1. I haven't really dealt with this. But "I don't gamble" was a great response. "What will do you when we win?" Wish you the best.
2. My husband eats out 1-2x a month for the social aspect. Me? Many reasons and responses including:
- I take a short lunch break so I can get off early
- I walk at lunches to get exercise
- I'm 43 and female, eating out all the time made me fat, and now that I have baby weight to lose, it's not gonna help
- I save $8 a day packing lunch (at least), in 5 years, if you multiply that by 2 (I pack my spouse's lunch too), that's a new car
- "I'm social, why don't you guys get takeout and come back here and eat with me?"
- you could always eat your lunch early and tag along and be social and drink water. That will depend on the group and where they go.
At my last 2 companies, there was pressure to eat out. Everyone knew how hard I worked to lose weight though at #1, so it wasn't too bad. But I started the trend of eating at work, in the lunchroom. I'd mention how much cheaper and healthier it was (in fact I posted calorie counts to the local restaurants on the bulletin board). Anyway, at the last company and this one, it's now standing room only in the lunch room. Be a trendsetter!
But it depends on your age too. When I was in my 20's and working in DC, I ate out ALL THE TIME. Every day for lunch, sometimes for breakfast and dinner. Oh, I found one of my old credit card statements 10 years ago (from those old days, that was 16 years ago now), and just about cried.