If you've listened to this podcast you know last year I lost 30 lbs. I looked so much better, felt better, and just about the time I was going to reach my goal, I started reverting back to my old habits. I thought I would coast across the finish line. I listened to 25 Days: A Proven Program to Rewire Your Brain, Stop Weight Gain, and Finally Crush the Habits You Hate - Forever by Drew Logan (Author), Myatt Murphy (Author). In the book, he talks about how we often approach weight loss the same way we do a test in High School. We cram for the test, and the minute we hand in our paper we wipe away that information. I am also listening (I rarely read, I listen to most of the books) to The Power of Habit: Why We Do What We Do in Life and Busines and in that book he explains how you don't get new habits, you replace old habits with new ones. A key point I learned (so far as I'm only into chapter three) is that the old habits are still there. Think of this like a river. Over years the banks of the river and the twist and turns are well defined. If you come along and throw up a dam to re-route the river the old river doesn't cease to exist. There just isn't any water in it. So if you decide to take away the dam, it's very easy for the water to go right back into the old pathway of the river. Think of how hard it was to build the dam, and re-route the river, and think of how easy it would be to have the water to return to its old river path. This is why we have to be very careful when we decide to have "just one" of something. That can be the crack in the dam that starts the whole negative ball in motion. When this happens, we need to look at what is triggering us, and eliminate the trigger, or come up with another solution. I'm not sure who or why, but I started going to Walmart on Friday nights. I live alone, and I guess I figure most people are out starting the weekend, and it would be less crowded. This is a Walmart with groceries, and they have a decent selection so I often go there to stock up so I'm ready for my Sunday night "cook a bunch of stuff for the week" routine. There is a Chipotle and a Dairy Queen right in front of Walmart. One week I had a good week, and my weight was going down. I decided that Chipotle was a better bad choice, and went in and had my chicken tacos with lettuce, cheese, and mild salsa. I had a coke. Stike one for getting a coke. Then after the meal, the chicken always leaves me thirsty (probably due to the spices and salt content). Instead of getting a water, or even worse, a coke, one week I went to Dairy Queen and got an oreo cookie blizzard. The next day the scale didn't go up! WOW! What a positive reward. I started adding Chipotle and dairy queen to my weekly routine. The bad news is, the scale started going the wrong way. Also, the blizzards at Dair Queen started to inch into Chocolate Frosty's at Wendy's. The dam had broken and here I was back at my old habits. In the past, I've chosen to go to a different store to avoid the whole situation. That's kind of a bite off your face to spite your nose situation. I wanted to look at what was the trigger? Was it Walmart and just seeing the Dairy Queen? Maybe. In The Power of Habit, the author mentions that Cinnabon locations in malls are typically not in the food court. Why? Because they want the smell to waft down the hall and entice you so that as soon as you SEE the store, you're already having a craving. What is a healthier solution? There are a few. I could drink water, and after the Chipotle, drink more water to get the spices out of my mouth, or pop a breath mint. If the spices make me crave ice cream, then find a new solution. The obvious option is to NOT go to Chipotle. I could eat a healthy meal at home (the whole point of chipotle is to not go grocery shopping hungry) and then go Grocery shopping.   The 25 Days Method There is a set of eating plans (high protein, low carb - what a shock). Why I like this idea is you focus on your next meal. Pi