When you're trying to lose weight, the last thing you need is your house pulling against you!
Let's start with the obvious: your house is not trying to make you put on weight!
So what do I mean when I say that your house may be making you fat? Well, let me describe something to you and see if it sounds familiar.
You get home from work, pooped out, and collapse onto your couch, which is soft and inviting. It's hard to get up out of it, so you pick up the remote and channel hop, looking for something to watch. Chances are high that you'll see a ton of adverts while you're channel hopping. Chances are excellent that a lot of those ads will be for processed foods. Makes you feel hungry just watching, does not it?
So you pop a snack into the microwave, or dial a take-out. You scarf it down and then later, while you're still watching the tv, you go to the fridge and get a cold one and maybe a handful of snacks to go with it. Back to the couch and tv – more ads.
Let me ask you: does anything like that happen in your home? Yes, I thought it might.
So why is it such a bad thing? Well, first of all you should realize that if you're like most people you probably go for the convenient option – when it's right in front of you. Who can resist? I mean after all, if you did not have a microwave and a telephone you might end up cooking something fresh. Right?
Take your couch. It encourages you to slouch about watching tv. For most people their couch is placed in the best position to watch tv. While you're sitting on it you almost automatically watch tv. And it's that state of mind, when you're doing things on auto-pilot, that the advertisers use to get inside your head and cause you to crave their stuff. And when they spend millions of dollars to make sure the ads work, you're better believe they're going to get inside your head!
How about the cookie jar on your kitchen counter? If it was not there, or it was empty, would you really go out late at night to get some snacks just to watch a tv show? My guess is most people probably would not. But when it's in front of you it's hard to resist – even if you're not overweight.
You see the thing is we all relax in our own homes and let down our mental guard. After a hard day at work it's a nice thing to do. BUT while your guard is down all those little conveniences we take for granted start adding up to pile on the pounds.
Is there a solution? Well, nobody's going to recommend that you scrap the tv, fridge, microwave and phone! But if you're aware of the dangers lurking in your own home, you might just be able to avoid them a little.
Here's a specific tip for you: put your tv remote as far away from your couch as you can. Every time you get up to change the channel, volume or whatever, it will disconnect you from your couch.
Here's another: when you go shopping, make sure you've had a good meal before you go. You'll buy way too much if you're hungry. That way, when you get home, you will not have tons of cookies, or trips to find a home for.
One final tip: turn off the tv sometimes. An hour or two away from that advertiser's paradise may do you more good than you think. If you can not bear to miss your favorite shows, why not tape them and have a catch-up Sunday?
A lot of people think it's a willpower problem when you're overweight. Sometimes it may just be that everything is just a little too convenient.