Willpower versus Motivation

People blame their shortcomings on a lack of willpower. But do you treat willpower as if it’s a static personality trait?

..Because it’s not. Willpower is simply a measure of two things:
1. your level of motivation for a particular outcome; and
2. your willingness and ability to take a concrete action in furtherance of that outcome

When you see a cheeseburger, you easily conjure the will to eat it. That’s because it’s salient. It makes your brain cells dance, and you suddenly experience a high level of motivation to just stuff it into your mouth.

When you are highly motivated to do things, suddenly it becomes difficult to NOT do them. So really – your willpower problem can actually be seen as a problem of motivation.

And if you know yourself, and you know the things that really interest you – you can increase your willpower by increasing your motivation. Over time, mundane acts (like exercising) will become a source of familiarity and joy as they become habits engrained in your mind.

Here are just a few ways you can increase your motivation, and thus, your willpower:

Temptation Bundling. Research has shown that coupling highly enjoyable acts with less enjoyable acts can increase your motivation to participate in the less enjoyable acts. For more details, check out my post on temptation bundling. And while you’re at it, check out my Serial Challenge for Gym Haters.
Make Exercising Social. Don’t focus on exercising so hard. Instead, focus on making exercise a fun and social event. Take a dance class with a friend or go for walks with coworkers. It’s not exercise, it’s just fun with friends. (But shhh…it’s also exercise.)
Create Small Goals. Maybe you want to lose 50 pounds. Of course it’s doable. But 50 pounds is a lot of weight, and it’s a very demotivating thought when you’re just starting out. But what if you only wanted to lose 4 pounds? Losing 4 pounds is easy. And if you do it over and over again, you’ll eventually get to 50 before you know it. Set small goals to increase your motivation. It works!! See my post about setting small goals here.
Buy one dress that doesn’t fit. When I first started my weight loss journey, I bought an adorable dress that was several sizes too small. I hung it up, and I promised myself that someday soon I would wear that dress. It was bright yellow, so I noticed it every time I opened my closet. When the dress finally fit, it was incredibly rewarding. Say YES to the dress!

Summer 2015, the day the yellow dress fit! I’ve lost about another 20 since.

What are some ways you keep your motivation high?

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Temptation Bundling

Woman exercising on treadmill in gym

In yesterday’s post, I posed a challenge for those who struggle to find gym motivation.

I love psychology. And I believe that pairing gym visits with a particularly engaging story can help you not only find the motivation you need to show up, but also cause you to associate more positive feelings with the gym in the future.

The challenge is a form of “Temptation Bundling.”

Willpower is Half Motivation

Willpower isn’t just willpower. Really, it’s a combined term for two aspects of a human trait:
1. The strength of a desire; and
2. The willingness and ability to actually perform a concrete action in furtherance of that desire

If you know absolutely nothing about math, but know that you’ll get $500 if you learn Trig by next year, you might learn it.

But if you know absolutely nothing about math, but you know that your first born will be killed if you can’t figure it out in the same time frame, the odds of you learning it are much higher.

It’s an oversimplification to chalk this all up to dopamine, but certainly it plays a role. Motivation is related to attention. And attention is related to things that matter to you. Like your first-born not being thrown into a river.

Stack the Deck in Your Favor

Things that matter to you can improve your willpower by increasing your attention, and therefore your motivation.

So make a conscious effort to make mundane things matter more. This is how you stack the deck in your favor.

It will help you in two different ways:

[1] Activation Energy. Increased attention provides the initial interest and activation energy you need to get started and get over initial hurdles.

[2] Habit Formation Performing any activity will begin your brain on the journey of creating a habit. Doing it in an interested state will likely make it stick better. As they say, “Neurons that fire together, wire together.” Soon enough, you’ll enjoy a semi-automatic behavior, the familiarity of which will bring you comfort and joy. You just need a little help getting there.

Use Temptation Bundling

Temptation bundling is just one hack of many that you can use to increase your motivation, and thus, your willpower. Bundle an enjoyable activity with a less enjoyable one, and keep the association strict.

In order to do this effectively, you’ll have to know yourself.

For example, I love audiobooks, and I don’t have much of an attention span for television. I like certain shows, but I can’t focus on a show while exercising. You might experience the exact opposite.

If you LOVE a particular show, then ONLY watch that show at the gym. I personally do the same with audiobooks.

More Examples of Temptation Bundling for Fitness

Make a pact with a friend you don’t see often, but whose company you thoroughly enjoy. For the next three months, you are only going to hang out at the gym. This is you time.
Listen to your favorite audiobook only while exercising.
Watch your favorite TV show only while exercising.
Have a small piece of chocolate every time you exercise! And at no other time.
Splurge on cute gym clothes, so that whenever you are at the gym you feel like the hottest ticket
If you are motivated by physical challenges, then spend the first 2 minutes of your workout racing yourself on the treadmill and try to beat your old times.

Many people do these things without even realizing. Often, these are the people who experience the most success.

If you don’t do these things naturally, then it’s very important to be concrete in your temptation bundling rule and action.

The only person you are trying to help here is yourself, and a concrete behavior is what you need to get the habit formation going.

If you have any other tips and tricks, I’d love to hear. And I’d also love to hear how any of these tips work out for you.

Happy Bundling 🙂

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The Serial Challenge for Gym Haters

FullSizeRender 6.jpg — no puppy, you cannot come to the gym.

Serial. An award winning non-fiction murder mystery podcast. It tells a gripping true story over a series of episodes. You cannot stop listening.

If you haven’t heard it yet, then I have an idea. Start listening to it.
…..But only while you’re at the gym.

This idea occurred to me while listening to another podcast. It’s an episode of Freakonomics called “When willpower isn’t enough.” On this episode, guest Katherine Milkman talked about the concept of “Temptation Bundling.” Milkman is an assistant professor Wharton School at Penn. She has done some interesting research on motivation and choices.

Ok, so maybe Temptation Bundling is obvious. But it works. You can make terrible stuff slightly less terrible by bundling it with good stuff. It’s something many of us do without even noticing.

This challenge is basically just that. But it has the additional benefit of being concrete. So you can make a commitment to simply just do it.

The Challenge

If you don’t go to the gym because you simply hate going, then this is for you.

Don’t worry about what you do at the gym. Lift weights, do cardio, whatever. Who honestly cares?

You are more than welcome to go easy on yourself. The point is just to get moving.

Here’s the challenge:

Download the “Serial” Podcast
Pick at least two specific days to go to the gym per week
Spend at least one hour at the gym per visit, listening to the podcast
You are NOT allowed to listen to the Podcast unless you’re at the gym
The challenge is over once you finish the first season.

If, after the challenge, you still hate the gym, then no bid deal. Your challenge is complete, and you did some good for your body.

If, on the other hand, you learn to love the gym, then YAY. Sometimes, it just takes a little bit of activation energy to get started. You’ll just have to try it and see 🙂

If you do this challenge, OR if you have another idea for a good podcast that might work, let me know.

Happy Gyming.

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We’d love to hear about your progress.
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Chicken Soup for the Soul

Last week I was on a chicken soup recipe mission because my Husband was sick and needed some good “Jewish Penicillin”. But there was just one little issue- neither of us like boiled chicken. It would be such a waste to get chicken for the purpose of flavor and then chucking it. I needed to find a way to not waste food.

I thought to myself, “why not use rotisserie chicken?” It totally worked and was so flavorful and I’ve made this concoction again for this week. This recipe was adapted from here.

This recipe yields approx 6 servings so adjust accordingly.

Ingredients:

bag of carrots
bag of celery
1.5 onions
6 cups chicken broth
2 cups water
whole rotisserie
2 tbls oil or butter
parsley
salt and pepper to taste
dried oregano or Italian season (whatever you have on hand)
1 bay leaf
*noodles/rice optional*

Directions:

Bring broth and water to a simmer
While the broth and water are warming up, chop up a handful of carrots, half an onion and one celery stalk- throw it into the pot
Season with a pinch of salt and pepper
Cover the pot partially. In the meantime, separate the skin and bones in one container and the meat in another
Place the skin, bones, and bay leaf in the pot, partially cover and simmer for another hour to release max amount of flavor
Chop up the rest of the chicken, carrots, onion, and celery. Put to the side
After the hour, grab a large bowl and a colander. Place colander over the bowl and pour mixture in. This will separate the broth from the skin and bone mixture
Take your chopped up veggies and oil and saute in the pot until soft
Pour broth back into the pot and place chopped chicken and parsley in and simmer for another 10-20 minutes
*Add noodles or rice when you are ready to serve

So much flavor and really easy to make. I hope you guys enjoy!

Emotional eating and peanut butter banana sammies

This topic hits really close to home. I crave food the most when I am sad, stressed, nervous, made, or anxious. Basically it hits when I “just can’t deal”. For many years, emotional eating derailed me from succeeding on whatever diet plan I was on at the moment (we need to discuss the word diet at some point. I really hate that word. It’s a lifestyle change… once I realized the difference between diet and lifestyle change, my world changed).

Cortisol is a stress hormone that triggers cravings for foods that give immediate pleasure like high fat foods, foods that are salty and sweet. My go to foods were always pasta and breads and if I wasn’t home, man oh man, the most comforting food to me was Wendy’s #6- spicy chicken sandwich. Eating that food gave me such a temporary high. It reduced all my stress and made me feel like everything was ok in the world. But then I would get so mad at myself for eating those bad foods. What a vicious cycle from sadness and stress to anger and around and around we’d go.

Emotions are sometimes hard to control, BUT, we can control how we consume foods. I have my moments of weakness but not as bad as before and I definitely don’t beat myself up over it anymore because guilt is just another negative emotion.

Here are ways I’ve been able to help myself and I hope my experiences can help you too.

Know yourself. Know what sets you off and be prepared.

Example: Work stressors. Keep healthy, satisfying snacks around. I always make sure to have something laying around like nuts (I love Emerald’s 100 cal packs of Cocoa Roast Almonds), apples, bananas, protein bars, or my recent favorite, banana peanut butter sandwiches (see recipe below).

Find ways to cope.

Examples:

-Take your lunch break and go for a walk. Get the blood flowing, get some fresh air and relax. Enjoy the world around you.

-Keep a journal; sort out your thoughts, word vomit all over those pages!

-Take a breath! Breathing is a powerful tool that can prompt relaxation. Check this link out for some useful breathing techniques: http://www.drweil.com/drw/u/ART00521/three-breathing-exercises.html

Get a hobby!

– I’ve had an on again off again love affair with Cycling. It’s back on and we are strong as ever and determined to make it work.

-How about art? Coloring? Check out these adult coloring books: http://www.amazon.com/Adult-Coloring-Book-Relieving-Patterns/dp/1941325122

-Watch animal videos on you-tube. I promise, this helps.

Talk to someone

–There are a few people in life that can make me feel better- my husband, my parents, and my besties. Thanks guys, I love you!

If you have a moment, let us know what coping techniques you’ve used.

Banana and peanut butter sandwiches to the rescue:

What you will need:

1 Banana

2 tablespoons peanut butter

Freezer safe Tupperware

Directions:

Cut banana into dime size pieces, you should be able to make 8-10 “sandwiches”

Spread thin layer of PB on a slice and top with another slice of banana

Put your sandwiches inside a freezer safe dish and freeze at least an hour before eating

Enjoy!

When life gives you lemons…

When life gives you lemons, squeeze em into your morning water!

Let’s explore the benefits of lemon water, shall we?

Lemon water helps the process of eliminating waste products from the body easier. Isn’t being backed up in morning traffic bad enough? Don’t back dem bowels up also.
Your liver is asking to be saved after last night. I know what Thirsty Thursday is… Lemon aids your liver in releasing toxins.
It benefits the skin: helps to reduce fine lines and wrinkles. Where my ladies at?
Lemons help reduce inflammation. If you are planning to shovel your car out today, try preventing a sore throat by drinking a glass of warm water with lemon. #winterstormjonas
If you are a workout enthusiast, lemon water helps restore body salt and helps reduce joint inflammation.
Lemons are a good source of Vit C which is vital for a strong, functioning immune system.
Lemon contains potassium, potassium aids in brain function. Feed-your-brain!
Helps lower blood pressure, fight diabetes, and helps fight against eye problems.

I know some of you are just getting up…put down that cup of coffee and grab yourself some lemon water.

Have a beautiful day,

Netflix and Chill

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Snowed in on a Saturday night? Me too.

Here are just a few of my favorite health and weight loss documentaries for you to to cuddle up with tonight.

Youtube

1. BBC Horizon “The Truth About Exercise”

I’ve really admired Dr. Michael Mosley ever since I read his book “The Fast Diet.” This short doc is so different and fascinating. Even if you’re a fitness fanatic, I promise you will learn a thing or two.

Watch it here.

2. BBC Horizon “Eat Fast and Live Longer”

If you know me, you know I fast regularly. Fascinating doc, again featuring Dr. Mosley. It’s not about weight loss as much as it is about the latest cutting edge science in aging.

Watch it here.

3. BBC Horizon “Why are thin people not fat?”

Ok, last one with Dr. Mosley, I swear! This documentary covers an interesting experiment where a diverse group of ‘naturally thin’ people are made to put on weight in order to help use better understand the mechanics behind weight gain. Love it.

Watch it here.

Netflix

1. Fat Sick and Nearly Dead

Follow Australian businessman Joe Cross as he embarks on an extended juice fast while traveling across the USA.

You may or may not agree with his method, but either way you’ll hear from a lot of great doctors (like Dr. Joel Fuhrman), and also from other people who use green juices and smoothies as intro to a more balanced lifestyle .

2. Fat Sick and Nearly Dead 2

..the sequel. Follow up with Joe Cross as well as some of the people from the first movie, five years later. Learn how to maintain your weight with a plant based diet.

3. Fed Up

This movie is important. It tracks the struggle of obese and overweight children. It’s sad, it’s infuriating, and it might make you change your ways completely about nutrition and food marketing

What are some of your favorites???

Happy Binging 🙂

Weekend + free time = wanting more food

Ahhh, Friday. Sweet, sweet, Friday. We impatiently wait for the weekend to come and while it’s awesome that we get two days to do whatever, I have a huge problem when it comes to food! Over time, I’ve learned self control (only took about 27 years), but I am human and I still love food and the temptation is always there.

So what do I do to control myself?

In my opinion, the most important thing to do is to keep ROUTINE. Of course it’s ok to sleep in but I suggest staying as close to your daily routine as possible. The first thing I do when I wake up (besides brushing my teeth) is drink a bottle of water and about an hour later I have breakfast, usually a hard boiled egg with a serving of nuts or a Greek yogurt with a serving of fruit. Both options high in protein and not overly filling or time consuming to make! Let’s get real, time is precious and I don’t want to waste it.

Don’t graze. Grazing is the worst! Visualize this scenario… you are binge watching something awesome on Netflix, like, The Arrow (That Oliver Queen… isn’t he so dreamy?) and you want some popcorn. A cup or two is fine, but once you start, you can’t stop and now you binge watched a whole season of The Arrow and downed an entire bag of popcorn and life is sad because you finished the season and the bag and you feel guilt that you ate a whole bag of popcorn. My solution- keep a weight by you (kettle bell is totes my obsession right now) or a resistance band or even a chair.. wait, even better, you don’t need any equipment, just a wall (hamstring blasters, walk planks, wall squats). Your heart will be racing for more reasons other than Ollie… I mean, Oliver Queen aka The Arrow ::swoon::

I like to go to the gym first thing in the morning after my pre work out of walking my dog, Marty. He’s my best pal. And hey, if you guys don’t have a gym membership or don’t feel like going to the gym, go for a long walk with your four legged friend or take a shelter dog for a walk—adopt don’t shop! They will be happy and you’ve burned calories. That’s a win win in my book.

Anyway, if I work out in the morning, I am less inclined to cheat because that work out is not going to waste. No way, Jose.

Eat before you go out to dinner. “What do you mean eat before going out to eat… that’s what an appetizer is for!” No, no, no. You got it all wrong! Gosh, would you just listen to me! I think we are all visually hungry more so than physically. Those loaded cheese fries look appetizing, don’t they? Not anymore! Just stop, ok! Have a snack before you go out so you are just enough satisfied till the main course. Phew! look, we made it through the appetizer part of the dinner. I always lean toward the meats and substitute fries with veggies or a sweet potato but if you decide to indulge, upon receiving the food, cut your meal into 4 parts and have them doggie bag three out of the four parts. PORTION CONTROL!

I’d say you had a pretty successful weekend if you follow some of the pointers above.

Do you have any additional tips? I am always open to new suggestions.

Take a pizza my heart

Let me preface this by saying dinner was so easy to make and Hubby approved ::two thumbs up::

I introduce to you my cheat clean dinner for the week…drum roll please!!!!

*Tortilla pizza*

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Be still our hearts… friends, our pizza days are not over…just modified.

As you get to know me, you’ll see I focus on high protein-low carb meals. Carbs have always been a big problem for me. Unfortunately they don’t go straight to my ass, more like my stomach and thighs 😦 Ok, less about me and more about this pizza.

One Mission tortilla= 6 carbs Trader Giotto’s Rustica sauce = 4 carbs per 1/2 cup (trust me, you won’t need to use that much for one slice) and zero carbs for cheese and Hormel turkey pepperoni. Max carbs for this meal is 10 grams.

Here’s what you got to do:

Preheat oven to 350 F

Spray your baking sheet with cooking spray

Lay your heavenly wrap on the sheet

Spread sauce, cheese, and pepperoni on top (remember, you can substitute with any topping or no topping at all…ain’t nothing wrong with the ol’ reliable cheese and sauce)

Pop it in the oven to desired crispiness. Personally, the crispier the better. I love the crunch! – This was about 10 min.

Serve with a side salad and I’d say you got yourself a gourmet Italian dinner 😉

Sweet Tooth

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Loving sweets is such a terribly delicious addiction!

There are times when I am sitting at my desk and start salivating thinking of caramel, sugar, chocolate, cookies, and cream, oh my! The list goes on and on. So what does one do when they are torn by their love of chocolate and all things sweet and wanting to be fit and fabulous ::sad face:: ?!

After researching healthy dessert recipes and substituting this and that and making myself crazy, I’ve discovered the wonderful world of protein bars! Quest, Power Bars, Mission, Crunch, OhYeah!, Combat… you get the idea.

Anyway, some protein bars are a major disappointment and others are pure bliss. Whoever came up with Combat chocolate chip cookie dough is my hero and if you are reading this, I LOVE YOU, I LOVE YOU, I LOVE YOU. WILL YOU BE MY VALENTINE? MY SWOLEMATE?

I thought for a minute I was eating a twix bar or licking the cookie dough batter off the spoon… It’s an emotional roller coaster.

Peoples, the weekend is just around the corner and I hear there is gonna be a HUGE snow storm… go to your local GNC, pick up a box [or two] of some Combat bars and snuggle up by the fire enjoying the deliciousness. Your taste buds will thank you and you will continue winning the battle of the bulge. You-1 Scale-0

Final thought, courtesy of Charles M Shulz, “All you need is love. But a little chocolate now and then doesn’t hurt.”

….I’m sure he would say the same thing about these delicious chocolaty protein bars 😉

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