The Dieting Experience
Changing the conversation about weight loss and dieting
Dr. Laurie Patlin Suttenberg, DSW, LCSW-QS, DCSW
The Willpower Scales
Let’s start with the idea that willpower related to food is not static. There are times during the day and night when our ability to resist tempting foods is stronger than others. There are special events that occur, sometimes on a regular basis, sometimes occasionally, that throw us off course and create challenging obstacles in maintaining a commitment or desire to resist certain foods.
It is nonproductive to have an awareness of willpower shifts that merely convey a sense of weakness in the self and result in feelings of disempowerment, guilt, and shame. Perhaps there is a way to increase our awareness of what needs to be considered normal willpower shifts, that will then offer opportunities for targeted coping strategies designed for positive empowerment.
Below you will find links to two resources that aim to help you deepen your understanding of your individual food related willpower signature.
Click on the Willpower Tracker exercise first - it's the picture to the right. Print the sheet and try to remember to fill it out at least once a day, so that you are as accurate as possible.
After your week of tracking using the Willpower Tracker, click on the picture to the left to print the Willpower Questionnaire. Answer the food related willpower questions, and circle your feelings in the HIGH and LOW section on the last page. Refer to the scores you gave yourself in the Willpower Tracker exercise. Come back after you have completed both of these items on the Willpower Scales…
You’ve compiled some wonderful data here with these exercises. So, what do you do with all this? The next step is exploring the meaning of your results.
Remember that I’ve repeatedly said in this website that there are no one-size-fits-all solutions when it comes to weight loss.
The same is true here. Every person is different, emotionally as well as biologically. So, the meaning of these results need to be examined within a broader context of who you are as a unique, one-of-a-kind biological, psychological, emotional, and social human being.
My recommendations are as follows:
If you are already working with a healthcare provider in the area of weight loss and dieting, share these exercises with him/her. Have a discussion about how the behavioral and emotional component of your current plan is addressing the willpower piece.
If you are not currently working with a healthcare provider AND you have low numbers on the Willpower Tracker as well as many negative self statements on the Willpower Questionnaire, consider seeing a licensed behavioral health specialist, who works in the area of weight loss and dieting. Because of their orientation of “Person in the Environment” as well as their unique capabilities in assessing problems through multiple lenses and perspectives, Licensed Clinical Social Workers are uniquely qualified to work with people on food related challenges. I believe a treatment team consisting of physicians, nutritional specialists AND behavioral and emotional health specialists that together create INDIVIDUAL plans and programs may one day definitively change the current weight loss conversation.