The Will-Power Myth, Don’t Believe It!

This week I released a podcast about will-power and how implausible it is to rely on it to get us to success when it comes to sustainable weight loss.  

I got some interesting comments and thoughts about the relationship between will-power and weight loss on social media: 

“I think it's to do with the short-term desire compared with the long-term need. What do you think Katie?” 

• “Knowing what to eat never negates wanting to eat it and that’s the rub. Wanting doesn’t go away simply because we’ve changed our mind. If we were an ocean liner and the captain says lets do a U-Turn,  it takes time for the message to get through to everyone and then more time still for everything to happen and that boat to actually be pointing in the other direction”  

 
“Keep going and will power grows with stamina to get you there” 

• “Yes, I got there, but it took me a quarter of a century because I was always relying on will-power which is fickle about when it will show up. That's why I started Dietless Living®, because there is so much unnecessary suffering around trying to change our weight because knowing what to eat doesn't change wanting it. That's a whole other conversation we have to know how to have with ourselves.” 

 
“Once you change your mindset you won't want the things you used to want.” 

• “That's so true and there are steps to take to get to that point because if it was just that easy - deciding you want to change - then we'd all have everything we want already?” 

 
“Willpower is 3 quarters of the battle! If not more”  

• “If it's down to will-power alone, we will always struggle to be successful. Relying on will-power alone will elongate the time and hardship we have to endure before we reach our goal of lifelong weight loss. There are so many better strategies for success that we can use.” 

 
“Is the problem that we don't think and plan for the long term? So often we start off full of enthusiasm but run out of steam unless we change our short term view to one of a long term result.” 

• “That's part of it, and the steam we run out of is literally the energy to maintain our stance on overcoming desire to consume food and beverages that we know are unhelpful. Another part of it is when we are feeling enthusiasm and making our plan, we’re feeling energised and ready to take on the challenge, and in all of that, we make too many changes all at once and will-power is needed to maintain each and every one of those changes. But the main problem is always that we don't understand ourselves and we don't have the tools in our tool kit to work through it properly” 

 
In our 3 Systems of Health Consciousness™ our unconscious mind is focused on/living in, a state of survival because that’s it job, to make sure our basic needs are met and to protect us from hurtful, harmful things. 

But living in a state of survival is counterproductive to sustainable weight because it drives our most unhealthy behaviours, which means will-power will always fatigue and fail under that relentless drive. 

For all its infinite intelligence, our unconscious mind is very short sighted. A cookie now to relieve tension is preferable over abstaining so we can lose weight in order to live longer, because in the eyes of our unconscious mind, we may not live long enough to enjoy that health if we don’t relieve the tension in our body right now.  

The problem with the cookie is that it doesn’t actually relieve tension; it perpetuates it with its sugars. It makes the body work hard to reduce the sugar in the blood stream and ultimately creating a sedative effect as our available energy is channelled to that process. We then have to push through that slump in energy to be able to complete the tasks of our day, which of course creates more internal tension that the unconscious mind wants to relieve with - you guessed it - another cookie. 

That’s why Dietless Living® 3 Systems of Health Consciousness™ and Personal Health Leadership™ programs are so effective, because nothing about our  unhealthy habits makes any sense except in the light of our unconscious mind. 

If you’re ready to lose weight now, getting started is easy. 

Find out more about Getting Started here.