The ‘tooth brushing’ trick

Today I’m gonna share a funny little trick with you.

It falls more in the ‘diet’ category then in the ‘exercising’ category. See, one of my biggest problems when it comes to healthy eating is to be good in the evenings. Eating healthy during the day is usually relatively easy. I’m busy and have a certain routine. I eat my breakfast, go to work, eat the lunch I have prepared, have some fruit or veggies in the afternoon … I’m not even tempted by the cakes and stuff at the place where I usually go in the afternoons to get a coffee.
After I get home in the evenings, that is when the real challenge starts. That’s when I’m craving chocolate and other unhealthy stuff. I usually try to make a healthy dinner right after I get home, to make sure I’m eating something ‘good’ before my brain really has time to develop any cravings for something else. But that only works to some extent. I might not be hungry anymore after dinner but I still have cravings ;-)

And that is where the ‘tooth brushing’ trick comes into play. If I brush my teeth right after dinner (instead of right before I go to bed as I usually do) it somehow is easier to control the cravings. I think it’s partly due to the taste of tooth paste - which is not exactly suggesting chocolate (-: But I’m thinking it’s also sort of a psychological thing. Kind of like my brain unconsciously knows NO FOOD AFTER BRUSHING TEETH.

I know it sounds silly but you should try it sometime. It doesn’t always work but most of the time it does ;-)

Struggling to get back on track

We’re already almost a whole week into 2011! Unbelievable how fast time is going by. For so long I was looking forward to my Christmas break, to going home to Germany to see my family and to spending New Year’s Eve at the Coromandel with my friends. And now it’s already all over and I’m back in the office, back in ‘real’ life.

But I’m struggling to get back into my routine. Last year I had this really good eating healthy and exercising regularly rhythm. Getting up at 6am 3 times a week to go to the gym before work and then cooking healthy food (or reheating yesterday’s healthy leftovers) in the evenings. It was kind of just routine and I didn’t think much about it, I just did it. Now I have to get back into that routine but that is easier said than done.

I have done so well last year that I decided to reward myself and take it easy over the holidays. Going to Germany for Christmas I knew there would be no way that I can stick to that healthy lifestyle. German food (especially the likes of chocolate and cakes) are just too good and are just everywhere around this time of the year. And right after my return to NZ I went camping with friends for a few days and that also included some chips, drinks and generally not exactly super healthy food. So I never planned to lose any weight during this period. The plan was to maintain but the realist in me already planned for a 1-2 kg weight gain. And that’s about what it ended up being.

Now I have to get rid of those extra 2 kg again as well as another 10-12kg. And as with so many things, getting started is the hardest and I’m really struggling with it right now.

Today is my 5th day back in Auckland and my 3rd day back at work but I still haven’t been back to the gym once. I just can’t get out of bed in the morning. And in the evenings after work it’s just too hot. I’ve been going for walks in the evenings, telling myself that I’m slowly easing back into my workout routine but sooner or later I will just have to get serious about it and get my butt back to the gym.

And the healthy eating thing is also only slowing getting back on track. It’s actually kind of scary how quickly I fall back into old habits. Mainly a habit of eating when I’m not hungry just cause the food is there. And a habit of telling myself that I will start eating healthy again ‘tomorrow’. I’m scarily good at convincing myself that one more day of crappy eating doesn’t make a difference and that I will be ‘good’ again tomorrow. And then tomorrow comes and I tell myself the same thing. For a smart girl it is amazing how stupid I can be sometimes :-).

I think one of the most important things for me in these situations in to keep hopping on the scales every morning and recording the weight. If I stop doing that it gets so much easier to lie to myself and ignore the truth. I also have to drag myself back to my weekly weight watchers meeting next week. I skipped this week but as of next week I will be back, no matter what the scales say.

I’ve come so far last year and I’m sure as hell not gonna give up now. I just need to give myself a bit of a kick in the ass and tackle those remaining 12-14kg.