Retrain your brain: The science of healthy habits and self-control

There is a plate of freshly baked cookies sitting on a table in your office. You ignore them, you’re on a diet.

You walk past again – you’d love to have one but its only Monday and you want to start the week as you mean to go on.

You walk past again, thrilled at your ability to resist them.

Two hours later you find yourself digging in. You berate yourself – why don’t I have the willpower to resist? I’m never going to be able to stick to a diet long term. I’m never going to achieve the results I want!

We’ve all been there, overindulged when we were trying to be ‘good’. Only to be left feeling worse than we did before, a failure for giving in to temptation, again.

However, the research has shown that it is time to stop blaming your willpower. Our self-control is far too volatile to be relied upon. Your willpower won’t work if you’re hungry, angry, tired or emotional. And how often do you experience these feelings? Daily if you have a pulse!

Studies have shown that those who are successful at sticking to their goals long term are those that don’t rely on their self control, rather, they rely on their habits. They structure their lives in a way that facilities their success. In fact, in one study researchers found when they measured self-control, those who relied on it the most were not achieving their goals.

In other words the more willpower they used the worse they were at resisting temptation.

If willpower isn’t the answer what does work?

Scientists are finding skill power not willpower may be the key to success.

For weight maintenance success to occur you need to do the opposite of what most diets require. You want to avoid relying on willpower and restriction to get you through. This deprivation is not sustainable long term. If you think about the times you’ve been told not to do something or that you can’t have something. Does it make you want it less or more?

Unfortunately the more we resist, the more the cravings tend to persist.

What works is setting up solid systems to support your habits. Systems that don’t require willpower. Systems that make it simpler and more enjoyable for you to maintain healthy habits long term.

Systems that focus on building your skill power rather than willpower.

So how do you create a system that works?

When working with clients, I find going back to basics works best.

By basics I mean the science.

In 2005, a group of prominent researchers studied 5000 individuals who have successfully lost and maintained a significant amount of weight over at least 5 years. This research demonstrated that there was no single method that worked best for long term success. There were no individual genetic characteristics or personality types that contributed towards these peoples success. There was no particular diet that these people used that reigned supreme over others.

In fact no two people in this group of 5,000 lost weight in the same way!

What the researchers found was that through trial and error these successful individuals had each honed their own system for success. They found a particular set of habits that worked best for them, and if they executed these habits consistently it lead to their ongoing success.

In other words, the study showed that the key to long term success is ultimately about finding out what works for you. Finding your own unique system of habits.

So what is the best way to do this?

Experiment to find what works for you. The 5,000 successful maintainers got to where they are today not through punishment and restriction but through trial and error.

You can start to experiment by making small but consistently healthy changes to your lifestyle. As part of our programme my clients set themselves one small change that they intend to make each week with regards to their health. At first, these changes may seem really tiny or insignificant, but they are intentionally tiny so that they don’t feel they need to rely on willpower to execute them. In fact I encourage my clients to do the opposite, and help them set up their lives so they don’t have to rely on willpower. We also work together to focus on building up an arsenal of health related behaviours that they enjoy. Research shows that those who find habits that they enjoy are significantly more likely to stick with them long term. In other words don’t take up spinning if you hate being on a bike or if coconut oil makes you wretch continue to try using it as you’ve been told its good for you health.

So why not set yourself a small goal for this week? Think about what you could do that could have a positive impact on your health, yet doesn’t feel too restrictive or draining?

This method is effective as it helps reinforce the importance of focusing on the process of building healthy habits. Over the course of the programme we start to understand what habits work best for the individual. Together we grow the combined effect that these small changes can have, ultimately building each person their own unique yet resilient healthy habit support system.

For lasting weight loss success it isn’t about using willpower to resist the sirens call of a plate of cookies. It’s about finding an efficient system of small, intentional (and daresay enjoyable) habits that help you focus less on what you are missing out on and more on what you are achieving.

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Dr McKee’s programmes have introduced a more intelligent and evidence based way for you to achieve long term success. Dr McKee is running an open day in New You Monday September 11th click here to reserve your free 30 minute consultation.