Willpower and Weight Loss

Willpower is defined as the ability to control yourself.  It is a strong determination that allows you to do something different.  The very definition puts all the onus on you.  Historically, weight loss has been set up as a matter of willpower.  If you just eat healthy foods and say no to junk food, you will lose weight.  How hard can that be?  Well, here’s the thing – the idea of willpower and weight loss is a bit of a myth.

The Reality of Willpower and Weight Loss

The reality is that what is healthy is continuously changing.  I learned the Canada’s Food Guide in school.  Well, it’s been a hot minute since I was in school, so imagine my surprise when I realized that it had changed about 4 times since I learned it!   It went from a pyramid to a plate, and the amounts of servings to eat each day have also changed.  When I first learned the pyramid, it was based a lot on healthy grains.  Now, it’s mostly fruits and vegetables.  We talk about this in our workbook “The Complete Ketogenic Workbook.”

Okay, sure, chocolate is not on the list of healthy foods.  But, yogurt often is – and most yogurts are filled with sugar.  Fruit is good for you, but it also is high in natural sugars, so you should limit its intake.  And, God only knows if potatoes are healthy or not!  It just depends on the week!

Labels that Say Healthy

We rely on our government to oversee that foods are labeled correctly.  I’m working on a blog right now that is based on a report by CBC’s Marketplace that highlights 5 packaged foods that are labeled as “healthy.”  Turns out, they are not as healthy as they claim.  We trust the packaging, but we need to actually read the labels of food.  Who has the time or knowledge to do that?

What Willpower and Weight Loss Really Means

The whole idea of willpower is that it is all up to you.  If you don’t lose weight, you’re weak.  It’s all your fault.  The entire diet industry is based on this fallacy.  If you fail, it’s obviously you.  So, you bounce around and try to figure out what will work for you.  You spend loads of money on Jenny Craig, Weight Watchers, Nutrisystem…only to fall back into your old habits.

My Experiences with Willpower and Weight Loss

Years ago, I had gained a lot of weight and I went to a nutritionist.  She gave me the food guide, told me about serving sizes, and sent me on my way.  I could follow it or not – it was all about me doing the work and my willpower.  I did not follow it.

Why didn’t I?  Because I never learned about how to deal with cravings, and why my body was craving certain things.  I didn’t learn about how my body reacts to food, or sugar spikes, or hunger.  Once Bill and I started learning about keto, it led us to learning about these other things as well.  And, I felt angry and duped.

It is not my fault that I couldn’t lose weight.  My weight gain and lack of success on diets was not due to a lack of willpower or weakness.  It was because I wasn’t given the right information, and the advertising industry labels things so you think you can eat an unlimited amount.  There are sugars hidden in the foods we are told to eat, which spirals us into cravings and full-blown withdrawal when we don’t eat sugar.  We are expected to know things about the way food is processed and preserved that, unless you study it, you can’t possibly know.

A Final Thought

Losing weight is not easy and yes, it takes a certain amount of motivation.  But, it mostly takes knowledge and information.  Keto worked for us – it doesn’t work for everyone.  What does work is knowing the true information about our food and not being treated as idiots when we don’t know it.  If you are having a hard time losing weight, it’s not you – it’s them!

Wendy