When talking about Willpower, we are referring to

Self-discipline,
which is training and control of oneself
and one’s conduct…usually for personal improvement

and/or

Self-control,
which is the ability of a person
to exert his/her will over their body or self.

There are many areas in my life that I am very strong,
and where I regularly do exercise a great deal of self-discipline and self-control.
However, there are other areas....especially when dealing with food...
where I have extreme difficulty exercising any self-control at all. 

Today I bought the book, "Willpower", by Roy Baumeister, psychologist, 
and John Tierney, science writer, which is about the science of self-control. 
I’ll be reading it on my Kindle as I find the time to do so,
and hope to gain insight and techniques that will help me with this issue.

The following is a 9/11/11 review of that book by NPR books.

Look at that cupcake. Doesn't it look delicious?
Don't you want to eat it? Well, don't.

The power to resist temptation — to pass up dessert,
to endure an unpleasant experience, to defer satisfaction —
is our "greatest human strength," argue psychologist Roy F. Baumeister
and science writer John Tierney in their new book, Willpower.
The book delves into the science of our age-old struggle with self-control.

"The Victorians talked about this vague idea of it being some form of mental energy,"
Tierney tells NPR's Audie Cornish. "In the last 15 years we've discovered that
it really is a form of energy in the brain. It's like a muscle that can be strengthened
with use, but it also gets fatigued with use."

Whether you're resisting a favorite food or completing a dreaded task,
exercising self-control in different areas of your life saps the same
mental energy source. Many dieters employ the out-of-sight-out-of-mind
technique of hiding desirable food — and studies show there's something to it.

"Just putting food where you can see it next to you depletes your willpower," Tierney says.
"Whereas putting it away in a drawer or putting it across the room makes it easier
for you because you're not actively resisting the temptation."

One of the most well-known studies found that hungry students who were forced
to resist the temptation of eating chocolate chip cookies did not perform as well
on subsequent tests of focus and self-control as students who had not been asked
to previously exercise restraint

"You only have a finite amount [of willpower] as you go through the day," Tierney says,
"so you should be careful to conserve it and try to save it for the emergencies."

Exhausting your mental energy is a process that researchers call "ego depletion."
Decision-making taps into the same energy reserves as self-control.

"You don't think of decision-making as necessarily being like resisting temptation,
but it is," Tierney says. "It involves the same kind of mental energy, the same source
of mental energy."

If you want to know when you're experiencing ego depletion, you're pretty much out of luck.
Tierney says scientists searched the data for symptoms of self-control fatigue and came up empty.

"Basically, it's that everything feels more intensely to you," Tierney says.
"Good things and bad things. You suddenly feel everything a little bit more intensely
because your brain has lost some ability to regulate emotions, and so you therefore
respond more strongly to everything."

Cravings, frustrations, desires — all feel overwhelming.

In the short term, self-control is a limited resource.
But over the long term, it can act more like a muscle.
Tierney cites one study in which students were asked to watch their posture for a week.
At the end of the week, those students performed better on self-control tasks
— tasks that had nothing to do with sitting up straight —
than students who had not been exercising control all week.

So when it comes to willpower, if practice doesn't make perfect,
then at least it makes progress. Tierney says people
who exercise their willpower frequently often have better self-control
— observant religious people, are a good example, he says.
"Most religions have prayers you say, exercises, meditations you do,
all those things build up that self-control."

There are plenty of secular ways to build up your willpower, too.
"Not using contractions when you speak, only speaking in complete sentences,
saying no instead of nah, don't use profanities ... all these things require mental effort,"
Tierney says. "And the more you do that, the more it builds up that muscle."

A Diet isn't something we go on and off of.
About 95% of dieters regain the weight they lose.
And, in many cases, the dieter will yo-yo to a heavier weight
than what they were when they started the diet.

For a diet to be effective,
it has to involve a lifestyle change
– a way to eat and live that we can stick with.

A diet is not something we go on,
then go off after we've dropped a few pounds.
The definition of diet is simply ....
........“the usual food and drink of a person or animal.”
So to lose weight and keep it off we need to
consume food and drink that promotes health, not deprivation.

Pick a lifestyle you can see yourself still following
and enjoying when you are 80.

It's All About the Calories
The list of diets goes on and on.
But recent studies have proved
that it really doesn't matter what type of diet we follow.
Pick the one that appeals most to you – the one you can stick with for life –
because the bottom line is all about reducing calories
and burning more calories than consumed!

The simple secret to effective weight loss:
Eating fewer calories than one burns.

An effective weight maintenance plan then is
eating the same number of calories that one burns
through normal body functions and exercise.

Slips are Going to Happen
Trying to remain perfect while following a diet
is setting ourselves up for failure.
We didn't gain our extra weight overnight
and we aren't going to lose it quickly either.
There will be slips on our way to a healthier weight.
Don't ever quit!

Rather than quit when a binge happens,
we need to pick ourselves up, dust off the crumbs
and climb back on the dieting wagon.

We're in this for the long haul.
Being “good” and following a healthy lifestyle
the majority of the time should be our goal.

There will always be temptation,
so we must learn to give ourselves a few guilt-free passes
for those occasions when we eat more than we should.

I've posted another cooking video, Oopsie Rolls
which is located at DietHobby, under RECIPES, Mini-meals.
This is a low-calorie, and low-carb recipe.

 
Life contains many unwelcome Truths.
Not all Truths are pleasant.
Many of them are quite uncomfortable.
Without going into specifics, when thinking of this issue,
many of these unwelcome Truths come to mind.

However, Accepting a fact as true
doesn't mean that I have to think negatively about it.
That Truth can mean whatever I choose it to mean.
This is what is called....Positive Thinking.

Another way to describe that positive - negative thinking concept
is the half-empty glass vs. the half-full glass perception.
I have the ability to direct my thoughts, and
to train myself to think in a positive way.

Thinking in a negative way brings on uncomfortable emotions,
like sadness, anger, resentment, and hatred.
However, thinking in a negative way brings on comfortable emotions,
like acceptance, peace, serenity, happiness and love.

Positive thinking makes us feel better,
which gives us a happier life,
and better equips us to handle life's difficulties. ..
including the struggle involved in the issues of weight-loss and maintenance.

In order to help train one's mind to think positively,
it is helpful to fill it with positive concepts.
This is the primary purpose of my "Words of Wisdom" videos.
These videos consist of a person dressed attractively,
placed in an attractive background,
quoting positive truths and sayings.

The "Words of Wisdom" videos are meant to be watched again and again,
in order to direct one's mind away from the negative and toward the positive.
You can find a Playlist here at DietHobby, under RESOURCES.

That Words of Wisdom Playlist is programmed
to enable you to run these 20 second videos back-to-back automatically,
so that these short videos can play in the background while you complete other tasks.
This can be a positive and helpful tool, if a person does it for 5 or 10 minutes every day.

Each video also has a link in the upper right and left hand corners
labeled "Previous" and "Next" to help with manual navigation thru the video series. 

Even if you are not following my “Ask Grandma” video series
you'll want to watch this video  because it is very relevant to this website.
Click : “Teddy Bear Tea Party" to see the video,
which is located in DietHobby under RESOURCES, Videos, Ask Grandma

Today I posted another cooking video, Apple Tuna Salad
which is located at DietHobby, under RECIPES, Mealtime.
This is a low-calorie, low-fat, and reduced carb recipe.