My biggest hurdle at this point is nighttime eating.
Last night for instance, I fed the kids around their normal dinner time of 6:00pm. As they ate dinner, I ran around straightening things up, cleaning up my cooking mess and doing other things. At that point, I really didn’t feel hungry. It was more than that though. I wanted to use the time that they were preoccupied to do some straightening up around the house.
After bath time, Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer and bed time, I was finally hungry and finally felt as though I could sit down and eat. The problem? It was 9pm. Thankfully, it isn’t always like this. Most of the time I sit down and eat with the family. However, last night was just a different kind of night. Sometimes, my husband and I will wait to eat until after the kids go to bed. We do this so that we can have some time to ourselves. It’s nice having a meal that isn’t rushed and a conversation that isn’t interrupted. There are moments where dinnertime can be really hectic and just feels like something to get through instead of a relaxing meal with the family.
Anyway, many times I feel *snacky* at night (in addition to the once or twice a week nighttime meal). I know this is a hurdle for me. It’s almost like I have trained myself to want to snack after 8pm. I need to break that cycle.
After searching high and low for tips on how to stop this habit, this is what I have come up with:
1) Change night time dinners with my husband to weekend lunches (while the kids are down for naps).
2) Brush my teeth at 8pm sharp. Everything tastes bad after brushing your teeth.
3) Find something to do with my hands or my time.
4) Have a designated eating area where I can concentrate on what I am eating. For instance… eating in front of the television, computer or while reading isn’t a good idea because the eating can become mindless. So making a rule for myself that all eating has to be done at the table is a great start.
5) Choose differently. If I absolutely have to have a snack… make the snack a piece of fruit or carrot sticks. No popcorn. No ice cream. Or maybe try drinking a glass of water everytime I feel hungry.
If we condition ourselves to eat at night (which I believe I have done), then we will have to make different rules for ourselves and choose differently in order to break the cycle, right? It’s kind of like the Pavlov’s Dogs theory. If I eat in front of the television… then everytime I get in front of the television I become hungry. If I break the cycle…. then perhaps I wont be so tempted to eat at night.
Make sense?
What is one of your big hurdles at the moment?
