so talking about it is just usually out of the question BUT yeah, I work at a 5 star hotel in a cocktail lounge and it's whatever.

It's a job...you know how it goes. But right now, praise jesus, we're on a 6-week break because of renovation which is why I've been knocking out blogs like a motha.

My dream is to not have to go back buuuuut obviously, I'm working on that. 

ANYWAYS.

If there's anyone that knows what you're going thru when you're trying to eat healthy BUT work is where you're at like 98% of the time...it's me.

And honestly...I guess I should be thankful that my work even provides food for us because I would assume that a lot of places don't. At first I thought it was like the coolest thing ever UNTIL I actually was forced to find something to eat 4-5 times a week and I just would rather die. 

My options range from a glorious meat (which I obviously don't eat and which is obviously not glorious), veggies FUCKING SOAKED in butter, tuna soaked in mayo, and a salad bar with wilted lettuce and about 9 gallons of ranch.

SO THAT'S COOL???

Seriously like what is a girl to do??

But it's so EASY to get side tracked with a job right?!

I feel like you just wake up one morning and realize that you don't fit into anything except leggings and big sweaters and it's just not the best day. 

SO

Here's what I've learned when it comes to trying to stay slim with a 9-5...or in my case...a 6:30pm - a 2:30 am. UGH.

1. 

EAT PROTEIN BEFORE YOU GO TO WORK 

This was definitely one of my biggest saviors. I started making one of my protein shakes every day before I left for work. Like I was literally ready to go to work, hair and make up done, not even hungry, but I would make sure that I would make a protein smoothie.

When we eat protein, it sends a signal to our brain to let us know that we are full. It also keeps us fuller for a longer period of time so this would help me work without feeling like I needed to keep running around trying to find ANYTHING to snack on. 

Because you know what happens when you try to find snacks at a bar? You end up eating like 8 trillion jalepeno stuffed olives, 20 pounds of salted mixed nuts, and at least 3 of those bright red cherries that you don't even like. 

2.

BRING FIBER PACKED SNACKS WITH YOU

Okay, second biggest savior. If you guys read my post about pears you would know why I'm completely obsessed with them. I would bring 1-3 chopped up pears with me in a sandwich baggy and hide them on my side of the bar then run down and eat them, HA, that sounds ridiculous but whatever, it's true. 

Pears are seriously JAM PACKED with fiber so is you eat three you are legit, STUFFED.

3. 

DON'T GO BACK FOR SECONDS

Okay so at the first hotel I worked at (Hotel Bel Air) *cough* KILL ME *cough*... I know it's iconic but the behind the scenes was kinda traumatizing. 

I used to get a bowl of food, grub it in like 10 minutes, and then go back for seconds. 

It was just routine for me. So when I started this new job, I told myself that if I was going to eat at work on my break, I WAS NOT ALLOWED TO GO BACK FOR SECONDS. 

So I would grab a small spoonful of pasta, a small spoonful of brown rice, and a big bowl of salad. Sometimes I would even grab a bite or two of a muffin.

THE POINT IS.

I feel like you can eat whatever you want as long as you portion it correctly. Eventually I just fell out of love with all the shit food that was there and started bringing my own food but WHILE I WAS EATING THERE I made sure that my portions were small, and I never went back for seconds. 

It's so easy to do when there's free food so I feel you. Who doesn't get excited about free food? But if you're trying to hold back, then this tip might work for you. 

So start there if you feel like you're just DYING at work, and let me know how it goes. 

xoxo