Main Page> Nutrition> Sticking With Your Eating Plan You plan on eating healthy, but then life gets in the way and you end up grabbing a bag of chips from the vending machine because you're hungry. You get home at night, but you're in such a rush, that instead of making the low-fat chicken stir-fry, you end up making peanut butter sandwiches. We've all been there and done things like this; the trick to avoiding the peanut butter sandwich is to plan ahead. If you know that you tend to get hungry around 3:00, plan to have a healthy snack around for you to eat. If you think you may be in a rush, buy some canned vegetable soup and some bagels to heat up quickly. Don't plan for meals you don't have time to make. Always think of an eating plan that suits your schedule. If you have to change your life to change the way you eat, you'll end up falling back into your old habits. So pack enough food in the morning so that you can satisfy your hunger all day without over eating. Saying things like, "tomorrow I won't eat at 3:00 even if I'm hungry" doesn't work. If you think you'll be hungry, bring something healthy to satisfy your hunger. Don't starve yourself. Decide on an eating plan that works for you When you get home at night, if you want to eat within 10 minutes, or you have to be out the door again in 20 minutes, plan for a meal that only take 10 minutes to make. The big mistake people make, is thinking the night before that they will have the time to prepare a 30 minute meal if they just get home 10 minutes earlier doesn't work. In the end, you won't get home 10 minutes early, and you'll be rushing around looking for something quick to eat. So don't change your life to change your eating habits. Plan out what you will eat ahead of time and make sure that your change in eating habits won't change you daily schedule! Another major eating problem is peer pressure. You packed a great healthy lunch, or you planned on eating at that new healthy lifestyle restaurant, when your friends invite you out for lunch. Don't make the mistake of thinking that you will turn them down. The majority of the time, you probably won't. The key is self-control when you're at the restaurant. Order grilled items, and skip the dessert. ( Healthy eating ideas) This way you will have been able to eat with your friends and still maintained healthy eating habits. Eating out isn't an excuse to eat badly. Make healthy choices and don't get into the habit of always ordering dessert. So plan your eating habits with your life in mind and you'll do fine. Remember to give yourself a chance, don't be too hard on yourself if you have a few bad days, and once every few weeks, treat yourself to that dessert (just don't start treating yourself to the dessert every few days)