Many so-called health experts chalk up weight loss success to willpower. Not only is this a false belief, but also a way to sabotage yourself.

The fact is most people are not able to maintain their willpower for an extended period of time, simply because of the chemistry of the brain.

Willpower is a false prophet; one forged in our minds to impress others, even though at the core of it, it’s just a pile of lies.

Wondering why willpower is not the definitive factor that will determine your weight loss? Read on to learn more:

Willpower Doesn’t Play Well With Goals

Ever wondered why willpower doesn’t help you achieve your goals? It is because willpower is impossible to maintain at the same intensity for a period of time. Take for example you make the goal of losing 10 pounds in a month.

This is great, but how will willpower help you get there? Maybe it will remind you to look at the days going by, and realizing that you’re no way closer to achieving your goals.

That won’t change your life. Instead, write down what you want and develop consistency, as in building healthier habits and work on making them stick. Do a bit every day and build on it. That approach trumps willpower any day of the year.

Willpower Can’t Change Your Environment

Sure, you may tell yourself today that you will run a mile every day, but then when you go outside today, you are in no way motivated to do so tomorrow. The reasons can be plentiful; rain, snow, maybe you just don’t want to?

The fact is that willpower is fragile, and won’t beat your environment. Willpower will try to elevate you above the environmental deterrent, but the environment will win regardless of how hard you try.

Willpower Doesn’t Equal Accountability

Willpower is your own internal resolve. This is fine, but how will you be kept accountable? When you are the judge of yourself, the verdict will always be biased. Get a training or diet buddy, somebody who will hold you to your word.

Plus, if resolve is what you are after, nothing can give you more willpower than good old competition. The competitive nature of mankind is to be better than his fellow man. This can work out in your favor, as rivalry sets up a win-win scenario for everyone.

Willpower Focuses On A Variable

Take for instance, if your resolution is to stop drinking soda. This is fine, but the problem is that you will be thinking of soda all day, as you struggle to remind yourself to avoid it. This is the ugly trick human nature often plays on us; we want what we can’t have.

A better approach? A diversion. Find something to replace what you will be eliminating. Trying to forget soda? Find a healthier beverage that you have no problem using in place.

A great substitute would be fruit infused water- and best of all? No fighting with willpower!

Willpower Prioritizes Starvation

You must reduce calories to lose weight- that is a fact. However, the real battle with willpower begins when you are hungry. Willpower dictates that you eat the bland chicken, but will not tell you that you can overindulge many veggies.

Why should you feel hungry? By deliberately knowing that you can freely munch on low-calorie veggies, you will be happy to forego some things knowing that you can fall back on something else. That is the strategy of a permanent weight loss plan.

Conclusion

Willpower sounds great in theory, but the most successful weight loss stories know that it is not sexy. You do not need to be on a constant high, but develop real systems that keep you working at weight loss day after day, forever, one day at a time.

See also:

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