Stumbling Blocks - How to Trip without Falling

I have found that when I walk, I don't fall a lot. I might catch my toe going up a set a stairs or on an uneven piece of concrete on the side way, but 99 times out of 100, I only stumble - I don't fall. It's sort of become a game for me to see how long I can go without actually sprawling on the ground. Rolling an ankle doesn't matter either. It seems that I have enough agility to stumble without actually falling down.

Metaphorically speaking, how do I take that same agility and apply it to loosing weight as well?

You see, the last two nights, I have had the munchies like crazy. I want to eat something so badly, and I'm groggy enough that I don't think to use my sure-fire method (see post below). It's an old habit that comes up every now and again and it has sure hit hard recently. And I have been stumbling. Not falling - I haven't gained any weight back, but I haven't lost any either. I am maintaining weight, which is not my goal right now.

So, after some thinking, I believe I've found some things that I can do to catch myself when I start to fall and it's by using the same approaches as I do when I walk.

• Head-up / Eyes-front: This was a trick I learned from my Dad while driving. Look down the road and watch for upcoming problems well before you have to deal with them. And do it continuously, not just now and again. You see the road better, you can drive a straight line easier, and you can avoid a problem before you get to it. While walking, I do the same thing - you'd be surprised how many people trip over the same piece of sidewalk one right after another because they're not watching the person in front of them.
• Applied to eating, I know when I'm going to be munchy at night because I've been munchy during the day. If I use a head-up/eyes-front kind of thinking, that should clue me in that there may be problems later on in the evening. Rather than having to react last minute while I'm groggy, I can have a plan already in place.
• Use a support: When I catch my toe walking up or down stairs, I usually don't fall because I have a habit of holding on to the hand rail while I do so. Again something simple but it prevents me from busting up my body falling down a flight of stairs.
• What is your support when you're getting in shape? Those around you - in my case, Stacie. I've already asked her to remind me to drink plenty of water before bed to get that full stomach feeling. Yes, that might mean I'm up at 2:00am in the bathroom, but that's better than gaining a few tenths of a pound during the night.
• Make Agility a Habit: As I said earlier, I've made it a game to try and never actually fall when I walk. It's become so habitual that I don't think about it when I roll off the edge of the side walk or when my foot lands in a hole. Part of the habit was gained going out and running around on uneven ground in the back yard. Part of it comes from knowing that I have the agility to catch myself.
  
• This comes down to just doing it. Realizing that if you stumble or even outright fall down, you can get up and go on. Finding exercises to get stronger. Just posting a blog about how to overcome stumbling is helping to give me resolve to not let it happen again, to build up a better habit.

Those are my ways, but I'm sure there are hundreds of other things that can be done. What means have you all come up with for overcoming the stumbling blocks? Let us know how you do it - post a comment with your stumbling block beaters.

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