Judith Wills
I remember writing a while ago in this blog that I don't like the word 'willpower' – especially in relation to dieting. It's a word that has always made me feel constrained and depressed straight away; not the ideal start to any weight loss plan. And I've always believed that in order to eat healthily (and well) it shouldn't be necessary to have to exercise willpower anyway.
But I've recently begun reading a book on the subject by two US professors, Roy Baumeister and John Tierney – and, although much of the content provides me with little new on the subject, I do like the novel way they explain why we start off full of good intentions and then it all goes horribly wrong – the willpower vanishes and we're left behaving (eating) even more rashly than we did before.
They explain that our supply of willpower is limited and 'you use the same resource for many different things'. So if you have a bad day workwise, for example, it's too much to expect that you can maintain your vow to avoid the cupcakes. As the day goes on, your willpower gets more and more depleted by negative/testing things that happen – and so it's no wonder that in the evening, your willpower is spent.
This all creates an unnecessary cycle of stress, added to the additional stress of a reduced-calorie diet. Both of these stress factors - emotional and physical - are likely to lead to low blood sugar, a factor they say greatly reduces your chances of maintaining willpower in any case.
Their solution is to a) focus on one task at a time throughout the day, doing only what you know you are capable of achieving, and b) to eat regularly, eat heathily and thus avoid the low blood sugar cycle.
I'm going to try this now – I already eat healthily but I'm going to have a couple more low GI snacks during the day to make sure my blood sugar is OK. And I'm going to relax and enjoy life more rather than writing endless to do lists and stressing if I don't get through them each day.
I'm still 3lbs more than I was at target weight so it will be interesting to see if the pounds drop steadily with a slightly more ordered and relaxed approach to my life.
Willpower: Rediscovering Our Greatest Strength by Roy F Baumeister and John Tierney is available to buy at a discount from the Saga Bookshop.
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