Diet Science: Techniques to Boost Your Willpower and Self-Control | Sylvia Tara | Big Think

Easy…for some. Able…for some. Addiction…for some. Free will?

i hate when i try to change my lifestyle(its pretty good but its just binge and overeating on suagry foods) and then my mom buys junk foods that i eat and i ask her multipe times to stop it cause i personakky find it kinda difficukt to controk myself around certain foods

Interesting

Nope. Do you use willpower to warm yourself up when you're cold or cool yourself off when you're hot? The new class of drugs illustrate the real cause of obesity, which is a metabolic regulation issue. You still need to employ healthy habits, but you can't turn off being hungry.

Being self aware on posture has led me i to pain management and being more aware of my body. It is a really good foest atep to wanting to kise qeight in my opinion caus wit makes you realize the weight thats pulling in front. Also ive been starting to go the gym at 2am because i cant sleep because of back pain. After work I go to the pool to take oressure off my joints and to lossen up my body before sleep .So slowly ive been excersing for pain management and realizing thats my motivation to change.

I have zero self control. I can’t help but to eat and snack.

What book is she talking about?

I lost over 30 kilograms one time. I lost over 20 kg another 2 times. I think I lost over 10 another 2 times or so. I lost count. I'm a little over 40 years old and I've been obese my entire life. I won't be under 25 IMC ever again. If I add up all those periods, it's not more than 3 years, the longest, 16 months in a row. Maybe it's possible to grow a self control muscle. I know for me it won't be anymore. I exercise every day, I eat salad for lunch, fruit for dessert and healthy cooked vegetables for dinner, I only drink water and I hardly ever eat meat or dairy. And I haven't bought or had into my house sugar or butter in years. I'm healthy, but I'm fat. It took me more than 30 years to accept that and accept me the way I am. It's a difficult task given the world we live in.

This is very helpful! I hate doing dishes but I can only listen to my favorite podcast when I am doing them. Now I look forward to doing dishes. I will do this for exercise as I know it already works. Thank you!!!

Came here to see if I could get discipline for eating better I will try these thanks!

👍

I’ve lost 60 lbs but I’ve slowly been gaining back over the past few months. I’ve gained 30 back and the clothes I was so excited to be fitting into either no longer fit or are almost too tight, and I’m in panic mode. Every day, I begin with the intention to get back on track but by lunch time, I’m craving BAD. I desperately need discipline.

I was on the same weight for 18 years. Than I just got tired to watch all the time what and when I eat it's tiering...Especially when there are people that are eating what ever they want when ever they want and they don't get any weight. After that I was going up and down with my weight, but to be honest I am tired with constant dieting. Don't eat this don't eat that who wants all the time be in a diet regime...Sometimes it's really to much

great advice ty

I have already lost near 30kgs now a last bit has left like 5-7 kgs but i am not able to stay consistent 🤦

don’t go on a diet, habitually change your lifestyle 🙌

The Secret Life of Fat is a FASCINATING read!!!

a lemon lollipop?? seriously??!?!?!

Video's main idea is like "how to made a soda?" answer: put some x and add some soda in it

Your will power test, I would be more impressed if there was a way to know that the result was caused by their self control or if the people who already had more self control had positive results. (Correlation is not causation.)

I hate lemon. I hate lollipop... Oh! Cake.
Stoping swearing for two weeks?! What tha F is this BS you're talking about!

Did someone say lemon lollipop?

I have a valve in my stomach that I made out of old plumbing equipment that just drains my stomach whenever I want to. So I can eat all kinds of shit and just open the valve and I'm good to keep eating. I'm so hot you guys. You should see me with no shirt on at the beach. Everyone is always staring.

I eat junk and I love it. I don't see any point of stopping. Maybe I gain better looks or improved health but I prefer the taste.

I have the problem of not eating enough.

Okay, i'm gonna bookmark this video, and every time i want a pizza, i'll watch this first. Then order a pizza.

I judge the fuck out of fat people. why? because it lets me know they have very little self control / willpower without exchanging one word with them.

ah yes, the 2 things I am missing in order to find a job.

I find the only way i can maintain willpower is when i feel like i have options. I quit smoking about a year ago, and i keep a pack of cigarettes in my house. I quit drugs nearly 5 years ago and i still keep a box of brillo and other paraphernalia around, and than it finally occurred to me...why not take the same approach with food? When i go to the store and spend half my pay check on vegetables, and don't buy a single treat i get home i get anxious and i eat like 3 dinners. Sure it's healthy food but i eat until i feel sick.

Once i treated food like other addictions and keep something sweet in the house, i can live comfortably knowing i have that option, and in knowing that i normally don't need it. It's only when i feel like i have no choice in the matter, that i go crazy and over indulge. So i keep a box of candy in the house and usually eat one lollipop a year. I look in the box often to reassure myself but i rarely if ever take anything from it. That approach gives me options and control and i do better than when i try to avoid having it all together.

Just something that works for me, i don't know if anyone else does this.

Willpower will get you started but good habits is what will keep you going.

Something I do teach to my clients is to what they can do to NOT use willpower to make decisions around their health. That's a game no one wants to play. And the reason as she said, willpower is limited, so is our ability to "resist" if using willpower. However, there are better ways to do it.

On my channel I do have a video on why diets don't work, and what we can do instead.
Hint: if you don't see yourself eating that way in 2 years, then, most likely won't be a successful one.

I've lost 129lb in roughly 22 months. It comes from eating more greens, fruits, and less red meat. Not to mention some exercise. Everything is fine in moderation. I haven't had soda on a regular basis in over four years. Now, I still have abit to go, but I should do just fine.

Good follow up conversations, good info, thanks, it all helps

What I do to eat healthy and keep being a vegetarian is that whenever I want to eat (for example) cake, I try to think rationally. I try to remember how is a cake made, how many sugar is involved... after visualizing the process I simply cannot put that amount of sugar inside myself, sorry.

For being vegetarian I try to keep reminding myself why I started. My reason to be vegetarian is because of animal suffering so everytime someone is eating meat near me I keep visualizing the horrors animals live because of it and them I'm disgusted.

I try to kill everything that is appealing about food I simply don't want to eat. That way I have been vegetarian for a few months and healthy for a few years. I eat only what I need and sometimes of course, I take some cake...

Also, if you are making an effort about eating something that is not healty, but you know that for this time you are eating it for whatever reason try to stick to one portion. I know a lot of people that are unhealthy not because they eat cake lol, but because they eat two or three portions of it. ALWAYS READ THE NUTRITION FACTS IN THE BACK.

Wow! A non-political, unbiased video that actually makes sense! I didn't think it was possible

How to lose weight:
1. Cut off your arms
2. Go on the moon

All great things have small beginnings. The thousand mile journey does not begin with the first step but from where you stand. I have heard it said there is no such thing as free will. Maybe just maybe free will is not free. Maybe just maybe it's earned and expanded upon.

Spray painting your food black is the secret to self control and weight loss

Taking a break from a DIET is bad advice. Sugar, Refined Grains, Caffeine, Alcohol, etc. are ADDICTIVE, it is highly unlikely that someone can restrict their consumption of these, then take a break from restricting (meaning: eat them again for a little while) then go back to restricting. NOT GOING TO HAPPEN.

It's super easy once you get used to it. I eat 150-400 calories a day and have lost 40 pounds in 3 months! It's not that hard, trust me.

Fuck motivation. it’s a fickle and and unreliable little dickfuck and isn’t worth your time.

Better to cultivate discipline than to rely on motivation. force yourself to do things. force yourself to get up out of bed and workout. Force yourself to eat healthy. Motivation is fleeting and it’s easy to rely on because it requires no concentrated effort to get. Motivation comes to you, and you don’t have to chase after it.

Discipline is reliable, motivation is fleeting. The question isn’t how to keep yourself motivated. It’s how to train yourself to work without it.

If a fast food meal appeared like charcoal, that would put off those wanting to ease their munchies. Only the late Louise Nevelson would find the title image appetizing. A Pavlovian dog might prefer its own excrement to the charcoal burger, fries and fizzy drink.

My problem is that I'm barely eating and live a busy life, but not losing anything.

Awesome!!

Over the last 6 months I've lost 45lbs just by eating a little less. I've got another 50 to lose before I'm at weight. I have found that by gradually eating less and less, but still a healthy amount of food, my ability to control emotional eating and cravings has improved.

Now I've started walking my dog daily and eating more whole foods to lose the rest.

Haven't watched the video yet, but I can say the best way for me to resist temptation is to remove the temptation in the first place. I have an addiction to soda, so if there is any in my house I know sooner or later I'm going to drink it. Therefore I never buy soda. Problem solved.

Losing weight is the easiest thing in the fucking world man. No willpower needed. For the past four months I've been eating 1000 calories a day(hell lately I've moved to one meal a day) and I have lost 39 pounds and I haven't exorcised at all. I've still got 50 pounds to go but I got this in the bag.

It's "like a muscle" as it's not a muscle. Big thinkers should be able to handle reality without restoring to metaphors. After all, the bad habits in such a metaphor are also big, strong muscles you trained over years. But of course practicing the good behavior you want to have, coupling it with positive reinforcements, is age old wisdom.