Here I am again, sitting at my computer pondering what I would like to talk about next on this page. I've been thinking about it for a little while now and I realized something. I am in a way starting this journey over since I let myself fall back into my bad habits a bit. No, I am not starting back at the very beginning with this, but this blog almost has a new meaning now. Instead of me offering my advice based on my success, I am almost in a way telling more of an ongoing story (although I was doing that in a way before) and taking any of you lovely people that take the time out of their day to read my words along with me. That being said, I think the rest of this post should be about forming habits, and which ones I kept from before and what new ones I am starting to form in this process.

I would say one of the very first things I taught myself to do when I started getting healthier years back was measuring everything I ate. Saying it like that makes it seem like a lot of work, but really it isn't. The first thing I did when I decided to get myself back on track recently was buy myself a new set of measuring cups and spoons and bought a brand new electric food scale. All of those things can be purchased for less than $20 at the right places, so not a huge expense. Before I would measure absolutely everything! From salad dressing, to ice cream (always slow churned!), to meats... EVERYTHING and ANYTHING! This really makes one aware of exactly what a serving of something is and in my case made me realize just how much I was overeating before. Let's face it, pretty much everyone at some point is guilty of sitting down with an entire bag or box of their favorite snack and mindlessly eating from it. This is what avoids that.

I've also started doing a few little things to almost in a sense trick myself into forming new healthy habits. I work right down the street from a little corner store/gas station that has a little restaurant in it. Many days I would be lazy about taking my lunch and figured I would just get something from there, but of course I would never make a healthy choice when faced with all the other terrible for you but tasty foods they offered. Just last week I decided to buy myself a new designer lunchbox (it was on sale too! Win win!) and a bunch of handy food containers that will make portion control a breeze. I know I will want to bring my lunch now because it is so easy and of course because of my adorable new lunch box. I've in a way made the decision to pack my lunch over getting take-out that much easier.

Another habit I'm trying to make for myself is drinking more water. I know I do not drink enough. Some days are a lot harder than others to stay hydrated and for no real reason. Some days I simply just don't want to drink it. So to make myself aware of this a little more throughout the day, the first thing I do when I get to my office is take two of the bottles of water I have in the refrigerator out and put them on my desk. That way they are sitting right in front of me and I see them all day long. It reminds me that I have to drink them and I do because of this. Just another little trick I used for myself to get these habits into motion.

Everybody is different, and nobody knows what will work more than you for yourself. Those are just a few of the things I have had success with, but do what works for you and experiment with new ideas! These little tricks should quickly form into habits and will eventually help you reach your goals as long as you stick to it long enough for the habit to form! Forming healthy habits is a very early and very important step when trying to get healthier!