Ooh scary. I stepped on the scales at the pool on 23rd March, and though my BMI is still below 24, no weight shifted.

Am I surprised? No, I just haven’t stuck to my low-carb plan. Too many days have been undone in the late afternoon with a couple of biscuits.

However, spring is advancing and salad days are here, so it is the best time of the year to build better habits. Given that I want to feed the family on the same meals, how do I build better habits, when temptation is all around me?

1) Don’t buy it

It’s the snacks that I need to avoid, and I do buy some ‘junk’ treats for the children – crisps (potato chips) and biscuit bars (cookies). Trouble is, I worked out that one finger of shortbread could be fitted into the low-carb plan, but of course I need to stop at one. This leads me to rule two:

2) Be good at home

The biscuit box needs to be out of bounds to me – it gets opened when the children come home from school and have a snack, and sometimes for mid-morning at weekends and holidays. If I can resist temptation at home, then I can:

3) Indulge for special occasions

If I have a sad week with no social engagements, then I can indulge at home. This is rather like the 80% compliance rule with some diets – we all need treats and cheats, but if there is a number there then it helps us stop kidding ourselves. I would tend to indulge a bit at the weekend, but

4) Must avoid weakening at work

There’s a biscuit box here too, and I have been known to put things in it! I need to be better at bringing my own snacks, which should not be hard as I bring my own lunch every day.

So, BMI 23.7, waist/hip ratio 0.8. Let’s see how I do in the salad days! Next post will focus on family again, because my plans for me fit into my plans for healthy food for growing high-school children.