OT: Willpower...conquering the "screw it" factor

Eating out of control?
How about a thread on willpower?!
I believe that the majority of people know when they are blowing it, diet wise, but they do it anyway. I do.
I know damn well that I shouldn't eat an entire bag of popcorn, or snag a few free cookies from from the sample tray at the grocery store. But I do it anyway.
I know I won't lose weight when I drink my calories, my 16 oz chai latte with whole milk. But I do it anyway.
Do I want to lose weight? Hell yes...for the last 40 years.
Really, what idiot doesn't know that they'll lose weight if they stick to eating vegetables and lean meat?
I know damn well that my life would flow easier if I lost weight...and I know how to do it...and I do it for a day, then push it aside for a week.
The "screw it" factor. The real culprit.
How does one get control of the "screw it" factor?
Is it a form of depression?
Probably.
Can I fool myself into behaving?
Can I talk myself into behaving?
Haven't done it yet.
Please share your thoughts.
thanks
evan

That's why you see so many threads about low carb eating.
You're trying to follow low fat and it is a constant battle.
I found it easy to give up the popcorn, brown rice, and whole grain bread, when I allowed myself the heavy whipped cream in my coffee, chuck steak instead of sirloin, cooked my eggs in butter, and drizzled butter, olive oil, or coconut oil over my vegetables.
I lost 25 pounds without doing anything else and my cholesterol labs are "excellant".
Oh, and if I'm hungry, I eat.

With all due respect, I'm not talking about following a low-fat diet.
I understand and agree that low-carb eating is healthy.

Do you really think that just a few bad choices are what makes people fat and unhealthy?
I don't think people are overweight simply because they use bread for their sandwich or like their steamed vegetables on white rice or enjoy a plate of spaghetti pasta now and again.
I believe that most people who are overweight, or have type 2 diabetes, and such diseases, because they eat a whole bag of chips at night while they watch tv...or a pint of ice cream...or they eat fries for lunch...and candy bars throughout the day...or go out to eat instead of stay in...or a whole host of other such things.
People know when they're blowing it. But they do it anyway.

I'm talking about somehow finding, developing, the willpower to make consistent, smart choices.
Why do we knowingly destroy ourselves and how do we take control?

OK, Is it because it is easier
or
because we are self defeating
??

Poor Diet
Alcohol abuse
Lack of/unwillingness to exercise
Drug abuse
Other...
?

All willpower issues

I think you are right. Good thread topic.

Oh, I hate edits!!

Why do they want that bag of chips, or bowl of ice cream?
Maybe it isn't just willpower.
Maybe it is a 'disorder of fat accumulation'.
That is one of the important point that Taubes makes. There is much more involved than calories in and calories out.
What's going on in your body that makes it crave more calories.. or store more of them as fat?

duplicate post

Lizistired wrote:What's going on in your body that makes it crave more calories.. or store more of them as fat?

Jon Gabriel makes this point in his book too. He says that bodies crave nutrients, and if we eat nutrient-poor food, the drive to eat more will never end (and will be essentially irresistible) because the nutrient-deprived body still thinks it is starving, even if the calorie count is way too high. I'll look up the ref and post it here later (too tired to find it right now...)

Having grown up the child of Great Depression-era parents, it was a "waste not, want not," clean-your-plate-before-you-may-be-excused, high-comfort food house and I left home at 17 with a bit of a weight problem, bad eating habits, and no skills to handle it. I realized in grad school that as far as willpower goes, I had very little control if I said things to myself like "I can never have chocolate again."

But if I said to myself "I will be rigorous all week, and on Saturday only, I can have whatever I want" - now that kind of deferred gratification, I found really easy. If something tempted me I could say (and know I could succeed at) "Not now, but I'lll have one on Saturday." And when Saturday came, somehow the chocolate or the burrito or whatever just didn't seem that interesting anymore. Sometimes I'd have what I had wanted so badly, more often as time went on, I didn't even want it, or I'd have one mouthful and end up spitting it out because the sweet or richness was unexpectedly sickening.

For me, the key to willpower was asking things of myself that might be a bit of a stretch, but that also felt genuinely achievable. No all-or-nothing rules, no completely forbidden foods or must-have foods. No setting myself up to fail. I find that that approach still works for me (I realize that it might not work for everyone). It works for things like exercise too, for me, so I really don't have to beat myself up over willpower any more.

(Now, if I can only apply this to setting limits on how many hours I work, I'll be all set and ridiculously serene )

The initial step to finding willpower may be acceptance...

If a person can accept the way that they are, they may be less defensive about changing to something more "healthy."

Without acceptance a persons defenses are raised and the idea of change is met with resistance. After a few hours of resistance, a good meal seems appropriate.

A person that has accepted themselves seems to be more open to accepting alternate lifestyles that may be more healthy. Once you have acceptance and education, it seems like finding the willpower to change is a little easier.

Using will power creates stress in the body, which floods the body with hormones. You then want to calm the stress with the learned behaviour of comfort food eating but you can't do that because of your "WillPower!!!" which makes you feel worse. It is a vicious cycle which is why will power diets always fail at some point and why you need to workout with will power diets to get rid of the stress chemicals and hormones.

As far as Willpower, I agree with BlackSpinner to the MAX! I also truly believe, YOU CAN'T MAKE SENSE OF THE SENSELESS!
There are dramatic findings that SUGAR and many other foods are ADDICTING, maybe those that think overweight folks, drug addicts etc, are weak willed can remain one of the SENSELESS.

BlackSpinner wrote:

Using will power creates stress in the body, which floods the body with hormones.

Seriously now??!! Well I guess it's fortunate that I don't have any. Chunky monkey, here I come!!

nmevan wrote:

BlackSpinner wrote:

Using will power creates stress in the body, which floods the body with hormones.

Seriously now??!! Well I guess it's fortunate that I don't have any. Chunky monkey, here I come!!

That is because you are not aware of your body. Yes it creates stress. And stress creates "blinkers" so you don't pay attention to its effects so you can get through that "short period" of drama.

Ignorance is not bliss - it is failure.