WILLPOWER

There's a great thread on 3 Fat Chicks about willpower. http://www.3fatchicks.com/forum/showthread.php?t=73855

Charles78 (who has lost 274 lbs) wrote the following:

I really know how you feel. When I was dealing with this myself, I heard a lot of things that really helped me adjust my thinking. Here are a few of the things that struck me the most.

Using willpower to make a lifestyle change is using a short term solution on a long term problem. If someone gave you a task of holding a bucket full of sand 18" off the floor, you could pick it up and use your "willpower" to keep holding it up. No matter how much "willpower" you have, no matter how determined you are... you will drop that bucket at some point. You need to find what can work for you long term. You don't need willpower for that. What you need is willingness. A willingness to change. A willingness to keep trying - knowing that you will never be perfect. A willingness to take it one day, one meal at a time. A willingness to aim for progress, never for perfection. As someone touched on above, you need to work on doing the right things more often than you do what is not healthy for you.

If you fall back into your old patterns, don't apply black and white thinking to it. It is not pass - fail. When you eat healthy make sure you write down how you were feeling what was going on and reward yourself for it. Use positive self talk to congratulate yourself. When you make unhealthy choices - don't let your mind tell you well I messed up today - I will start back tomorrow. There is no tomorrow - only today. Each meal, everything you eat you have a choice. You have the power within you to make those choices that you need to make to reach your goal.

When I make unhealthy choices, I try and write down not only what was going on - but I make myself come up with 5 things I could have done to avoid making that poor choice. I own up to my actions then I let it go and move on. Beating yourself up only reinforces a negative self image. I am the king of this one. It has been the hardest thing for me to change and I still struggle with it.

You can do it. You will reach your goals. I know you will. You need to know that you will too. I know it is hard. God, do I ever - change is never easy. It takes us out of our comfort zone. You can do it.

I LOVE reading the stuff he writes. He's been where I am...and he KNOWS what I and so many other obese people face every day.

Thanks for this, Charles!!