willpower

I had to break my 40 year addiction to carbs before my will power could make any progress. After two weeks and the cravings started to fade my will power was strong enough to carry the day.

I have always eaten carbs but limited them to just under 50 grams daily for nearly two years until 30 days ago.

Now I try to stay under 50 grams 2-3 days a week to get back into nutritional ketosis. The other days I don't limit number of carbs only the carb sources.

D-Ribose is the only sugars that I eat. I don't eat any type of any grains plus I cut out all dairy last month.

I don't eat processed foods so my carbs come from whole fruit and vegetables.

After living in a state of nutritional ketosis for nearly two years my serious health issues have resolved themselves without medication intervention. That was my objective for eating this way back in 2014. It managed my pain well by dropping my pain level from 7-8 to 2-3 in the first 30 days of eating this way.

If it were a matter of willpower I would fail. It has to be a decision. A commitment. How important it is to be healthy. I love great food. I love gourmet dining. I love decadent desserts. Especially French pastries. Every diet I ever tried in the past failed. It was by finally realizing that counting calories isn't binding and that all the foods I love can still be enjoyed was the turning point for me. Now I enjoy decadent desserts and all the foods that I love by adding them into my daily calorie allotment. I eat a very healthy diet that includes desserts. Not everyday but often. I also take seriously that losing weight is a decision. In the beginning I viewed MFP calorie counting as restriction. I now view it as freedom to enjoy all the foods I love in moderation. I'm not giving up the foods that I love. I include them in my daily calories. And I no longer view it as a short term diet but instead a long term and healthy lifestyle change. We all need to find what works for us.

Timshel_ wrote: »

bellabonbons wrote: »

If it were a matter of willpower I would fail. It has to be a decision. A commitment. How important it is to be healthy. I love great food. I love gourmet dining. I love decadent desserts. Especially French pastries. Every diet I ever tried in the past failed. It was by finally realizing that counting calories isn't binding and that all the foods I love can still be enjoyed was the turning point for me. Now I enjoy decadent desserts and all the foods that I love by adding them into my daily calorie allotment. I eat a very healthy diet that includes desserts. Not everyday but often. I also take seriously that losing weight is a decision. In the beginning I viewed MFP calorie counting as restriction. I now view it as freedom to enjoy all the foods I love in moderation. I'm not giving up the foods that I love. I include them in my daily calories. And I no longer view it as a short term diet but instead a long term and healthy lifestyle change. We all need to find what works for us.

All of this.

The idea of using willpower is exactly why people fail. They think they have to be strong because they are giving up everything and mentally that equates healthy eating habits to being deprived of something. IT also gives the false hope that if one just starves themselves and gives up everything for a certain amount of time they will reach their goal and they can then start going back to "normal" eating. But that is so not the case and is at the crux of weight loss.

Bella nailed it above. Losing weight and being healthy are more about just sensible, reliable, consistent moderation and exercise over time.

The battle is accepting that the person you are now that overeats is not who you are going to be, and the new healthy lifestyle you want is not having to give up anything, but gaining health by doing the right things.

All the best.

Willpower is basically a term without universal meaning but here is one that works for me.

apa.org/helpcenter/willpower.aspx

"At its essence, willpower is the ability to resist short-term temptations in order to meet long-term goals."

"Willpower researcher Roy Baumeister, PhD, a psychologist at Florida State University, describes three necessary components for achieving objectives: First, he says, you need to establish the motivation for change and set a clear goal. Second, you need to monitor your behavior toward that goal. The third component is willpower. Whether your goal is to lose weight, kick a smoking habit, study more, or spend less time on Facebook, willpower is a critical step to achieving that outcome......"

Personally nothing worked for me until I realized I was eating myself into an early grave and that I decided I wanted to recover my health by my future food choices. The second component could be counting your macro calories.

In the past it was my will to not stop at Dairy Queen and get a banana split but my hands turned in and my feet would walk me up to the order window more often than not. That has not happened since my decision to eat to live vs eating to die the first of Oct 2014.

I see health and marriage as being similar.

Just because I see a beautiful and desireable woman it is not in the best interest of my marriage to touch or sample.

Now that eating for better health is job one there are certain foods that I do not touch or sample because they are not in the best interest of my health. What foods are good/bad for my health may be very different for another person.

Yes to me my evolving way of eating is truly a long term eating lifestyle change in my case and it is in no way restrictive. It took me 63 years to figure out how simple it was to eat for life vs. death.