Day 1: My husband -- who happens to be fit and healthy -- and I are very different creatures, and I don't mean that in a men are from Mars sort of way. He easily eats 50 percent of his calories each day after 6 PM. He's a night owl who gets up too late to eat breakfast and has a light lunch. But come dinner, look out.

I, on the other hand, eat three decent meals a day, plus snacks. My point is, I don't need more food at night. They really are just extra calories for me, especially since they sometimes involve some sort of chip. So why is late-night snacking so hard to give up?

Because it's a habit, that's why. And if there's one thing I've learned about weight loss, you can't just eliminate a habit, you've got to replace it with a new, healthier one. I could munch on celery sticks instead of tortilla chips, that would be one way to handle it. But my kitchen is closed, so this week that's not an option.

Instead I've gotten a book from the library that I'm anxious to read (keeping my mind busy), and I plan on exercising during the commercials on the nights that I watch TV to keep myself out of the kitchen.