Men and women are creatures of habit. We always seem to be happiest when we are doing what we usually do. If we usually get up at seven o'clock in the morning, but oversleep until nine, we sometimes get a headache. If eleven o'clock is our usual bedtime, but we don't get to bed until one o'clock in the morning, we will feel shattered the next day. If we miss our coffee break in the morning, we feel something is wrong.

We look forward to our summer holidays and while we are on holiday our routine goes out the window, but, secretly, we look forward to getting back into our old routines. Habits and routines are very difficult to break.

Habits can be life-long, or they can be acquired along life's long journey. Habits formed at a very early age will continue right through life. They are very necessary. We often speak about good habits and bad habits. When we think carefully about it, we find that good habits promote an orderly existence for ourselves and those around us. Bad habits may be pleasant for ourselves, but usually cause annoyance and inconvenience to others.

We can carry this into our individual lives. If we know where we are going, where we want to go and make a plan, then we will get there. Apply this to dieting. We know where we want to go - we want to be slim. We know when we want to go - we want to go now. We want to start right away so that we can reach our goal as soon as possible. We must be strict with ourselves; otherwise we will never reach our goal.

Cash in on this habit forming trait of human nature. Our lives, as we have already noticed, are built up of habits. Some are old, some are not so old and some have been acquired along the way. We must think carefully about our eating habits, and if necessary, exchange bad ones for good ones, old ones for new ones.

Sometimes it happens that our whole weight problem was caused in the first place by changing one bad habit for another. For example, after much struggling we may have stopped smoking, but having managed to stop, something is missing. There is a vacuum in our lives. Nature does not like a vacuum, so it tries to fill it up. What is easier than to eat a chocolate biscuit with a cup of coffee instead of smoking a cigarette?

Now, it is true when our body stops receiving the nicotine it has been used to, then our metabolism temporarily slows down slightly. This fact can be used as an excuse for over-eating and gaining weight. If we stop smoking and leave it at that, then perhaps a pound or two will be gained for a few months, but very quickly our metabolism will readjust itself and these few pounds will be lost again. If, on the other hand, knowing that our metabolism is going to slow down, we keep eating chocolate biscuits when we feel like a cigarette, then the weight gain will be permanent.

People get very used to having biscuits with their cup of tea or coffee. They have chocolate mints after dining out. Digestive biscuits with their bedtime drink. This is called "The bending of the elbow" syndrome. We are used to putting something in our mouths as a treat after a good meal. Something has gone into their mouth at regular intervals, what this something is, is not terribly important, such is the force of habit.

Habits are formed, or made and they can be broken. Sometimes performing a certain action can trigger off the thought of food. When you pick up a book, do you automatically think, "Ah, nice and relaxing...a cup of coffee with a biscuit"? Or when dining alone, do you think, "Good, I'm all alone, no need to set the table and chat over dinner, I'll just take a tray into the lounge, sit in an easy chair and eat there." Because you have no company, you pick up a book and start your meal. Your meal goes on, and on, and on! You are not aware of what you are eating because you are reading. You are just enjoying the sensation of "elbow bending". This is a habit that is easily formed, but can be very hard to break, requiring a great deal of thought and careful planning.

Lone eaters are always at risk. Perhaps because there is not much else to do, or perhaps because they are lonely, they tend to spin out a meal and what better way to spin out a meal than to eat more of it?

LET US LOOK AT WHAT MRS SMITH IS DOING.

Mrs Smith is feeling happy and relaxed. Her diet has gone well; she has been shopping and has bought a new dress. It is only slightly tight, but if she eats a little less, she will soon fit into it.

She arrives home at lunch time feeling quite hungry after shopping all morning. Her husband is away on business and the children are at school, so Mrs Smith makes herself a cheese sandwich and a cup of coffee and settles down with a book. The book is very entertaining and she munches her sandwich without being aware of eating it. Suddenly the sandwich is finished and Mrs Smith isn't eating anymore. She glances up from her book and sees the box of chocolates that had been opened the night before. A few minutes later, still reading, she absent-mindedly dips into it and takes a chocolate, it tastes good and without thinking she takes another. Half an hour later the chapter is finished - and so are the chocolates! Mrs Smith looks up in horror and sees what she has done. Another days dieting spoilt. Oh well, just wait until next Monday and then she'll show the world how it's done!

This incident brings us to another bad habit, that of eating mindlessly. Many people assure us that they never eat anything. What they actually mean is that they don't eat much at the table, but often, unknown to themselves, they spend their day munching away at a little bit here and a little bit there. A taste of the foods they are preparing for the evening meal, a spoonful of the soup to see if it is alright, a piece of the sandwich that they are making for the children, now that they have returned from school. This eating can add up to far more than a large meal without even realising that you are doing it. Mindless eaters are quite difficult to deal with because, first of all, they must be convinced that they are eating far more than they are aware of. Unfortunately, such mindless tasters tend also to be enthusiastic cooks, so a great deal of their day is spent in the kitchen. The excuses are numerous - I can't possibly become that fat from what I'm eating. The fumes must get to me. The smells must get to me. I never eat what I cook. This is for the family, or the school fete, or that village 'do', it's never for me." That may be so. The food is cooked for others. It's cooked with love and enthusiasm. Unfortunately, however, almost the same amount that is cooked for others is eaten by the cook herself.

It is a physical impossibility to gain weight from the smells and fumes of cooking. The only way that one can gain weight from cooking is by eating the food. Therefore, these people have first of all to be convinced that they are not absorbing anything except through the mouth.

One of the worst habits, and one which is very common among people with a weight problem, is that of eating in the evening. After work, having eaten the evening meal and once the children are in bed and the washing up is done, we relax. What better way to relax than to watch the television and "bend the elbow".

People think that this problem only applies to them. They think that everyone else has more will-power and more determination than they have. If they were to just look around them, they would probably find that at least half their family share this weakness. There is a well-known proverb which says, "A PROBLEM SHARED IS A PROBLEM HALVED". If people only knew how many other people had the same difficulties, then perhaps this would help them to try and break this habit.

All habits begin in the brain and therefore all habits must end there. It is possible to train animals to do certain things and this training gives us a great insight into our own habits. Rats have been trained to expect food when a bell rang. After a while, whenever these rats heard the bell, they produced saliva, knowing they were going to have a meal. They had been conditioned and trained to expect food on hearing this bell, and their bodies performed accordingly. We behave just the same. How many people walking by a baker's shop and smelling the aroma of freshly baked bread or cakes, will go into the shop and buy? Are these people hungry? No, of course they're not. They have been conditioned by smell and by sight to anticipate treats. Again, describe a recipe to a friend, how it is made, how it smells and how it tastes, and that friend will say, "Oh, my mouth is watering." Imagination plays a great part in this process. While thinking about food and hearing about how it is prepared, it is possible to imagine food being prepared and to imagine oneself sitting down to eat it. The body will respond by producing saliva and a feeling of appetite.

Sit down and have a good think. What triggers off a sense of appetite in your particular case? Perhaps it is all of these things or perhaps it is none of them, but there is always something which has this effect in people with a weight problem. If you can isolate what this is or what they are, because some people have many triggers, then you can take steps to deal with them. You can then try and break this habit.

The easiest way to change a habit is to break your routine. We like a routine. If we do not follow a routine, then we become disorientated and nothing falls into place. Sit down in the evening in front of the television and, automatically, the "elbow bends". Don't sit in the evening in front of the television and then disorientation sets in. We don't know what to do. Something has to be found. One of the easiest ways to break a habit is to just change your pattern of living. Instead of sitting down to watch the television, do something else. Join a keep-fit class, go swimming, take a walk, knit, do a crossword puzzle, anything but watch television, then your body will be out of co-ordination; the elbow will not automatically bend.

If you know that when you pass a baker’s on the way to work in the morning you are going to smell the baking, see if you can find another route to work. If in the evening you know that you are going to pass a sweet shop, and you're feeling slightly hungry, your will-power will be at its lowest, so see if you can avoid the temptation by taking another route home. Again, if you have a friend who is an enthusiastic cook and who insists on drawing graphic pictures of what she has been cooking, try and talk about something else when you meet her, then you will not rush home to try it for yourself.

Start to follow a new lifestyle at the times you find it difficult to do anything but eat. It takes a week or two to break a habit completely. If you think about it, that's not a long time. The first few days are the worst, but each day gets easier. Try not to replace your bad habit by an equally bad habit. Be positive: do something constructive and you will find that you will be much more satisfied within yourself for having broken what might have been a life-long habit.