Bearybeans's Journal, 08 November 2016

I would politely say I am not really comfortable discussing my diet at work, its something I struggle with personally and don't want to really talk about it. 

That's a tough one! I get those types of questions from my boss a lot..mainly because I'm vegetarian. I usually just 'nicely' tell him that it's a personal choice and a lifestyle for me. If he were to ask me about weight loss, I'd probably just say I have a particular way of eating, and if I happen to lose weight in the process, then it's a win-win. Hope your boss stops asking :)  

There are different ways of asking, and if you have mentioned your meal choices and weight loss to him, he may be trying to relate and understand something that is important to you. You don't have to answer directly or fully truthfully - you can be casual about it and answer vaguely like "going great!" "working the usual plan" and then say "how about you, ever thought of going vegetarian?" But the big thing is that if you let him in on your private life then you have to figure out a way to cut him out and hopefully he catches on quickly. Good luck! 

You could respond with 'why do you want to know?'... if comfortable enough with your boss.  

thanks! I will try to be very vague with my answers in hopes that he gets the hint! He asks personal questions all the time and since this is my first office job, and I have felt like I have had to answer them... I definitely need to learn how to politely deny disclosing personal information.. Should I just focus on polite but vague answers? they always seem to have follow up questions... It just sucks when I am walking away, done with the conversation, and he is like 'Your allowed to eat something of substance, ya know?' I had to explain to him that I was temporarily intermediate fasting for one week. I was just like, of course I am 'allowed' to eat something- who says i am not? that is silly. I am so happy to see veggie comments as well :^) for some reason what i thought was a personal decision seems to 'affect' everyone around me. My food choices are frequently an undesired center of attention... but it actually makes me feel so much better about that part of the situation knowing that other veggies struggle with that as well! <3 

Why did you have to let him know you're fasting? Are you in the cafeteria together? What would bring it up in the first place?  

I'm a vegetarian working for a poultry processor. ..I definitely feel your pain. Luckily I don't work at the actual processing plants, but I get plenty of questions and complaints about my WOE. 

I probably would have said "ha, you are not the boss of me! Oh wait, yes you are! Hahahaha!" and kept walking 

LOL, @Abbadabba! 

I have a nutritionist so I usually cut off agreeing or disagreeing by saying "thanks I already paid someone to tell me what to eat so I am trying that for a while" when people say "you can't live on xx calories" or "you should eat some bread" 

You do not owe anybody anything that you are uncomfortable sharing, especially private info. Answering a question with a question is one way to get around it, but could open you up to answer more questions. I would just say "I'd rather not talk about it." He might be interested in learning about your vegetarian diet? This could be why he's asking you questions and not the others. 

Oh, that's good. I may have to use it, even though I don't really have one :) 

I've changed my eating habits to include more protein and less carbs/sugars and friends/family constantly ask "Are you allowed to eat/drink ___?" I tell them, I'm 39 YO, I'm allowed to eat and drink what I want. However, for my health... With that said, sharing my "diet" doesn't bother me since I know many others struggle with weight/eating habbits as well, even if we don't know they are. TBH, I get kind of excited about it at times. Had a lady at a store tell me I should sell protein products :-) 

I would change the subject or answer a question with a question. If you have to say something BE super vague. Oh, yes....don't forget to smile.  

Mine does too because he knows I lost a lot of weight and he needs to lose some. You can always tell him its a touchy issue and you prefer not to discuss it or just say you'd rather not talk about it. I wonder what the reason is that he is asking...