Willpower Is Power
An article in today’s New York Times asks if the concept of willpower, which originated from Christian teachings about temptation and deadly sin, is obsolete–despite the fact that most diets (such as Weight Watchers) are based on the idea of using “willpower” to control what you eat. In fact, current research suggests that weight and appetite are controlled more by genetics than by willpower.
So maybe it is time for health professionals to stop reflexively assuming that personal sacrifice will lead to weight loss. But this will not be easy.
The article talks about focusing instead on public health initiatives such as banning transfats and taxing unhealthy foods. Ultimately, it looks like the doctor who wrote the article believes in willpower after all.
I just cannot conceive of a session with an overweight patient that does not involve a discussion of being careful at holiday meals, controlling portion size, avoiding bedtime snacks and trying to exercise three times a week. Somehow it still seems to me that part of a doctor’s job is to push patients to try harder. Just call me old-fashioned.
Here’s an interesting article from Scott Young asserting that what we call “willpower” might really be something else:
In the real world, I don’t think willpower exists at all. It is just a handy, placeholder theory most people use to explain systems that they don’t understand. Although I am incredibly far from understanding the world and human behavior, I’ve found just a couple models that are better than willpower for explaining how people function.
These models include habits (I will agree with that) and motivation (which seems like an equally fuzzy synonym for willpower, although maybe a little broader). If that isn’t enough to ponder, this post from Blog4Brains talks about how much energy we burn when we exercise self-control.
What the scientists discovered is that exercising self-control actually consumes more energy than not. When people are having to exercise their willpower for a lengthened amount of time, the body actually runs out of energy to control their emotions and/or urges.
So what do you think. Do you have “willpower”? Do you believe that it exists? Do you believe that you use willpower to control your life? And if not, why did I manage to drag my butt to the gym yesterday?
Thanks to Kari for the link!
Posted by mo pie
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I think willpower is a little like sprinting – you can rely on being able to do it for short periods of time, but eventually you’ll have to slow down or stop. Relying totally on willpower for a project that will take, potentially, a lifetime (or at least a couple of years) is dangerous, because what you get when you push willpower too far is obsession/compulsion. At least that’s my experience.
I think Mary is right – willpower will only get you so far. I believe in the saying “Motivation is what gets you started. Habit is what keeps you going.”
I think there is definitely such a thing as “willpower”–obviously one can force oneself to do things one doesn’t want to do at times–but I don’t understand it very well. I have failed at long-term weight loss every time I’ve tried, and now I have lost almost 70 pounds and I’m honestly not sure how or if this time is any different. It’s not like I didn’t feel motivated and determined every other time I tried, and I can’t chalk it up to a “diet mentality” because I have always been aware that any changes I made would have to be permanent. I guess I attribute the current 70 lbs. mainly to somehow getting enough momentum at the start that my behaviors started to be governed by habit instead of pure willpower, and habit makes the day-to-day routine easier… but I’m not sure.
I don’t really trust willpower. I try to set up environmental systems (driving directly to the gym from work, keeping most junk food out of the house) that will help me to make the right choices, and I’m trying to be mindful that I might have to be flexible and change those systems over time. The belief that I can do anything if only I set my mind to it firmly enough has sort of bitten me in the butt in the past.
Obviously it is theoretically possible to make yourself eat well and exercise regularly for the rest of your life… I mean, on an individual basis you can make the word “no” come out of your mouth when offered a donut, and you can lace up your gym shoes. It’s possible. But the fact of the matter is that most people do not succeed at making these choices consistently for their whole lives, no matter how disciplined they are. There seem to be very strong factors that dissuade people from making the right choice in practice and I don’t think we fully understand them. There is also a cultural distaste for investigating the idea that willpower alone might not be enough, like we’re “excusing” dieters for being lazy if we question the concept, an idea which I don’t think is helpful.
So yes, I think willpower is real in a simplistic sense, but I don’t think that means “willpower = success at weight loss.” I guess right now I think that if long-term weight loss is possible on a large scale, willpower as we think of it is probably only one piece of the puzzle that makes it happen.
What a great post! I like the third quote you pulled the best, the one from the Scott Young article.
Willpower is something I’ve been thinking about a lot recently, in the context of weight management, but also in terms of other stuff in my personal and professional lives. My (non-weight-challenged) husband and I (a somewhat weight-challenged person) have arguments sometimes because he thinks I could be as skinny as him if I just ate exactly the same amount of food as him. And it’s true, I do eat more than him, and that’s probably why I gain weight when I don’t want to. BUT, it’s not “willpower” that keeps him skinny, and it’s not lack of willpower that keeps me struggling — fundamentally, he just plain doesn’t want to eat what I want to eat, and neither of us understands how the other’s brain works. As Young says, the challenge is to get beyond the “willpower” notion and get at a better explanation for the differences.
I think Mary is on the right track. It’s stressful and emotionally expensive to exert willpower. It can’t be sustained and it can cause major disruptions in other parts of life.
I had a really weird wakeup call a few months ago when I was trying (for the last time, I promise, I’m cured now) to do the hard core low carb thing and I was actually doing fine with the low carb, but I ended up spending waaaaay more money than I should have on clothes, and I wanted cigarettes like nobody’s business. I quit smoking 12 years ago, and I never craved a cigarette like I did last month, not in the entire time I was quitting. It was bizarre.
I also find that I get more emotional, quicker to anger, and don’t sleep well.
Nothing pisses me off more than a smug skinny person who is proud of their “willpower”. It doesn’t count as willpower if you just prefer salad. I mean I can claim great massive huge amounts of willpower above and beyond some people I know because I can go for weeks without watching TV or drinking beer, or going to church and Sunday. Go me?
Willpower, as simply defined in the American Heritage Dictionary, is “The strength of will to carry out one’s decisions, wishes, or plans. ”
Regarding the first article…
– The notion of willpower came long before Christianity – one of the main themes in ancient Greek plays is the tension between fate and will.
– When i saw the article was written by an MD, i immediately scanned the text to see what he was selling. His last paragraph sums it up rather tidily: “push patients harder”. Genetics may be a factor, but that won’t stop him from being “old fashioned” and pushing people about it.
Regarding the second article:
– This guy is obviously selling “self-help”, and i’m sure his sponsors are more than willing to sell you all the stuff you need to “get the most out of your life”.
– The four models (habits, energy management, motivation, confidence) all require one very important thing: the ability to self-determine. Self-determination is the ability to act contrary to the strongest external force present. IOW, the ability to not respond (or to choose one of several responses) to external stimuli. Which kinda requires willpower.
Regarding the third article:
– As someone who, for health reasons, maintains as much of a no-sugar diet as is easily possible, i can attest to the addictive power of sugar. However, my longest period of going without sugar is a year and a half. After a week or two without it, my energy levels went above what they were before i stopped eating sugar, and after about 2-3 weeks i lost my sugar cravings altogether. Now, when i eat sugar, it makes me feel awful. I’m able to recognize the jittery rush, but also the relatively quick crash below the energy levels i had before i ate it. I don’t like it all that much anymore. And yeah, when i crash, it makes me irritable. But being aware of the chemical processes at work allows me greater capacity to think before i react, which can sometimes require no small amount of willpower.
– It’s less that “sugar is a necessary component for maintaining willpower”, and more that “sugar is more addictive than nicotine”. IMO, anyways. Your mileage may vary.
I was fascinated by that article in Scientific American Mind when I read it. Not only the idea that concentration (which is more of what they are describing) takes energy, but how quickly it is that our brains/bodies react to energy or its lack.
Do I believe in willpower? I must. I’m at work today.
Does anyone have the link to the Sci. Am. Mind article? I didn’t see it in the article quoted above. Thanks.
Quirkbook wrote:
“fundamentally, he just plain doesn’t want to eat what I want to eat, and neither of us understands how the other’s brain works.”
Beautifully stated.
I had a discussion with a friend a few weeks ago where I tried to explain this very concept. She was expressing disgust at the eating habits of some “very fat” neighbors of hers (I guess I qualify as one of the “good” fatties?), so I asked her why she DIDN’T eat as much as they did. Why did she stop eating? Was it willpower? She said it would make her sick to eat that much.
So I pointed out that there must be some reason why it made her feel sick, while her neighbors were compelled to keep eating. I lacked your succinctness, but I think she got the point.
I think willpower, or the ability to exercise self-control, is one of the things that separates from animals.
I may feel a strong urge to attack someone. So might my dog. I, on my own, will consider the consequences and not allow myself to attack. My dog goes for the throat.
Similarly, with eating, if I consider the consequences of this or that, I make a decision. It may be a harder decision than the skinnier lady down the street. I may suffer more than she. However, I am capable of making the decision. The dog eats whatever it can get until it feels satisfied. It would never put itself on a diet of any kind.
I can educate myself about healthy foods, exercise habits, sleep habits, etc. etc. etc. and implement that knowledge to better my health. I might decide it’s not worth it! But I can do it. The dog can’t.
I’m finding that I’m kind of an all or nothing person. I can’t just have one cookie – it’s like just taking one hit of crack to me, or having a half shot of some tasty drink. For me, I have to be resolved of what I can’t do.
For me the best motivation is the results, it’s hard to argue with myself, when things like my blood sugar (i’m diabetic) and my weight (i’m also obese) are both getting in control when I eat well and work out.
Lately I’ve been just working through all of the emotions, most of the time , it sucks, but it always turns out worth it i in the end.
I’m sure that for every one of this anecdote there’s another person who will say that their cat would eat itself to death if allowed to. That being said, no cat that I have ever owned (I’ve never had a dog so can’t speak to that) has seemed to want to overeat. The food sits out 24/7 and they take a few bites when they want it and ignore it when they don’t. So much like any thin neighbors who might be viewing my eating habits with disgust, my cats just don’t seem to want to eat more than they need. I’m not sure it’s as simple as self-control separating us from the animals. I don’t have to constantly restrain myself from attacking people; even when enraged, I usually don’t really want to attack anybody. The urge to eat, on the other hand, can be overwhelming.
In reviewing the comments that have been made so far, I am also wondering if there’s some kind of difference between the willpower required to go to work, brush your teeth, not attack somebody, etc. and the specific kind that would be required to achieve and maintain a weight loss, just because it’s food that you’re trying to control, you need it to survive, and your body has a powerful interest in making sure it gets enough nourishment. I still really think it’s more complex than “weight loss is hard and you have to try harder if you want to succeed.” Not that I don’t think that’s true–more like it’s probably necessary but not sufficient for weight loss. Of course you’ve heard me say I’ve never succeeded at long-term weight loss, so take my “knowledge” with a grain of salt.
I think willpower only gets you so far — at least that’s been my experience. After long enough, you start to intellectualize the process and then what once took willpower eventually turns into a lifestyle habit.
As Winston Churchill once said “sometimes it is not enough to do your best; you have to do what you know is right” (or something to that effect).
I know that I’m at the point in my weight loss where I just DO things without thinking about them. I exercise regularly. I don’t have to force myself. it’s just like brushing my teeth. I make healthy choices because it is instinctive. Apart from the occasional PMS-induced pizza binge, etc. most of my healthy living stuff, while initially involved willpower, now is just a matter of course because I’ve intellectualized it down to the level where I’m very conscious of how my body and mind feel AFTER the choices are made (ie, junk food and sloth = junk feelings & general depression; healthy food & exercise = feel great, sleeping great, looking great, etc)
I don’t think “willpower” is a valid concept when it comes to physiology. You can exert willpower not to buy that handbag until it goes on sale, but trying to force our bodies to submit to our will isn’t as much within our control as some would like to believe.
I have been mulling this willpower thing over since I read the post yesterday, and the closest I can get to explain my problem with the argument of “just try harder, you need more willpower” is that it is too much like telling someone who is depressed to “cheer up, and stop focusing on the negative”. Of course, in theory it’s good advice, but it doesn’t work, it doesn’t take into account what it CAUSING the problem (be it overweight or depression).
Depression is a sign that someone suffers from a tendency towards negative thoughts, willpower alone will not break the habit if negative thinking, retraining is necessary. Willpower might help a depressive sign up for therapy and attend the first session or two despite desperately wanting to curl up in a corner and hide from the world, but it won’t take the place of figuring out that person’s triggers and pitfalls, and addressing ways to improve things.
The same thing goes for sustainable weight loss. Willpower, or something like it, will get you to walk through the door of the gym to sign up, despite fear of being fat and out of place, but willpower will not keep you going regularly, setting up your day to facilitate making it to the gym will get you there more often than willpower. No matter how much I tell myself it’s important to get to the gym, if I have no food at home and need to do laundry I will go to the grocery store, then go home. If I have planned ahead and have stuff ready to go in the fridge, I will go to the gym knowing I have food ready to eat when I get done, and clean clothes to wear to work the next day.
Today I will buy an overpriced underhealthy lunch, because I have not been organized enough recently to have lunches ready to grab from the fridge when I leave for work in the morning. I will exercise a little willpower over the weekend to make sure I plan and prepare food for the week, but after that it’s autopilot all the way baby!
Perhaps my attitude towards willpower and weight loss could be summed up as “Work smarter, not harder”. Judiciously apply willpower where it will help you get set up for daily good habits to be easier. Don’t waste energy fighting with yourself daily, it only leads to self loathing.
I think I don’t have any willpower, because I can’t resist wanting to eat food I like but don’t need, when it’s available.
So I try to avoid the issue by arranging my life so I don’t meet temptation – but some might say that requires willpower… To me, it’s a different kind of thinking. I still don’t think it’s worth beating myself up for the willpower I don’t have, though.
It’s just what Rosemary Grace said, above. Work smarter, not harder. I have a husband like Quirky’s, who doesn’t get tempted by bad foods, and he does our food shopping (not really for that reason, but it helps).
Another thing I find helpful is to plan the day’s (or week’s) meals when I’m not hungry, or even just well in advance, because then it’s all theoretical and I don’t have to make spur-of-the-moment choices.
It’s not a perfect system, but then any deviations from the plan have to be conscious decisions, not automatic…
We’re all different, we all have different ways in which we’d like to change our lives (not all to do with health, obviously) so we’re just going to have to find what works for us. Never mind if someone else thinks it’s not the way to do it.
I caught Jillian Matthews on a “Biggest Loser” rerun dramatically announcing that “Willpower is overrated.”
Since she buttressed what I’ve long suspected — and since she’s ripped to shreds despite it, or perhaps because of it — I’ve decided to believe her for the time being.
I’m a little late weighing in on this, but I recently read an article with Rikki Lake, who said her latest weight loss is “all about willpower.”
I don’t know. I’ve had enough willpower to get two degrees, progress in my career, quit smoking, quit a bad man, drive cross country by myself, and do lots of other things, but apparently it takes more willpower than I possess to lose weight.