It's Not About Willpower

Appetizer
Willpower is fine for short-term progress, but long-term success requires planning and finding ways to feel motivated daily.

Main Course
In the past, a lack of willpower has been blamed for causing us to fall off the diet wagon, but new research indicates that trying to will your way to long-term success rarely gets the job done. Willpower is finite, and when you're stressed, tired or even bored, you can easily hit the limit in terms of "I will not eat that brownie. I will NOT eat that brownie. I WILL not eat that brownie..."-type thinking.

So if willpower isn't the key to success, what is? It actually comes down to planning ahead, making smart choices and keeping yourself motivated. Here are some tips to get you started down that path:

1. Try to eat at regular intervals, and eat at the same time every day. This will keep your appetite from raging out of control when there is nothing around but a Krispy Kreme treat.
2. Never go to a "food event" - like a wedding or party - hungry. If you do, you will most assuredly head down the wrong path. ( The one with all of the cake, of course.)
3. If you’re going to be around decadent, high calorie foods – whether it be the local PTA cake sale or your mother’s house for dinner – decide ahead of time how many items you will sample, then stick to it. For example, allow yourself 4 “tastes” or “ 2” full portions – and don’t go over.
4. Eat mindfully. If you think about every piece of food you put in your mouth you’ll naturally put in less.
5. In the event that you have gorged yourself on a not-so-healthy meal, don’t beat yourself up for a lack of will power. Instead, forgive yourself and simply “ move on.”

Keep these 5 steps in mind, and you will find it easier to systematically stay on track without allowing a seeming lack of willpower make you feel hopeless.

Dessert
I feel very strongly that willpower is overrated. In addition to making us feel shameful and weak if we seemingly don't have "enough" of it, it also leads to discouragement and helplessness. Neither of those feelings are helpful in the quest to live a healthy lifestyle. More importantly, willpower is elusive. If we want more of it, where do we turn? We can't buy more. We can't make more. We can't create more. So, we're left needing something that we can't get and feeling bad because we don't have it. Where's the sense in that?


About Cafe Physique:
The mission of Café Physique is to help clients reach and exceed their personal fitness and nutrition goals. If you’re in need of an a nutritionist in Atlanta or an Atlanta personal trainer – Café Physique is the perfect solution. We offer Atlanta yoga instruction, Atlanta prenatal workouts, and Atlanta personal training. We also have private sessions of pilates that Atlanta residents are raving about. We invite you to let a member of our Atlanta registered dietitian staff or personal training team develop and implement a realistic and healthy lifestyle plan to meet your personal goals.