What to Do When Willpower Fails
Everyone can recall a time when their best intention to
stick with a particular task weakened and failed. I’ll bet
it’s happened to you more than once, especially if you have
been a player in the diet and exercise game
Being heavy and failing to stay on your diet feels like a
personal defeat. It is demoralizing to imagine people
thinking, "He just has no willpower"..."she lacks
character"..."he can't control himself".
The worst thing is that you may believe these things
yourself. But you are wrong. Wrong! And here is why:
Depending on willpower to sustain you through a diet and
fitness program is like jumping out of an airplane with a
handkerchief for a parachute.
Evolution is Against You.
The problem is that when you set out to get in shape and
lose a significant amount of weight, you are actually
forcing your body to do something that it has been designed
to resist.
At the most basic level, evolution is against you. Since
the dawn of mankind, our physiology has developed mechanisms
to conserve precious energy. In earlier times, loss of
bodyweight was always a potential threat to survival and as
a result, our body’s immediate response to a reduced caloric
intake (a diet) is to slow its metabolic rate and store fat.
To compound the problem, physical deprivation quickly
results in a deep, systemic urge to eat that is impossible
to deny.
Next, social and emotional factors come into play to further
test your already weakened resolve. In time, be it three
days, three weeks or three months, your diet plan will
eventually crash and burn.
It is clear that willpower is no match for nature. There
are, however, strategies you can easily learn that are far
more effective and reliable.
Create Systems and Habits.
It is not enough to simply decide to “eat less” or “cut out
junk food” or to just pick a new “diet de jour” from the
long list available.
What you must understand is…. exactly why you are doing this
in the first place…. exactly what the rewards of success
will be…. precisely how you will handle every detail of
exercise and nutrition…. who will be your supporters…. and
finally, how you will manage the internal and external
saboteurs that lie in wait to defeat you.
If you are able to use systems that later develop into
habits, you command powerful tools that replace and
eventually eliminate any dependence on willpower.
Here are some important examples. You can easily use your
imagination to customize these and also design new ones to
meet your needs.
1. Use a structured eating plan. If you are not completely
confident that you understand what constitutes a healthy,
balanced diet and that you can design a plan to consume
enough calories so that you lose no more than one or two
pounds a week, buy a session with a registered dietitian.
This knowledge will last you a lifetime and puts you way
ahead of all the other “dieters” out there
2. Avoid Hunger. Plan what you are going to eat for the
entire day in advance, three small meals and two or three
decent snacks. Don’t get caught short, starving with
nothing to eat. Buy a small, insulated cool-pack, stock it
with snacks and always have it with you. Eat a meal or a
snack every two-and-a-half to three hours. Allow yourself
one “anything I want meal” each week; enjoy two when you are
on track and losing steadily. Schedule them and write it
down.
3. Always include some exercise. Walking is best; jog if
you are able. Easy and simple is best; save the tough stuff
for when you are in shape and exercise is a habit. Schedule
your exercise in advance and log exactly what you do. Track
your TV viewing for a week. It is easy to find shows you
watch that you can live without. This is where you will
find your exercise time. If a crisis occurs commit to doing
five or ten minutes. Something is a thousand percent better
than nothing.
4. Get a partner to join you; at the very least, show and
explain your plan to someone and ask for their support. Set
daily, weekly and monthly goals in writing and have your
supporter hold you accountable. If you make your goal, they
take you out to dinner. If you fail, you buy them dinner….
twice.
5. Create a vision. Sitting in a quiet place, relax and
visualize exactly how you will look and feel and enjoy life
more when you have reached your goal. Make a movie in your
head; make it in color with sounds, smells and actions. Look
at yourself in the movie and then write a list of ten or
twelve adjectives that describe how you look and behave.
Describe yourself physically, mentally, socially and
spiritually. Envision and repeat: “I am (your description)”.
Do this at least three times a day and whenever you are
feeling stressed, overworked, tired, angry, nervous or
afraid.
Strategies like this do three things for you.
They help you avoid circumstances that lead to bad lifestyle
choices in the first place.
They help create an environment that is conducive to making
healthy lifestyle choices a habit, simply a natural part of
your routine.
They build motivation and a correct mental attitude that is
the essential first step to achieving weight loss, health
and well-being.
When you have systems and habits working for you in place of
unreliable willpower, success is much easier. A fitness
plan that does not include this kind of an approach is
usually doomed to failure before it begins.
Be Strong…. Be Lean Howard McGarity ”Coach Mac”
RESOURCE BOX: Howard McGarity has studied human physical
performance for most of his fifty-five years. He currently
leads an online program designed to help people get off of
their perpetual diets so that they can get permanently lean,
strong and healthy. For more ideas on health, fitness and
personal excellence, go to: http://www.DumpYourDiet.com
Read more!
stick with a particular task weakened and failed. I’ll bet
it’s happened to you more than once, especially if you have
been a player in the diet and exercise game
Being heavy and failing to stay on your diet feels like a
personal defeat. It is demoralizing to imagine people
thinking, "He just has no willpower"..."she lacks
character"..."he can't control himself".
The worst thing is that you may believe these things
yourself. But you are wrong. Wrong! And here is why:
Depending on willpower to sustain you through a diet and
fitness program is like jumping out of an airplane with a
handkerchief for a parachute.
Evolution is Against You.
The problem is that when you set out to get in shape and
lose a significant amount of weight, you are actually
forcing your body to do something that it has been designed
to resist.
At the most basic level, evolution is against you. Since
the dawn of mankind, our physiology has developed mechanisms
to conserve precious energy. In earlier times, loss of
bodyweight was always a potential threat to survival and as
a result, our body’s immediate response to a reduced caloric
intake (a diet) is to slow its metabolic rate and store fat.
To compound the problem, physical deprivation quickly
results in a deep, systemic urge to eat that is impossible
to deny.
Next, social and emotional factors come into play to further
test your already weakened resolve. In time, be it three
days, three weeks or three months, your diet plan will
eventually crash and burn.
It is clear that willpower is no match for nature. There
are, however, strategies you can easily learn that are far
more effective and reliable.
Create Systems and Habits.
It is not enough to simply decide to “eat less” or “cut out
junk food” or to just pick a new “diet de jour” from the
long list available.
What you must understand is…. exactly why you are doing this
in the first place…. exactly what the rewards of success
will be…. precisely how you will handle every detail of
exercise and nutrition…. who will be your supporters…. and
finally, how you will manage the internal and external
saboteurs that lie in wait to defeat you.
If you are able to use systems that later develop into
habits, you command powerful tools that replace and
eventually eliminate any dependence on willpower.
Here are some important examples. You can easily use your
imagination to customize these and also design new ones to
meet your needs.
1. Use a structured eating plan. If you are not completely
confident that you understand what constitutes a healthy,
balanced diet and that you can design a plan to consume
enough calories so that you lose no more than one or two
pounds a week, buy a session with a registered dietitian.
This knowledge will last you a lifetime and puts you way
ahead of all the other “dieters” out there
2. Avoid Hunger. Plan what you are going to eat for the
entire day in advance, three small meals and two or three
decent snacks. Don’t get caught short, starving with
nothing to eat. Buy a small, insulated cool-pack, stock it
with snacks and always have it with you. Eat a meal or a
snack every two-and-a-half to three hours. Allow yourself
one “anything I want meal” each week; enjoy two when you are
on track and losing steadily. Schedule them and write it
down.
3. Always include some exercise. Walking is best; jog if
you are able. Easy and simple is best; save the tough stuff
for when you are in shape and exercise is a habit. Schedule
your exercise in advance and log exactly what you do. Track
your TV viewing for a week. It is easy to find shows you
watch that you can live without. This is where you will
find your exercise time. If a crisis occurs commit to doing
five or ten minutes. Something is a thousand percent better
than nothing.
4. Get a partner to join you; at the very least, show and
explain your plan to someone and ask for their support. Set
daily, weekly and monthly goals in writing and have your
supporter hold you accountable. If you make your goal, they
take you out to dinner. If you fail, you buy them dinner….
twice.
5. Create a vision. Sitting in a quiet place, relax and
visualize exactly how you will look and feel and enjoy life
more when you have reached your goal. Make a movie in your
head; make it in color with sounds, smells and actions. Look
at yourself in the movie and then write a list of ten or
twelve adjectives that describe how you look and behave.
Describe yourself physically, mentally, socially and
spiritually. Envision and repeat: “I am (your description)”.
Do this at least three times a day and whenever you are
feeling stressed, overworked, tired, angry, nervous or
afraid.
Strategies like this do three things for you.
They help you avoid circumstances that lead to bad lifestyle
choices in the first place.
They help create an environment that is conducive to making
healthy lifestyle choices a habit, simply a natural part of
your routine.
They build motivation and a correct mental attitude that is
the essential first step to achieving weight loss, health
and well-being.
When you have systems and habits working for you in place of
unreliable willpower, success is much easier. A fitness
plan that does not include this kind of an approach is
usually doomed to failure before it begins.
Be Strong…. Be Lean Howard McGarity ”Coach Mac”
RESOURCE BOX: Howard McGarity has studied human physical
performance for most of his fifty-five years. He currently
leads an online program designed to help people get off of
their perpetual diets so that they can get permanently lean,
strong and healthy. For more ideas on health, fitness and
personal excellence, go to: http://www.DumpYourDiet.com
About Ray Burton: Ray Burton is a motivational speaker, an ISSA-certified personal trainer,
philanthropist, and author of the best selling weight loss book, "Fat To Fit - The Journey” Ray
has written hundreds of articles and been featured in Rising Women,The Calgary Sun and Crosstrainer.ca.
For info on Ray's book, visit the home page at: www.FatToFitBook.com.
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