You Need To Know the Secret Behind Willpower and How To Harness It To Stop Snacking
I hate talking about willpower. It’s one of those words that instantly turns people off because they feel like they don’t have it. “I don’t have the willpower to stick to a diet! I love cookies too much,” or “I don’t have the willpower to wake up before my kids,” or “I don’t have the willpower to get to the gym every day, it’s just too tough.” However, I know I need to talk to you about willpower because it’s so misunderstood!
From my experience as a young mom, and talking to hundreds of moms, I’ve learned one of the biggest problems mamas face with our health is mindless snacking.
Whether that’s grabbing an Oreo from the sleeve every time you pass through the kitchen, eating bites of leftover mac and cheese when you’re clearing your kids’ plates, or mindlessly eating a whole bag of chips at the end of the night, snacking is hurting your health.
And I bet you’ve tried everything under the sun to stop snacking.
You did a kitchen clean out and threw out all the “bad” foods.
You tried to get the kids to trash their food before bringing their plates to the sink. (This one never works, but it’s a valiant effort! Bahaha!)
You stopped buying chips, cookies and ice cream.
You punished yourself when you ate snacks.
But none of it worked. And you probably thought, I just don’t have the willpower to do it. And you were right! You didn’t have the willpower.
Because willpower is a belief. The secret to having willpower is believing that you’re capable of it!
You have to start believing that you have willpower
I talk about thoughts and feelings a lot, and for a really good reason: everything, literally everything starts with a thought.
Quick caveat, I’m about to talk a lot about chips and how to avoid mindless snacking on them, but that doesn’t mean that chips are bad. They’re not good either. They’re neutral. They’re food. So you can eat them, or you don’t have to. This is just an example! We’ll go into this later but food accountability is more important than good vs. bad foods!
Ok, back to our example.
Before you put a single chip in your mouth, you have to have several thoughts.
Thought 1: “Ooo, chips!”
Thought 2: “That sounds good!”
Thought 3: “Should I get a bowl or eat straight from the bag?”
Thought 4: “Nah, I’ll just grab a handful.”
Thought 5: “Oops! Better pick that chip off the floor before the baby gets it.”
Small, simple thoughts lead to bigger actions and results than we realize. “Ooo chips!” was a small, insignificant thought. But it can lead to eating a whole bag of chips, the result of which is gaining weight!
If you want to have more willpower, then you have to start paying attention to how your small thoughts are causing unwanted results. Then you need to flip that and use your small thoughts to create the results you want!
If you want to increase your willpower, start filling your brain with thoughts that result in more willpower!
Now, Mama, I’m not going to leave you alone to create new thoughts on your own because that’s harder than it sounds! It takes practice to start controlling your thoughts. But I want to help you get started.
Here are a few new thoughts or affirmations that you can use to increase your willpower around snacking.
I’m strong enough to eat the foods that will help me reach my goals.
That sounds good, but it’s not in alignment with my goals.
I’ll have that later if I’m still craving it.
I’m in charge here, and I’d rather have something that fills me up.
I’ve already made a plan, and this food isn’t in it. I’ll have it tomorrow instead.
Chips are great, but they’re not what I need right now.
I’m listening to my body and while chips sound good, I know that it’s craving something more substantial.
The key to using these affirmations is picking something that sounds true right now, and building on it.
Right now, “I’m strong enough to eat the foods that will help me reach my goals.” might not feel true to you. You might feel really weak around snack foods. So try, “I’ll have that later if I’m still craving it.” instead.
As you get used to thinking, I don’t need that snack food/craving food right now, you’ll grow into some of the stronger affirmations. Taking this bit by bit is how you’re going to create the willpower to stop mindlessly snacking!
Set boundaries around snacking to increase your willpower
Now that we’ve covered the mental part of willpower, I want you to start creating physical boundaries so that you can implement your willpower!
I want to start with food accountability. When we first started talking today, I mentioned how you may have done a kitchen clean out, stopped buying snacks or treats, you get it. Those things didn’t work for you because you thought you needed to restrict your access to snacks.
But you don’t.
Weight loss and general health aren’t about restriction, it’s about moderation. Being able to enjoy things like chips, cookies, ice cream, whatever you love without having to eat it all.
When I started macro tracking with my own macro coach, she told me to include a treat in my day. And it stunned me.
I thought I was supposed to sacrifice everything to lose weight. I thought losing weight should be difficult and as close to miserable as you could get.
I thought I needed to eat salads, boiled chicken and broccoli for every meal.
When my coach told me to eat a bagel or have an ice cream sandwich (my favorite treat at the time) it didn’t sound right.
But the truth is that all those restrictive diets I’d done for YEARS hadn’t gotten me any close to my goals. So I was willing to try something new and I had the ice cream sandwich.
But, and this is key, I made it work within my nutritional boundaries.
I didn’t eat 5 ice cream sandwiches. I didn’t avoid them until it drove me so crazy that I had to binge eat them. I just planned for it.
And because it was a part of my nutritional plan I was able to enjoy my treat without feeling bad about it AND I lost weight.
Food accountability is about owning up to your choices and making them fit into your boundaries instead of ignoring the fact that you ate something “bad.”
And I say “bad” with quotation marks because food isn’t good or bad! Food doesn’t make choices, it’s just food. It’s neutral.
Yes, some food is more nutritious than others but that doesn’t make it bad. All food has its place in our diets. Sometimes food is just fun and tastes good and that’s ok!
As long as you’re accountable for it you can have it! And I’ve seen time and time again that the women who hold themselves accountable for their food choices have so much more success than the women who try to ignore or hide it.
So how do you know what your boundaries are?
That’s the part no one ever teaches you, right?
Everyone says “eat in moderation” but what the heck does that mean?
The hard thing is it’s different for everyone. You have to learn how much food makes you lose weight, gain weight and maintain weight. And then you can make choices that fit into those boundaries.
I can’t tell you right now exactly how much you should be eating because there are so many factors that play into that. (Height, weight, exercise levels, age, gender, etc.) But you can learn more about your nutrition needs inside my program, Macros Made Easy, or if you prefer a DIY method, check out my ebook!
Learning about your nutritional needs is one of the most beneficial things you can do for your health! Especially if you’ve been dieting for years and you’re still struggling to reach your goals!
The coolest part about learning what your nutritional boundaries are is being able to enjoy foods you’ve deemed bad or off-limits!
I had a client who loved Wheat Thins crackers, but along her journey to health she decided she couldn’t eat them because they were “bad.” But after being in my program she learned that Wheat Thins weren’t bad, she just didn’t understand how many to eat or how to fit them into her diet.
Now they’re always stocked in her pantry and she can eat a few as part of her lunch without feeling bad about it! She’s able to reach her goals and eat the food she loves.
If you are tired of restricting your favorite snacks but still want to lose weight, let’s chat! Schedule a Healthy Mama Blueprint call and together we’ll discover your nutritional boundaries!
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