Willpower is a Jerk

Willpower is the kind of jerk who says they’re going to do something and then doesn’t follow through. Or who breaks a promise, then promises the same thing again – expecting you to believe them. Willpower might actually be a guy I used to know!

We’ve heard it all of our lives:

• “Pull up your boot straps.”
• “Put your nose to the grindstone.”
• “All you need is a little willpower.”

I wish willpower worked but our brains are more complex than that. Too complex for us to fool with will alone. Dr. David Kessler writes in The End of Overeating: Taking Control of the Insatiable American Appetite, “Alone among the senses, taste is hardwired to brain cells that respond to pleasure. It prompts the strongest emotional response.”

If you have had trouble with your weight, you know what this means. You’ve been there - feeling like you’re out of control…a drug addict…or a crazy person around foods that are triggers for you. According to Kessler, these foods usually fall into the category of: fat, sugar or salt. More often they are a combination of two or all three of these categories of food – that make them even more powerful to resist.

So, if willpower doesn’t work – what does? I’m not altogether sure. But, I have figured out a few things. As Einstein says, “One cannot alter a condition with the same mindset that created it in the first place.” So try something you never have before. Don’t just join the weight-loss program you have in the past and go through the motions. It didn’t work before – it won’t this time either. Change it up. You don’t want the heartbreak that goes with gaining that weight back again.

The first thing that has worked for me so far is planning. I use a day off to make a grocery list and shop for good food to plan meals and snacks for the week ahead. It helps to have the right food within reach. Pack your lunch and snack and take it with you – even if you’re not going to work. I take water and a snack with me if I’m going to be out running errands. I’m less likely to pull into a drive-thru if I’ve got something with me. My Achilles heal is chocolate – Ghirardelli chocolate chips – as you already know. To keep from eating the entire bag, I divide the bag into single servings in those little snack baggies and put them in the freezer. Freezing them means I have to eat them a little slower and it makes it seem like I’ve had more of them. It’s not as easy to grab a handful and down them before I know what hit me.

The second thing I’ve done is: exercise every day no matter what. It’s necessary for the good health, strength and vitality you will need to be young and energetic throughout your life. You won’t like it every day. You won’t feel like you have time. Do it anyway. Even if you’re convincing yourself you’re NOT going to exercise today, go put on your exercise clothes, get outside. After awhile, it’s almost automatic.

The third thing that works is to make a list of things you want to get done. We all have these lists in our heads anyway. Mine has things on it like: organize photographs and make albums, journal, organize cupboards and closets, touch-up paint in the house, spend time with family – go to a movie or a museum or on a hike, or put together puzzles and play games. The object is to turn off electronics and do something that keeps you out of the kitchen and that keeps you from being idle when eating is done mindlessly.

Willpower is a jerk you can’t count on. Find things that work for you, that you can count on, and use them to make your life what you want it to be. 

Ta da! Allison and I in our snowshoes!

Spending time with family...check.

December 2012