Weight Loss Habits! The Pesky Night Time Habits (aka “my night time skin oil”)

In a much-requested post, I’ve pulled this video out of the Jump Start course collection to highlight this slick little story for you. I describe this in both of the books as well, leading to a growing request in the oil itself.

(No, I don’t sell the oil blend. I have just been too busy with content development to start a skin care business on the side, but I’d like to think a universe exists where I am doing exactly that. Because I will likely never get there, you should definitely start today. The recipe is in the article below.

I’ll also add here that the recipe is a good starting place, but there are many possibilities for you. This is a great crafting opportunity. I continue to level mine up and experiment.)

Excerpt from the book “Half My Size with The Ridiculously Big Salad.”

Breaking the Nighttime Habit

I found this trick quite by accident, and you can replicate it with intent.

As I faced the desperation of needing to lose all of that weight, I realized the harsh reality that probably half or more of my weight came right out of the bottle — I drank a nightly cocktail, or two. I made gourmet herbal mixers, and I could not imagine giving them up. I struggled so much with the decision that I realized how addicted I had become to that drink.

I was able to give the alcohol up when I started the diet, but my concern was for the long term: If I had a bad circumstance in my life, what would keep me from lapsing into the old habit? I did not have an answer to that question, and it did concern me. I forged ahead with the weight loss anyway.

Why was nightly drinking such a big deal and at a high risk of relapse? As with any habit, we have a cue that triggers a routine of some sort, and that routine is followed by a reward. For nighttime drinkers, our cue happens every single day: Day becomes night, and we prepare for sleep. We grab our cocktail as part of our routine, and we are rewarded with flavor and relaxation. Over many years, we need to drink more to maintain the reward of relaxation, and we may find, over some decades, that we are drinking a lot and that we may be chemically dependent on it as well. For me, in the shorter term, the drink was also making me fat.

Some six weeks into the diet and down 40 pounds (18 kg), I had lost so much fat and fluid in my face that my neck wrinkles were pretty shocking. In response, I made high-end customized skin oils, using some of my favorite herbs. I blended up about three parts jojoba oil to one part pomegranate seed oil in a 2-ounce (60 ml) bottle. I added a couple of drops of rose geranium essential oil and about 10 drops of rose absolute.

This combination both soothed my senses and supported my skin. I applied the blend liberally with a focus on my neck. I kept a bottle by the bedside so that I would never forget to apply it.

About six weeks into my skin regimen, I was tossing and turning a bit one night. I had applied the oil an hour before, but I reached for it again, and as I pulled it toward me and the aroma caught my nose, I took in its fragrance greedily and then I applied it to my neck. My physical response to the fragrance surprised me, and I realized that I was craving the aroma of that oil blend. I had replaced the craving of alcohol with a new craving.

This area of our necks that gets awfully wrinkly also happens to be a primary receptor for aromatherapy. I was creating a new, powerful habit by accident. If I manage never to drink a cocktail at night again, I may actually win this battle against alcohol.

Beyond alcohol, this concept can be applied to any difficult nighttime habit, the skin oil idea itself or other nighttime rituals that are better for your health than alcohol and snacks.