Evening "snack attack" habit!

Habits are remarkable because they don't require thinking. You just "do it" for years until you find yourself changing the habit again.

One of the biggest reasons I put on weight was because I was in the habit of eating at night.

Okay, so eating at night is not that bad, but when you hardly eat anything during the day and then load up after dark on calories by consuming family sized bags of chips, a whole packet of chocolate biscuits and any high sugar, high fat foods you can get your litle hands on, well you are bound to end up with a bit a big weight problem.

I knew this was one of the biggest things that had to change if I was to start to lose weight. It wasn't as simple as saying no to these foods at night time or just not buying them on my way home from work. I had to put some strategies in place to help me break this habit.

I knew no matter what, I would still want to eat at night. Its just something that I was used to and going cold turkey would only result in some binge eating!

So I set myself up with some things I could eat in the evening.

One of my favourites still to this day is jelly!

Don't buy the high sugar one.

Weight Watchers do an awesome jelly and it is a point free snack with no sugar!

I would always make sure I had some made up in the fridge.



The next thing I did was buy a massive selection of teas.

Drinking tea would make me feel good. For a while it did wake me during the night as I was drinking quite a bit but now I am used to it.

I have found some yummy herbal teas but I am currently loving green tea. Great for your health and it would keep my hands something healthy to reach for. Awesome site on green tea if you are interested!

The next thing that helped can easily be found in any house (I hope)!

Toothpaste!

Food tastes strange after brushing teeth, so brushing my teeth when I felt the urge to eat helped get rid of any food craving I had.

I have heard that Pam Anderson uses this trick as well!

Mouthwash can have the same affect.

Chewing Gum...not so much. I find that I can still eat other foods after that.

So those 3 little things are what helped me break my evening snacking binges.

They say it takes 3 weeks to break a habit, To be honest I can't remeber how long it took but I can tell you that I have broken ths habit and it is part of the reason I have lost over 20 kilos. Yay!

I am Ali and I am a Breakfast Queen!

When I was living at home, my mum would always make sure we had breakfast. She would always say "Bla, bla, bla , bla....Breakfast is the most important meal of the day, bla, bla, bla..." (love you mum). I am sure many of you have heard that but who actually understood why? I never really did. I was never hungry in the morning so didnt see why it was so important.

Once I moved out of home, breakfast was not something high on the list of priorities (the extra 15 minutes in bed was much more appealing) and mum wasn't there to nag me about it. That is when I started skipping breakfast. Then to subsitute that, I would replace breakfast by having dinner, dessert and lots of snacks late at night and the cycle of bad eating habits formed.

I started WeightWatchers in August 2009 (5mths after giving birth to my daughter). The first meeting I went to had a focus topic on breakfast and how important it is to set your day up for success by having a good breakfast.

Breakfast like a King (Queen).

Lunch like a Prince (Princess).

Dinner like a Pauper (umm dont think there is a girl version of a pauper).

I went home thinking right that's an easy step to start off with. Eating breakfast isn't going to hurt me. So I started off by having Weetbix with light milk (not a skim milk fan), covered with some strawberries and about 1/3 banana sliced up. It was delish AND I had so much more energy for my day. From that day onwards, I have not purposely skipped breakfast. On the odd occasion that I have missed it (mainly due to someone or something demanding my attention) I have felt sick, light headed, reaching for high sugar snacks mid morning and then ended up so hungry later in the day, so I just can not go without it.

The best breakfast menus should include some protein. 
Q.Why?
A. Your body consumes a lot of energy while you sleep, in order to build up muscle and repair any damage that the body may have suffered earlier. As a result of this, your body requires a healthy intake of proteins to ensure that this process is carried out smoothly. GREAT ARTICLE HERE. Seriously read it as it will help you give you some tips to how eating will actually help you lose weight.

Now it doesn't mean have bacon every day. Think salmon, chicken, boiled, scrambled or poached eggs, any dairy products, nuts, soy.  Then you have protein shakes, etc. There is a good variety of choices. 

So be a a King or Queen at breakfast just like me!

Might even get myself a bit of bling to wear at breakfast!

Feel free to share with me your favourite breakfast!