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Self- Control vs. Instant Gratification
Blog | January 01, 2015
There it is. That last piece of your husband’s birthday cake. You already indulged the night before, but this one last piece has haunted you all day at work. In fact, it even hovered above you while you slept last night like some terribly delicious phantom. You can almost hear it calling your name as you walk through the front door, exhausted from a long, stressful day. It’s almost impossible to resist. Almost. You can and you will fight the temptation. You know that you’ve set bigger and better goals for yourself and that one more piece of cake is, at best, a fleeting pleasure and, at worst, a way to begin sabotaging a lot of the hard work you’ve been recently putting in with me at the ZGym.
Don’t Beat Yourself Up
The battle between self-control and instant gratification can feel as epic as David vs. Goliath or Frodo vs. Sauron. It can be daunting, to the say the least, especially when it comes to fitness and wellbeing. Do not, I repeat, do not, consider a sudden, compulsive need for instant gratification in the form of donuts, cheeseburgers, cake, or pizza to be a character flaw, a lack of willpower or something genuinely lacking inside of you. Instead, consider it a form of mismanaging stress, priorities and the goals you’ve set for yourself. That’s it. In other words, don’t make it a personal issue or the fault of God or the Cosmos. That kind of thinking often leads to a downward spiral that creates a negative self-image. In turn, a negative self-image leads to – you guessed it – a craving for instant gratification.
Stress
Perhaps the greatest trigger in our lives that leads us to impulsively leap over restaurant counters and devour a tray of donuts is chronic stress. When stress is a constant in our lives our mind and bodies begin to short circuit. If you’ve ever had a day, week or month where it felt like your head might explode into confetti then you’ve experienced allostatic load. Allostatic load is the result of chronic stress. According to Dr. Billi Gordon, a neuroscientist at UCLA, allostatic load is one of the main culprits that trigger damaging, compulsive behavior such as binge eating.
Marshmallows?
The Stanford Marshmallow Experiment is one of the first studies done on self-control and instant gratification and is still relevant today. Performed in the 1970’s by psychologist Walter Mischel, the studied aimed to show the value of self-control and delayed gratification in children. Long story short, kids were offered either an immediate reward in the form of a marshmallow or a greater, more valuable reward if they chose to wait for the latter. The study demonstrated that the kids who chose to wait tended to achieve greater success later in life in the form of higher test scores, overall health and so on.
In terms of fitness and wellbeing, what studies like the Stanford Marshmallow Experiment tell us is that self-control and patience – even if it involves a bit of a battle within ourselves – is worth it. Why? Because you are worth it.
Tell me about your recent victories with self-control. I’d love to hear them!
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Private Member |
Tonight I said no to chocolate because I had planned for a homemade tomato and cheese pizza, which was my treat for the day. Saying no to the chocolate seems like a small thing, but given my current state of work stress, it is a huge thing. I have been a stress eater all my life, and changing that has been a slow process. I am learning to value the long term gains of saying no over the short term pleasure of indulging without planning. I’m learning to value rewards such as a new piece of clothing, fun time spent with my family, or seeing a movie instead of food. I love to eat, but enjoy it much more when I eat consciously and thoughtfully.
Private Member |
Drooling over the picture..lol!
Private Member |
warsaw, poland
I’d also like to add that many people (including me, unfortunately) were raised in a way that we were often rewarded with some “tasty treats” for decent behavior or for some accomplishments. It’s hard not to compare us with horses or dogs 🙂 “You was good – take this piece of sugar, dear”.
I often find myself eating cheesecake after specially intense workouts, because “I deserved it” 🙁 I believe there are just moments when we hardly realize the consequences of our instant desires, which, in fact, cancel our progress and all the hard work. And afterwards we wander why “I can’t lose weight, and nothing helps”.
Private Member |
I know this is an older post, but I wanted to comment anyway. I joined zgym just 3 days ago. The hardest part of my fitness journey has always been my diet. I give in to temptation easily and am always saying “this will be the last cookie, piece of cake, etc.” Or “I’ll really start eating clean tomorrow”.
But tonight at our large weekly family dinner, there were 2 trays of brownies…and I didn’t have a single bite. To some, it may seem like no big deal. However, to me, someone who ate half a tray of brownies to myself less than a week ago, it was a huge feat. And the feeling of victory over those brownies is so much sweeter than the fleeting taste of them in my mouth. Thank you Zuzana for all the motivation you supply!
Private Member |
london, england, united kingdom
Zuzka I am doing really good with Z-GYM, feeling more flexible, faster and.. just better! Love to challenging myself for harder workouts etc! The only problem I have it over eating, every time I keep myself very healthy all week but then, one day I am just having two days absolute binging – still healthy food but so much that I feel sick. Do you know what might be the reason, do you have any tips how to stop it?
Private Member |
lake tahoe, nv, usa
Are you hungry or is it just emotional? If it’s hunger, then all I can suggest is to stay on low carb diet. I get rarely hungry and I don’t even have cravings. If I do I can easily decide whether or not it’s worth eating something. If it’s emotional, it will take some effort to train your mind and staying in the moment. Pay attention to your emotions and ask yourself why do you want the instant gratification that food has to offer. Try to get that same reward by doing something else. Maybe you can make yourself a glass of water with fresh lemon juice, and read or watch something positive that will get you into the right state of mind.