I owe my success to BBC!

The most dangerous time of day for my weight loss efforts is from 5-6:30PM. I usually come through the front door by quarter to five at which point my Pomeranian is dying to doodle. I take her to do her business, then I schlep upstairs where I change into something comfortable.

The trouble is, that for the next 1.5 hours, I'm alone with the food. I know that the 100 calorie snack packs are sitting defenseless in the pantry. This is also typically the time when I am still stressed out from work. I'm tired and cranky and probably hungry, but most importantly, I'm usually jonesing for some sugar.

Before I started my efforts to lose weight, my binges were extraordinary. I'd gather up anything that looked good and consume a whole days worth of calories in the passage of a half an hour. Over the last year, I have reformed. While the need to feed still takes over, at least the items I'm consuming are more innocuous. I know I could do some serious damage with Weight Watchers ice cream and Quakes, but I'd have to try pretty damn hard.

Nevertheless, I would very much like to beat my post work mini binges. And it seems like I may do just that with the help of the BBC! Lately, from 5-6pm, I've been tuning in for a full hour of the show How Clean is Your House? which often depicts sights so ghastly that it challenges my ability to hang on to my lunch, let alone shovel in an afternoon snack!

If you are unfamiliar, let me enlighten you but I warn you, this is not for the feint of heart or anyone who is currently eating: The hosts of the show, Aggie and Kim, travel throughout England helping people clean their hopelessly dirty homes. The filth they encounter in each show goes way beyond mere clutter and simply defies belief. Usually, the show features carpets that have never seen a vacuum, toilets caked with various types of bio hazard, rotting food scattered about and some sort of insect infestation. The two worst I have seen so far featured no less than 5 dead mice clustered together in various stages of decomposition and an infestation of slugs! If you aren't sick yet and would like to see more, you can find enough to "put you off your tea," as Aggie and Kim say, on youtube.

My disgust lingers for awhile after the program is over, so it carries me through until I am out of the danger zone. As an added bonus, the show provides me with wonderful inspiration to clean up my own apartment. I probably shouldn't get too comfortable depending on disgust to keep my snacking at bay. But I know that just as snacking has become a major habit for me, not snacking can too. I'm hoping that overtime, I will be free of the pre dinner need to feed and eventually will not have to rely on revulsion to help me get into my new pants, but right now, I'm tuning in daily.

So thanks, BBC, for your vile programming. I couldn't do it without you!