Willpower or Won't-power: What works for weight loss?

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Oh, sweet (gooey, chocolate) memories

Mmmm...choc-chip biscuits

Willpower also fails because it can't match up to the power of human memory. Human beings respond to all types of stimuli through the five senses. Think about the last time you heard a song that transported you back in time. You probably remembered the scene vividly, recalling when it was, where it was and who you were with. Your mind may have gone back twenty years or more and yet the memory was crystal clear, as were the feelings associated with it.

So what do you think happens when you see or smell one of your favourite foods? As with the song, you are besieged with stimuli that stir up your senses and your emotions, taking you back in time to when you last sunk your teeth into that gooey chocolate-chip biscuit. (And didn't it taste goooood?)

When faced with the food you are so ardently trying to deny yourself, it's very hard to resist the temptation to indulge because memory overwhelms you. Willpower has some serious forces to battle with and if you rely on it for too long, it will weaken and eventually fail.

Now what?

If you can't rely on willpower, what can you rely on to resist temptation? The answer is so evident, that you'll slap your forehead for not thinking of it! Here it is... drum-roll please... Limit what you allow to bombard your senses. Keep the tempting food out of your way, and you won't have to use up your willpower resisting it. That's it! Simple huh?

Out of sight, out of mind

Whoever coined this phrase must have been on a diet and must have discovered that willpower wasn't enough! "Out of sight, out of mind" is the golden rule for avoiding diet-disaster foods. It means that if it's not in plain sight, if you can't see it or smell it, it won't bombard your senses and entice you into eating. Of course, you can't avoid every encounter with tempting foods; you can't clean out the pantries of the world! But you can control what is in your house, which is statistically the most likely environment for calorie-control slip-ups. Our advice to you is to remove all "temptation" foods from the house right away - drop this page and do it now if you have to! Give it to the neighbours, throw it in the bin, feed it to the cat - anything you can to get rid of it (except eating it of course).

Foods to keep out of sight and out of mind include:

• Trigger foods
• Any food that you know you can't limit to one serving
• Any snack or food that you eliminated when you last lost weight because you knew it was unhealthy and too high in calories
• Finger foods that are primarily carbohydrates and sugar
• Foods that you use to manage stress or uncomfortable emotions

If you are reluctant to get rid of certain foods because you may inconvenience the family, remember that unhealthy food is unhealthy for everybody. If you really believe that you are depriving other people in your house of biscuits, lollies, or junk food, they can always eat them out of the house.

If you are away from home and come face-to-face with an "out of sight, out of mind" food, then you may need to draw on some willpower to say "no". However, remember that saying "no" is just a good habit. And the more it becomes a habit, the less you need to rely on willpower. Perhaps Benjamin Franklin said it best when he said:

"It is easier to suppress the first desire than to satisfy all that follows it."

Related articles :

• Constant Cravings and How to Tame Them
• Let's Get Trigger Happy!
• Ten Ways to Tame Your Appetite

References :

This article was compiled in consultation with CalorieKing.com.au experts and in reference to the following sources:

Peter Doskoch, Angela Priris, 'Willpower: Why it wanes', Psychology Today, March/April 1997, Available: http://www.psychologytoday.com (Accessed: July 2004)

Last updated: September 2nd, 2007