If you change nothing, nothing will change

​PLAN, PLAN, PLAN & CHANGE YOUR HABITS​ ​ When most people go on a healthy eating plan (I hate the word diet) they start really positively and lose weight quickly. Fantastic! However this momentum can wane quite quickly and you soon start snacking again and before you know it you've thrown in the towel and you're back to square one! What's going wrong?​ ​ ​ PLAN, PLAN, PLAN​ ​ ​ What goes wrong? Life! Life gets in the way; you get busy, you have no time, you get stressed...... So before you start being hard on yourself, remember it's not all about your lack of self control.​ ​ ​ PLAN, PLAN, PLAN​ ​ ​ Here are some tips you might find helpful for meal planning​ ​ ​ ~ Set an hour out of your week (yes you do have time) and look at your timetable a week ahead and see what days are busy and what days aren't; after school clubs, lazy Sundays, late night at work etc and plan around your timetable.​ ​ ​ ~ Plan your meals for each day. Plan the lot; Breakfast, lunch, dinner, snacks, even drinks.​ ​ ​ ~ Then write your shopping list so you have absolutely everything in the house. Make this become a weekly habit to stop you having to nip out for one or two items. You will always end up filling your shopping bag. Planning helps you save money too!​ ​ ​ ~ Clear your cupboards of anything naughty and fill with healthy snacks and fruit.​ ​ ​ ~ Try to reduce cooking with anything that is tinned, pre packed. Things like pasta sauces, curry sauces. It's so easy to make your own, so get rid of the, what i call - jars of sugar and learn to make your own. Green and red curry pastes are good, it's the full bottles that are fully of sugar.​ ​ ​ ~Find some cook books that you know you will cook from. Simple, easy, fresh recipes. I love all the Sugar free cooking books by Davina McCall books, The Hairy Dieters and the Michael Mosely books. ​ ​ ​ TACKLE YOUR BAD HABITS HEAD ON​ ​ ​ Where do you crumble? What time of day is your downfall? It's a habit and you can change it but first you need to accept it. Everyone has one. My daughter gets home from college and goes straight to the chocolate tin (I now have a fruit bowl ready for her as soon as she gets in!) Do you always have a biscuit with a coffee? Do you always have a bag of crisps with a glass of wine? Do you come home from work starving? ​ ​ ​ So have a think when yours is and tackle it head on.​ ​ ​ CHANGE YOUR HABITS​ ​ ​ Sweet treat with a coffee? ​ Make yourself a go to healthy sweet treat that you have in the fridge permanently so there is no excuse to eat rubbish.​ ​ ​ Starving after work?​ Make sure you are eating enough throughout the day. Eat an apple on the way home, so your mind thinks you've eaten. The habit is you getting home and always going straight to the fridge. Can you change this? Can you make a new habit as soon as you enter the house; walk the dog, brush your teeth, have a shower, gets your steps in?? ​ ​ ​ Crisps with a glass of wine?​ First of all is there a reason you need the wine? ​ ~Long day/tired - I need a glass of wine, I have to make myself feel better! ​ ~Stressed - I need a glass of wine - see above!​ ~Friday night - I always have a glass of wine, it's Friday - see above!​ ~Cooking dinner - I always have a glass of wine!​ ​ ​ These are all just habits, it's something you've done for a long time and your brain says ​ Friday - wine​ Stressed/Tired - Wine​ Cooking dinner - Wine​ ​ ​ So stop the habit. Enjoy a glass of wine, but before you pour a glass, THINK ON (my grans favourite saying and something I live by!) Are you having the wine because you want it or is it just a habit. If it's a habit, you probably don't want it and it's just empty calories. Go and brush your teeth, clear out a drawer, walk the dog or exchange the wine with something else - something to take your mind off your habit and start to create new, healthier habits!​ ​ ​ Coming back to the crisps - replace with popcorn, rice cakes, roasted chickpeas.....​ ​ ​ These are just really SMALL changes that you can make to your day, but long term they are REALLY effective. They say "If you change nothing, nothing will change" and it's so true. So losing weight isn't always about simply eating healthier, it's about really digging deep, looking at how you live your life and kick those ingrained, small but unhealthy habits. ​ ​ ​ What are your unhealthy habits that you want to kick?

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