What to do when U have a Pot-Luck at work?

Yes, tomorrow we are having a pot-luck for lunch at work. OMG you should check out the sign in sheet. nothing but calories everywhere. So what do you do when you have temptation all over the office break room full of food? Should I forget about my diet & eat all I want?? I am being bad already... I am bringing the tamales. (not homemade, i am just going to go buy the frozen ones at the store)

The best thing to do is to bring something healthy and yummy so that you know there is at least one thing you can eat a decent amount of.  Past that, just take a teeny tiny portion of whatever it is you want and call it a maintenance day.

If you can, eat something before you go. That way you won't feel like you want to eat everything in sight.

use a small plate.

decide ahead of time how much of what bad food you will eat and bring a salad if no one is to fill up on that

I would bring a salad and eat a little bit of whatever i wanted with it.   That way You dont feel deprived, but you get to fill up on veggies:)

A fruit platter is always successful where my husband works. Or a bag of varied apples and oranges, if they sell them where you are like they do here at Aldi's.

I wish you the best of luck and don't think just this one time, it leads to other times and then a person gets out of control.  Hang in there and eat a little before you go and just put a teaspoon of a few items on your plate so you don't feel deprived like another person said.

Good Luck.

Take care and God bless you with healthy choices.

I always made a big bowl of bean salad because it can be made ahead and can be served at room temperature.

Claire's Four Bean Salad

I have the recipe set for a side dish portion, but you can see that a big portion would be calorie friendly too.

Great suggestions here! This recently happened to me and I brought a salad and had a smoothie with extra protein ahead of time to make me extra full. I ate a little bit of my favorite things along with the salad I brought (Michigan Cherry Salad) and never felt deprived.

I pack a lunch for myself (just like I always do), then I make something to bring to the pot-luck that I know everyone will enjoy. Usually it is a vegan dish because many of my co-workers are vegan (I am not). I also write out and photocopy the recipe as everyone loves my cooking & baking, that way they have the opportunity to try and make it at home for their own families. My place of work is multi-cultural and thus many religious restrictions, whether they be fasting days, no eggs, no meats, only halal meats, no pork, no seafood, nut allergies. It makes it a little tricky picking what to bring but being prepared with copies of the recipe makes individual decisions easier. Many bring whatever they want but I try to take everyone into concideration. 

Perhaps you could bring pita bread, rice crackers and some home made hummus. How about some baby carrots, sliced cucumber, wedges of peppers to dip into the hummus as an alternative to the pita bread or rice crackers.