Where can I find the will power?

So.  Dieting is hard.  And I'm not quite sure what everyone's different struggles are.  I exercise and I know all the healthy things to eat, but I can't lose weight if I eat 4,000 calories worth of healthy things.  I want to get your feedback to find out, where do you get the will power?  I can't find the gumption in myself yet to say no to food.  I eat out of habit, I eat when I'm not hungry, I eat when I'm already full and for some reason, my sweet tooth still has dictation over me.  I have always heard, oh just drink some water to make you feel full or just wait 20 minutes until you grab other food.  But I can't make myself NOT want the food.  Any stories or advice could be helpful beause my brain and I have this fight everyday, and each day I lose I get a little more discouraged and a lot more frustrated. 

I wish everyone the best of luck with their goals and I really hope to hear some words from you!

pfetty.

Hi! I just started my weight loss plan a week and a half ago so maybe I am not quite at the point where I feel deprived and unable to resist temptation but I do know that it is really hard to stop eating all that bad food.(Boy! Do I love Food!) I have a problem with over eating...I was always taught that you have to eat what you take...if you take too much or you don't like it...too bad, you have to clean off your plate. Well this has proved problematic for me because now when I have a plate of food I feel like I HAVE to eat it all and I end up overeating.

So I had my yearly physical a little while ago and found out that my blood pressure has skyrocketed and I gained 10 lbs since my last physical. This puts me at a high risk for Stroke and Heart disease and that scares the crap out of me! (My grandmother died when she had a stroke and high blood pressure runs in my family.) So I think that is where my motivation comes from. I don't want to take advantage of my youth and end up really sick when I am older just because I was not willing to eat less to loose the weight that I needed to in order to be healthy.

I told my mom about the cleaning my plate issue and she said..."Yeah, but what is more important to you, not wasting your food or living" I chose living and that helps me to say no to all the food I really want to eat. And, now that I am learning about portions and serving sizes, it is easier not to take too much food and not waste it.

I hope this helps. :) Best of luck!

I am new to this site and I came here for will power, but here are somethings I have found. Please take them with a grain of salt because I am in here trying to loose 50lb's for the third time!

My weekness is most definately after 6pm... after dinner. I try to keep peanuts handy for this time. With the shell on, makes you really want it! I have found that online gaming, "believe it or not" has helped because I get in there and talk to the people. In a fast paced game you have no time to eat things! I find that it replaces the need to eat to some degree because I find it exciting, action seduces! Please no References to SouthPark! No WoW here! 

Webcam! Does this really need explained.

Set a goal that has something to do with fun and not weight. I set a goal of getting a helicopter pilots license because I always wanted to. When I started lessons I found that a helicopter burns a gallon of fuel in under 6 minutes. A gallon of fuel weighs 6lbs, so after a loss of 50lbs I could fly for almost an hour longer, without fueling. The goal ended up being about weight, but I did not know it when I started the training.

Get a fitness trainer, nothing like having someone that knows you face to face and knows when you are lying about what you have really been up too!

Go to a gym, equipment at home is to easy to ignore. I bought a bowflex simply because I could not hang clothes on it! For the good it has done I should have got a closet organizer!

Piss on those that say you can't do it!

When you fall down, get back up. 

Hope it helps, I will be looking for some myself.

First off I try not to think of it as "dieting". For me, it immediately takes the pressure off. I try to concentrate more on moving, and making better choices. I've been doing this site for about two months and I still need to get some sweets so I don't feel deprived. Maybe I'll have a few pieces of dark chocolate or I'll have half a bag of M&M's. I know that is I try not to put anything bad in my mouth I'll go crazy.

I've lost 12 pounds since mid September. I go to the gym 3 nights a week, I'm constantly chasing my two year old son, three year old niece and one year old nephew around the house. If you want pizza, have one slice but pair it with a salad and some fruit for dessert. You can have what you want in moderation.

I have a really hard time after the gym at night too. I don't know what else to say but I just have trained myself to not eat anything even though I really, really want the corn chips in the pantry!

I am/was a habitual eater too. I used to love just eating until I felt like I was gonna bust. It's hard but it's about re learning how to eat and fixing your relationship with food.

Good luck on your journey!

The word dieting makes people think they need willpower, but you can't do this with willpower. You need to do this with organization and routine. Get your kitchen organized, get rid of thosr corn chips and junk that doesn't add anything of nutritional value, replace them with fruit, yogurt, whole grain bars, etc. I have started carrying apples and water bottles in my purse, in my car, don't get hungry, or so hungry you do something crazy like head for a drive through. Will power will not help you when you are hungry, but if you look in your cupboard and you see low fat cheese, whole grain bread and unsweetened iced tea, for example you are going to make better choices. I recently weaned myself off sugar in my coffee, it took a while but I'm there, little choices like this will add up in the long run.  Make snacking a part of your routine, include them in your calorie count of course, it will help you stay on track. I absolutely rely on yoplait light, only 100 calories, to keep me from getting too hungry. I have my snacks at 10 am and 3pm, if you find it hard to not eat in the evening schedule a snack for around 8:30. then brush your teeth.

I hope this helps! Good luck and get organized!!!

Hi!  I completely understand. I exercise and try to eat healthy, but I still crave sweets. It's very hard for me to control it. I lost 30 pounds and put 40 back on. (Of course, I broke my ankle and stop exercising, and kept eating the same way) I just can't say no to food. Every time I drink water, it just makes me hungrier. Sometimes I find the will power and write everything I eat, calories burned and all activities, including how I feel. It makes me be more conscious about what I'm doing and I feel in control. When I do that it works like heaven, but finding the will power to start, that's the hard thing to do. I’m struggling to start a healthy routine again.  Help, please!!!

I really don't know if you'll find this helpful, but since so many people struggle with this, it's a great thread and I wanted to add to it.

I've come to see my habitual eating and failure at portion control as an addiction. A lot of people don't like that connotation, but really, this is how I'm approaching it and it works for me.  As an addiction, I know that I have to take the power back from the food and take it a day at a time.  Distraction helps a LOT!  (Like the one person who said that online gaming helps.)

There are times when I fail, when the desire for the food is just SO overwhelming that I can't resist. At those times, I try to allow myself only one bite.  And since I'm getting only one bite, I make it a good one, and I savor it as much as possible.  And even though I want more, I make myself stop. Most times, it works.

Sometimes, I still feel a strong need to just be eating out of habit, not out of the desire for any particular food.  I'll try all the standards:  drink water, distract myself, etc., but if it's all just not working, I try to eat healthy things that aren't going to knock me too far off track - no-butter popcorn, carrots, celery, and things with a lot of crunch and chewing tend to be the kinds of things that help.

Also, as stupid as it sounds:  sugarfree gum.  Orbit has gum that comes in all sorts of delicious fruity flavors, and sometimes when I'm feeling like eating, I'll just chew some. 

So really, for me, it's all about having a toolbox full of tools that help me get past the cravings of my addiction/habit.  When one doesn't work, I try another, and so on.  And in the end, if I end up indulging, I record every last calorie so that I can try to get back on track with the next meal.

Good luck to us all!

I find that all of the replies I read here help and can be used as tools or coping mechanisms. In my case it seems that food became an addiction. I bounce from one addiction to another and that is just a commonality of addiction. You replace one addiction with another.  I went from online gaming to alcohol through 35 years of smoking. I quit all of those addictions and went on to food and gained almost 60 pounds.

When dealing with addictions you need to hit the proverbial 'bottom' and when you are really truely ready to quit it will be much easier to succeed. Set yourself up for success. Find a really healthy replacement for the food. Make a list of coping strategies, build a support network. Remember that any good recovery program also has relapse built into the plan. You may relapse or slip. It is normal. Now you recognize that you are human, step back, regroup, and move on.

My lose weight trigger was when a couple people made some weight related remarks to me and I got angry. It was then and there that I decided that I would take charge and show them.  Now I am losing weight for me. I have worked hard since August 1 and lost about 30 lbs so far and have 30 more to go.

Go luck everyone.