Many patients have told me that their weight control efforts go smoothly and effectively until a certain part of the day or evening. At that point(s) they succumb to eating/drinking behaviors that derail their weight loss efforts.
This difficult part(s) of the day usually occurs after 12 noon and very likely to be in the evenings. For some people, the before dinner time period is difficult as historically a sort of “Happy Hour” occurs when some alcohol containing drinks are consumed with some classic accompanying snacks such as cheese and crackers. For other people, the post-dinner time period is difficult as a routine behavioral pattern occurs when snack foods such as popcorn, cookies and similar carbs are eaten when people are watching television. Another subtype of people describing a particularly difficult part of the day are the “night owls” that make their way to the freezer for ice cream or pantry for snack foods midnight or after.
Take a step back and self-examine your specific patterns of behavior to explore whether you have defined difficult parts of the day/evening when your dietary plans are sort of thrown out of the window. Once these parts of the day/evening are identified, come up with a game plan as to how to navigate around these. One of the very best ways is to not allow the food/snack/drink sources that sabotage that part of the day to be around the household. If you are the midnight eater of Oreos, not having those Oreos in the pantry will lessen the chances of consuming them, as there is a low likelihood that you will hop in your car and go to Seven/11 for them. If you are a “Happy Hour” couple, use the same fancy drink glass, pour a smidgeon of alcohol, use mostly diet tonic or club soda and snack on vegetables with a very low calorie dip.
Long term weight control success requires behavioral modification and life-style changes. Identifying the most difficult parts of the day and then developing solutions is a great start.