How many diets have you been on? How often have you signed up to a gym and then cancelled after one visit? You have the best intentions and know that this is what you need to do to be healthier and yet you are unable to do it.
You might say you don’t have the willpower. But you should not blame yourself, it isn’t a lack of willpower, it is your body’s wiring, the result of millenia of evolution. Let me explain.
Our brains are designed to prioritise immediate reward. Eating chocolate now gives a quick hit.
We are not naturally motivated by long-term goals; we’re motivated by what feels good now. It’s not a character flaw. It’s biology.
When we eat chocolate, our brain releases dopamine, not to make us feel pleasure, but to make us crave more. Over time this becomes a habit.
When we were hunter-gathers, food was scarce. We evolved to seek high-energy food and conserve effort. It helped us survive. But in our modern world, chocolate is everywhere and that same wiring works against us.
This wiring and associated habits are extremely powerful and willpower alone is unlikely to overcome this. But there are ways you can fight back.
The first thing to try is to make good behaviour the easiest option. If your Achilles heel is chocolate then don’t have any in the house, instead buy fruit or other healthier foods as an alternative. Those of you that know me will know this is my strategy, and it works.
Sometimes our goals are too large and we need to start smaller. So instead of saying you will go for a 5k run, change this to just putting on your running shoes and go for a 10 minute walk. Form the habit first and then build.
You can help to make the habit stick by tracking progress. Every day you go for a walk or a run put a tick on your calendar. Once you get to a week then reward yourself, perhaps not with a large bar of chocolate though!
Sometimes having someone else to help you is the best solution. This can be a friend or a personal trainer – someone who can motivate you and you can be accountable to.
These changes are not easy, if they were then everyone would be fit and healthy. So don’t be hard on yourself, you probably just need to change your approach.