Willpower

I do not have much willpower when it comes to food. If food is on my plate, I eat it, even after the point of satiety. If I buy a bag of Doritos, I eat a bag of Doritos. When I look at the serving size on packages, I tend to laugh and immediately multiply the number of servings by calories to calculate the total number of calories that I will eat. Are there any people out there who eat only 10 potato or tortilla chips?

I realized that my lack of willpower was a hurdle for me and my weight years ago. Most of the time I simply avoid the problem by not purchasing chips or other foods that I know will cause issues. Actually, I usually just avoid the chip aisle so I'm not tempted to buy them. I will buy chips on occasion, but try to make those occasions as few as I can and still enjoy them. This strategy works fairly well, but isn't foolproof because I'm not a hermit; I go out in public and work with others.

This time of year is a giant challenge to most people who are trying to avoid overeating. Not only is food floating around all over most offices, but there seem to be holiday parties every night. I know that there have been some weekend days where I am running from event to event with no time to sit down at home and eat. There are articles all over about how to overcome the temptation, but it really boils down to avoidance.

If you know there will be snack food in the break room mid-morning, try to avoid going in there until after your coworkers have devoured it all. If that means having extra water at your desk so you don't have to refill, get a second water bottle. If you don't want to tell people no when they offer you food, take the food and then get rid of it. If you know there will be plenty of food at a party, try to eat light earlier that day or the day before. I think the frequent suggestion of eating high-fiber food before will just make you gassy and add another 200-400 calories to your daily total.

I am not saying it will be easy. I am still regretting the chocolate croissant that I didn't grab this morning. I would regret it if I had eaten it, too. I am trying very hard to keep some reasonable eating over the next few weeks so I'm not jumping into New Year's Resolutions from a position of guilt, bloating and laziness.