Willpower doesn't work this well for most of us

 
 
 Are any of you guilty of something like this? "Oh I buy snacks for my husband and kids, they're not for me. I just won't eat them" Then next thing you know, you're eating some Chips Ahoy cookies watching Sponge Bob Square Pants?

You know you'll eat them! Here's the deal with kids. They don't have money and they don't do the grocery shopping so they don't get to tell you what they get to eat. You will be the one that winds up taking in an extra 200-500 calories a day worth of junk carbs and sugar. Get it out of your house!

Plan to use strategy, not willpower to reach your goals. If there is a time of day you seem to binge at, plan for it and overcome it. Binges usually occur after you have been starving yourself or you haven't eaten for a long time, so eat every 3-4 hours and always have some almonds or a healthy, portable snack in your purse/desk/car for emergencies.

 If you go nuts every time you go out to eat, guess what? You probably need to limit how often you go out to eat. Set a cap of once a week to eat out. If you eat out a lot now, just limiting the times you go out to eat will help you tremendously.

 Keep those food journals! They are your road map to nutrition success. This is the best way to tell what is working for you and what is not. So what do you need help with? Where do you struggle? More importantly, what strategies do you have that might help others?