Willpower?

I think the notion of willpower is interesting. I've just read this study analysis, found it helpful. apa.org/helpcenter/willpowe...

Life gets in the way. Christmas gets in the way. There are different foci in our lives.

To loose weight takes a lot of mental space. And I'd like to think I'm fairly intellectual and don't like to think of the time spent thinking about loosing weight. But I do think about it a lot. When I'm successful, it's the only thing I think about. That is not good, you know what I mean?

Skip

Featured Content

Join the NHS Weight Loss Plan

Join over 40,000 others on our 12-week diet and exercise plan. Keep motivated to develop healthier eating habits & get more active.

Get Started!

Featured by HealthUnlocked

3 Replies

oldest • newest

  • and another good article about language and success.

    blog.myfitnesspal.com/win-o...

  • Thanks for the article, which is interesting.

    I have my own theory, which is ignoring the notion of willpower and focusing on habit instead. A habit, formed simply by repetition (and more repetition) is an enormously strong thing. It overrules better judgement, thinking and a lot of other things.

    The nice thing about a habit is that it requires no willpower: it is quite automatic.

    The way I see it, the brain wants to automate things as much as possible, to free up energy for other important things (such as learning new things, making plans if survival is threatened etc).

    You can test it: eat something specific, say half an apple arranged in 2 quarters on a plate, with 5 cashew nuts to the right of it on the plate—at 10 am one morning.

    Do the same thing the next day at 10 am. The exact arrangement of apple and cashew nuts.

    Do the same thing day 3 and day 4.

    By day 5 (or even earlier) you will find that you really want that apple and nuts at 10 am more than other things. You will prefer it if they are arranged in that way too.

    It illustrates how much the brain helps you to automate!

    Of course one cannot always eat like that (robot-like), But the principle is, if you eat more or less similar foods at more or less the same times, that is what your brain will help you to prefer. So if you eat a salad at lunch every day, even if you vary it between fish or chicken salad or whatever, you will want a salad if you do it repetitively for long enough.

    I'm exhausted after writing all of this!

  • You are right! There are lots of info about eating the same thing day in day out. And I kind of do. Until November. Then it's holiday season and birthday season and I feel like things are out of my control. But they are not. Woke up this morning and informed hubby that I wasn't going to drink except at the bells tonight as I didn't want to start the New Year with regret and a headache. He has agreed. :)

    And thank you for the comment, I'm going to use it and be more conscious of focusing back on the habits and not get so down on myself. Need to alter certain habits is all. Lots of good ones in place now. :)

    Happy New Year!

You may also like...