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When I was younger I used to be very good at denying myself things, but over the years (I'm 26) I have become much softer and less disciplined. I'm unsure why this might be but I am much more likely to make excuses and give in to whatever's tempting me these days.
I'm writing this with the knowledge that there's currently some ice cream in my freezer. I'm trying to lose a bit of weight and I know that if I eat it then it will ruin my calorie intake for the day, but that ice cream has been invading my thoughts and right now I cannot say whether that ice cream is going to make it through the night. I know perfectly well that I should not do it but the desire is strong.
Do you know of any way to make it easier to deal with this sort of thing?
You put yourself in a position to have to have discipline. If you didnt purchase the ice cream in the first place, it wouldn't be at arms length tempting you.
When I was younger I used to be very good at denying myself things, but over the years (I'm 26) I have become much softer and less disciplined. I'm unsure why this might be but I am much more likely to make excuses and give in to whatever's tempting me these days.
I'm writing this with the knowledge that there's currently some ice cream in my freezer. I'm trying to lose a bit of weight and I know that if I eat it then it will ruin my calorie intake for the day, but that ice cream has been invading my thoughts and right now I cannot say whether that ice cream is going to make it through the night. I know perfectly well that I should not do it but the desire is strong.
Do you know of any way to make it easier to deal with this sort of thing?
There's a difference between wanting to/thinking you should/knowing you should and DECIDING to do something. In my experience, once you've DECIDED to do something like lose weight, temptation doesn't really play a role.
If you decide to lose a little bit of weight, you'll chunk the ice cream in the trash and stop thinking about it. If you just think you should probably lose a little weight, the ice cream will sit in the freezer calling your name. It's a subtle but important difference.
OTOH, lots of people mellow about a lot of things as they get older. Life is to be lived and while self-discipline is very important, so is relaxing and enjoying the fact that you're alive. It's ok to try and strike a balance between the two.
When I was younger I used to be very good at denying myself things, but over the years (I'm 26) I have become much softer and less disciplined. I'm unsure why this might be but I am much more likely to make excuses and give in to whatever's tempting me these days.
I'm writing this with the knowledge that there's currently some ice cream in my freezer. I'm trying to lose a bit of weight and I know that if I eat it then it will ruin my calorie intake for the day, but that ice cream has been invading my thoughts and right now I cannot say whether that ice cream is going to make it through the night. I know perfectly well that I should not do it but the desire is strong.
Do you know of any way to make it easier to deal with this sort of thing?
I imagine the consequences in the long-run.
You have some ice-cream in the freezer, and are attempting to lose weight.. Guess what? Sugar, in general, isn't very healthy for you.. it's instant carbs. Most sugars in conventional ice-cream have corn syrup made from genetically modified corn (can cause cancer and alter DNA). The processed ingredients can clog up your arteries (leading to stroke)..
You put yourself in a position to have to have discipline. If you didnt purchase the ice cream in the first place, it wouldn't be at arms length tempting you.
Totally agree with this. Just don't have it in your house in the first place. I think too many people put themselves in the presence of all sorts of temptations, and then complain that it was impossible to resist. But if you didn't put yourself in that situation in the first place, there's no need to worry about resisting anything.
Fortunately, you're just talking about ice cream. Think of all those people who end up cheating on their spouses and ruining their families because they couldn't "resist temptation," but they were the ones who started going out to bars, mingling and flirting, meeting strangers online, and engaging in sexual talk, etc.
My vice is cheese. Good cheese. I only buy one piece of very good cheese each week to have in my fridge, and when it's gone, it's gone, until I go shopping again. I know if I don't have any, and I start craving cheese at 10pm, I'm not going to get dressed, get in the car, and drive to the store to get some. Sure, I could load up on 5-6 chunks of different artisan cheeses, but then I'd have to deal with the "resisting temptation" thing. Same with ice cream in the summer. One pint of B&J's in my freezer is more than enough to be in my house at any one time. I can gobble it all up in two nights and then suffer, or slowly savor it and eat a tiny amount every night and make it last.
It's true that it shouldn't be in my house in the first place, but then that just defers the problem from 'do I get it out of my freezer' to 'do I pick it off the supermarket shelf', in which case, at least I'd only be confronted with the decision once.
It turns out that I left it alone last night but it kept crossing my mind for hours. Thinking of the consequences iand how temporary the enjoyment would be was what worked.
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Resisting temptation - how to get better at it?
