New Diet! No Willpower Needed to Reach Your Personal Goal!

Losing weight takes willpower, doesn’t it? Not with this diet! No willpower is needed! Instead of willpower you use “want-power” to get to your goal!

What’s the difference? Willpower is used to try to stop yourself from doing or getting what you want.

Want-power is used to get exactly what you do want!

Here’s an example of how want-power is different than willpower and how it works.

In the past I have tried to lose weight and I knew that it would only happen if I stopped eating so much. I love food! Eating less of it was hard to do, plus some foods were especially hard to cut back. Every time I gave into eating too much I went off my diet and couldn’t get back on track until I gained back 20 or more pounds! It was discouraging and I was losing confidence that losing weight and keeping it off was something possible for me to do.

I knew I needed willpower! Why was it when somebody asked me, “would you like a piece of cake?” I couldn’t say no? Why was it when I ate one slice of pizza I couldn’t stop there? Why did I need to keep eating until the whole pizza was gone? Why did I pick up and buy a Dove milk chocolate bar in the checkout line of the supermarket? I wouldn’t do any of those things if I had willpower!

This lack of willpower put me in a constant state of self-doubt and negativity. I hated myself. I hated how weak I was. I hate how I couldn’t say no to food and it was all because I didn’t have any G*D willpower!

I sat in my Weight Watchers meeting seething with anger. I gained weight again (two weeks in a row!) and it was all because I had no willpower. I was spending money to lose weight and undermining myself. I wasn’t going to lose weight without willpower so why was I paying good money to get fatter?

I wasn’t surprised that a few of the other members in my meeting articulated my problem. Everybody knows you can’t lose weight without willpower! One woman shared a story that could apply to mine so closely, it could have been mine.

My leader threw out a question to all of us in response to what the woman shared. She asked, how important is willpower on a scale of 1 (being not needed at all) to 5 (being the most important thing for success)?

Most of us answered 4 or 5, and were shocked when the leader said 1! She explained that we needed want-power. Going after what we want gives us power! Conversely, when we try to use willpower to stop us from getting what we want, it generally fails because the more we try to stop ourselves from getting what we want, the more we want what we want!

I thought about it and it made sense. Then she went on to make even more sense.

“Let’s say you’re having pizza,” she said, “and you’ve planned to eat two slices. You eat the two slices and there’s more left in the box and somebody is urging you to eat another slice. You call on your willpower to stop yourself from grabbing the third and possibly fourth and fifth slice.”

I can have a slice of pizza and I can stay at goal. I get everything I want!

I  want one slice of pIzza and goal weight! I get everything I want with want-power!

“The whole time you’re hoping willpower will stop you,” she says. “your conscious thoughts are all about wanting more pizza! What happens next is predictable, you want more pizza so you have it and you’re already either beating yourself up for it or figuring out a scheme to eat less tomorrow to pay back for eating too much today. More negative thinking that will only lead to more negative weight loss behaviors!”

Then she asks, “What would happen if when you’re thinking about taking the third slice of pizza you remind yourself you want to get to goal?”

She pauses and we think about that question.

Then she asks, “What would happen if you asked yourself what do I want more? More pizza or getting to goal? And if you thought you wanted more pizza because it was there and your weight goal was somewhere in the the distant future, what if you asked yourself these questions?

  • How great will I feel when I stick to my plan and only eat these two slices of pizza?
  • How good will I feel when I realize that pizza won’t stop my progress?
  • How powerful will I feel when I realize I can eat pizza all the way to goal?
  • I don’t need to give up one for the other! How great does that feel?”

She paused again.

Then she said, “that’s want-power! That’s how you get everything you want and nothing you don’t want!”

Try want-power next time you feel you need or don’t have willpower.

One glass of wine was great, but would two be even better? I want to enjoy wine and I want to stay at goal therefore one glass of wine is empowering and two glasses is one more than I want right now!

One glass of wine was great, but would two be even better? I want to enjoy wine and I want to stay at goal, therefore one glass of wine is empowering and two glasses is one more than I want right now! WANT-POWER!

Keep your eye (and mind) on your goal and let the foods you love empower you to get there instead of allowing them to hold you back!

Jackie Conn

About Jackie Conn

Jackie Conn is married and has four grown daughters and four grandchildren. She is a Weight Watchers success story. She's a weight loss expert with 25 years of experience guiding women and men to their weight-related goals. Her articles on weight management have been published in health, family and women's magazines. She has been a regular guest on Channel 5 WABI news, FOX network morning program Good Day Maine and 207 on WCSH.