Willpower and Determination
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Find a way of eating and a level of activity that keeps you at the correct calorie level without needing willpower. It can take some trial and error, but once you find it, you're golden.5
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Landoficeandsnow wrote: »"Nothing tastes as good as fit feels".
Actually, there are plenty of things that tastes as good, if not better, than fit feels. I hate this quote and all derivations of it.
All I've got is that I take a break every 3-4 months and eat like I used to.
In the context of curing disordered eating it's a great quote.
I hate the contradiction of struggling to lose wt and promoting eating (that induces excessive) at the same time. That's disordered thinking, too.1 -
endlessfall16 wrote: »Landoficeandsnow wrote: »"Nothing tastes as good as fit feels".
Actually, there are plenty of things that tastes as good, if not better, than fit feels. I hate this quote and all derivations of it.
All I've got is that I take a break every 3-4 months and eat like I used to.
In the context of curing disordered eating it's a great quote.
I hate the contradiction of struggling to lose wt and promoting eating (that induces excessive) at the same time. That's disordered thinking, too.
Okay, I must be inferring the meaning differently than you. To me, "nothing tastes as good as thin/skinny/fit feels" means "if you want to be thin/skinny/fit, don't eat". That certainly doesn't "cure" disordered eating in my book.
How do you interpret the meaning of the saying? How does it "cure" disordered eating?1 -
Landoficeandsnow wrote: »"Nothing tastes as good as fit feels".
That's like saying, "The sky isn't as blue as the ocean is wet." It is a truth statement that is impossible to prove and even if one could, what do we do with it? What you eat doesn't keep you from being fit. Take a piece of chocolate cake for example. This seems like something that someone should use willpower to avoid if they want to be fit, but if you're in the middle of a four hour bicycle ride, a piece of chocolate cake will not only not hurt you, it might be just the kind of thing you need to let you finish the ride.
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I certainly don't surround myself with pictures of "hot toned bodies" because those are MODELS... typically those that got gifted with a certain selection of genetic makeup, often undergone surgery, and the pictures are often Photoshopped somehow, and in the end...that simply won't be *my* body. I likely will not ever look like those people and many if not all are not realistic. I don't like going for unrealistic comparisons. It feels really bad.
And I don't want to put a picture of an older version of me, because the body I had at 30 just isn't the one I have today. Even if I get to the weight I was at then, or even less, it just won't be the same. So that's not something I want to compare myself to either.
What do I prefer to surround myself with? Actually, pictures of places I'd like to go with my healthy body... nice beaches... mountains to hike up... rivers to kayak on... Parisian streets to bike to a croissant shop... and so on. That's realistic--sort of. No matter where I go, there'll I be, hopefully healthy, trim, and enjoying the ride.5 -
endlessfall16 wrote: »Landoficeandsnow wrote: »"Nothing tastes as good as fit feels".
Actually, there are plenty of things that tastes as good, if not better, than fit feels. I hate this quote and all derivations of it.
All I've got is that I take a break every 3-4 months and eat like I used to.
In the context of curing disordered eating it's a great quote.
I hate the contradiction of struggling to lose wt and promoting eating (that induces excessive) at the same time. That's disordered thinking, too.
Okay, I must be inferring the meaning differently than you. To me, "nothing tastes as good as thin/skinny/fit feels" means "if you want to be thin/skinny/fit, don't eat". That certainly doesn't "cure" disordered eating in my book.
How do you interpret the meaning of the saying? How does it "cure" disordered eating?
Yes, we have very different interpretations.
To me It's very extreme and illogical to advocate "don't eat". Not eating is not possible for any moving living thing. Don't know why you take it that far.
Besides, it's the word "taste" which is a state of mind. I take it to mean being fit should come as a higher priority. If this priority always comes first as a rule, you can't have the excessive/overweight overeating. No?0 -
In fact, lots of things "taste" better than eating to millions of people who are fit, skinny. Millions are much more into the pleasure of power, wealth, traveling, etc. than that of eating.0
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A reasonable deficit is pretty manageable and easy IMO. I don't try to restrict every little "bad" thing either...I may not have desert every night, but I have it 2-3 days per week...I usually also have a maintenance day on the weekend.
It doesn't have to be sufferfest...it can actually be really easy. My biggest issue in a cut if forgoing nightly craft beers...but I fit a few in on the weekends.3 -
endlessfall16 wrote: »endlessfall16 wrote: »Landoficeandsnow wrote: »"Nothing tastes as good as fit feels".
Actually, there are plenty of things that tastes as good, if not better, than fit feels. I hate this quote and all derivations of it.
All I've got is that I take a break every 3-4 months and eat like I used to.
In the context of curing disordered eating it's a great quote.
I hate the contradiction of struggling to lose wt and promoting eating (that induces excessive) at the same time. That's disordered thinking, too.
Okay, I must be inferring the meaning differently than you. To me, "nothing tastes as good as thin/skinny/fit feels" means "if you want to be thin/skinny/fit, don't eat". That certainly doesn't "cure" disordered eating in my book.
How do you interpret the meaning of the saying? How does it "cure" disordered eating?
Yes, we have very different interpretations.
To me It's very extreme and illogical to advocate "don't eat". Not eating is not possible for any moving living thing. Don't know why you take it that far.
Besides, it's the word "taste" which is a state of mind. I take it to mean being fit should come as a higher priority. If this priority always comes first as a rule, you can't have the excessive/overweight overeating. No?
Nothing taste as good as skinny/thin/fit feels is a mantra in the eating disorder community to discourage people from eating.1 -
Thinking about the "big picture" sometimes helps. Think about where you want to be a year from now. Do you want to change your life for the better? Enjoy good health for many many years? Be strong, healthy and independent in your later years? Remind yourself that the decisions you make now will affect you for the rest of your life. Your future self will thank you.1
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I identify as a healthy person, and so because of that I do the things that healthy people do. I tell myself that I am the kind of person who works out and eats clean, and so I do.0
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Rebecca0224 wrote: »endlessfall16 wrote: »endlessfall16 wrote: »Landoficeandsnow wrote: »"Nothing tastes as good as fit feels".
Actually, there are plenty of things that tastes as good, if not better, than fit feels. I hate this quote and all derivations of it.
All I've got is that I take a break every 3-4 months and eat like I used to.
In the context of curing disordered eating it's a great quote.
I hate the contradiction of struggling to lose wt and promoting eating (that induces excessive) at the same time. That's disordered thinking, too.
Okay, I must be inferring the meaning differently than you. To me, "nothing tastes as good as thin/skinny/fit feels" means "if you want to be thin/skinny/fit, don't eat". That certainly doesn't "cure" disordered eating in my book.
How do you interpret the meaning of the saying? How does it "cure" disordered eating?
Yes, we have very different interpretations.
To me It's very extreme and illogical to advocate "don't eat". Not eating is not possible for any moving living thing. Don't know why you take it that far.
Besides, it's the word "taste" which is a state of mind. I take it to mean being fit should come as a higher priority. If this priority always comes first as a rule, you can't have the excessive/overweight overeating. No?
Nothing taste as good as skinny/thin/fit feels is a mantra in the eating disorder community to discourage people from eating.
You don't need to tell me. It's zyxst that you need to explain it to. LOL.
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Jayfeather15 wrote: »Does anyone have any tips on staying focused and not losing the will to diet? Does keeping a picture of a toned hot body help?
I don't lose the will to eat at a deficit because I don't deny myself what I want to eat. I eat cookies, and pasta, and etc. etc. but in smaller portions that fit into my calories. I track my food (no matter how bad) so when I see red for my calorie #'s, I know I'm not focused on weight loss. It helps me make conscious choices.4 -
kenyonhaff wrote: »I certainly don't surround myself with pictures of "hot toned bodies" because those are MODELS... typically those that got gifted with a certain selection of genetic makeup, often undergone surgery, and the pictures are often Photoshopped somehow, and in the end...that simply won't be *my* body. I likely will not ever look like those people and many if not all are not realistic. I don't like going for unrealistic comparisons. It feels really bad.
I agree, and you reminded me of a fitness site that had a Q&A section, where multiple women had written in requesting advice for "getting a body like [name of this or that model]". If you really want to look like a particular model you'd be better off working on a mind-transference ray than getting fit, lol.
About willpower, it is a useful thing to have but if you don't have it, it doesn't really help having people tell you to "have willpower." Because you don't have it and you can't just go to The Willpower Store and buy a package of Premium Willpower.
Let me describe what it was like for me when I first started trying to lose weight: If I bought a bag of candy, my id would constantly be whispering, "Have another candy." Constantly, every minute. Imagine that all day, all evening, every waking moment. It wasn't a matter of being hungry--a lot of obesity problems aren't, right? I could have filled up completely on protein or anything else and that little voice would still be whispering "Eaaat the caaaandy."
This was a stressful scenario because I had to make the right decision (don't overeat on candy) not once, but a thousand times a night--because the candy would be in the back of my mind aaaall the time as long as it was in the house. So even if I said "No, I'm not having that candy" time after time, it only took ONE bad decision to "break." Which was demoralizing and reinforced the notion that "I can't do this."
So yeah, willpower is important but if someone is having struggles similar to mine then it's totally fine to start small. Like your first act of willpower can be avoiding the candy aisle. Second act of willpower can be walking down it without buying anything. (I had so many personal battles where I'd put a candy bar in the cart, then put it back, then put it in the cart again, then put it back again, lol!)
We see lots of posts by people who "eat chocolate every day", and good for them, but there's no reason for someone to set themself up for failure if they aren't there yet. No one would try to go from "completely sedentary" to "running a marathon" in one day, they'd train and gradually work up their endurance. It's okay to gradually build up your willpower too. (I did eventually reach the point where I can have a house full of candy and pace myself. But it took a lot of time, lol.)1 -
BlueSkyShoal wrote: »No one would try to go from "completely sedentary" to "running a marathon" in one day, they'd train and gradually work up their endurance. It's okay to gradually build up your willpower too. (I did eventually reach the point where I can have a house full of candy and pace myself. But it took a lot of time, lol.)
Haha re: "willpower store". Good point. Esp the part above resonated for me. Lots written about willpower functioning like a muscle-- can be strengthened by progressive challenge and also overused to point of failure. I Wish I could have radically reframed my attitude towards eating in a snap, but all my progress has been over long periods of time, too. It really does get easier if you stick with it, OP.
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Rebecca0224 wrote: »
Actually, there are plenty of things that
Nothing taste as good as skinny/thin/fit feels is a mantra in the eating disorder community to discourage people from eating.
^This is true regardless of personal interpretation. It is shorthand for "don't eat" and has been widely co-opted by ED and ANA groups.2 -
I try very hard not to compare myself to others either positively or negatively. Doing that is a sure fire way to put me in an awful frame of mind.
My motivation is wear cute clothes well. It's 100% a vanity thing for me, not that I'm not cute now-- I'd just like more options.
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no one can really tell you. it's really up to you, and your mindset0
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For me, it helped to re-frame the process so that it required a minimum of willpower, discipline or motivation. Those are not my strong suits.
Some alternatives? Experimentation and thought are good supporting players. So is fun.
When I first started losing, I felt hungry, and could see that I wasn't getting ideal nutrition by eating exactly as I had, but with lower portions - even though my fat-Ann way of eating was mostly healthy foods.
By experimenting with what I ate, and when, I was able to find strategies that left me feeling pretty satiated most of the time, usually only feeling hungry when I was getting close to a meal time.
Satiation is different for everyone. Your big variables are what you eat, and when. "What" could mean, within a healthy range of each, getting relatively more protein, or fats, or high-volume/low-cal veggies. "When" is about all those choices like big breakfast or no breakfast, 1/2/3/5/6 meals or snacks, whether to save some calories for evening snacking, which meals are bigger (or maybe they're all the same), etc. Some people like to eat lighter on weekdays, and at maintenance calories on the weekend (often for social reasons) So, you can try some experiments to see what works best for you.
Your MFP food diary can be a help in this. If you have a particularly "crave-y" day, review your diary and see whether you can tell why. Sometimes it's about eating (perhaps even the previous day's eating!). But you can also think about other factors that could have an influence: Exercise, stress, boredom, triggers for habit-based snacking, poor vs. good sleep, etc.
Using my diary thoughtfully really helped me gradually improve my nutrition and satiation, so that the weight loss part became easier, and required less tooth-gritting discipline.
If you find that non-food factors are influencing hunger or cravings, you can also work on strategies to improve those, like picking up a hobby (ones that require clean hands are particularly good
), or substituting a more productive habit for an unhelpful one.
On the activity front, the alternative to discipline is definitely "fun". Keep an open mind, and try some varied activities until you find one you enjoy enough that you want to do it. That's where the magic is.
I'd suggest sampling some things, asking yourself to stick with each long enough to get past the awkward newbie phase where the activity seems clumsy and impossible (that part's never fun). But things that are harder to learn at first can be the most satisfying in the long run, because they stay interesting.
Maybe try some group classes, or check out different videos on YouTube. Think creatively: Try dance, table tennis, cycling, rock-climbing, walking, weight training, martial arts, swimming, kayaking or any other thing you've found fun in the past or that has always intrigued you. Even sampling things is fun, and a way to meet some more-active people you can do things with and have active social time.
Good luck!4 -
For me, it helped to re-frame the process so that it required a minimum of willpower, discipline or motivation. Those are not my strong suits.
Some alternatives? Experimentation and thought are good supporting players. So is fun.
When I first started losing, I felt hungry, and could see that I wasn't getting ideal nutrition by eating exactly as I had, but with lower portions - even though my fat-Ann way of eating was mostly healthy foods.
By experimenting with what I ate, and when, I was able to find strategies that left me feeling pretty satiated most of the time, usually only feeling hungry when I was getting close to a meal time.
Just curious, do you select what you eat for satiety for all the meals (every time you eat)? Or only for some of the meals?
I imagine having that filter on all the time is going to affect one's decision to go out and eat with friends, etc. You would always have to judge which is mentally straining to me.
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