No matter the weather, temperature, how I feel, etc. I'm pretty much always out there running a lot of miles, pushing myself through workouts, etc. Yet why can't I stop myself from constantly overeating/gorging on food? I tell myself how I'll approach it/not overeat, and fail most of the time. How do I not have the willpower for something like this?
Seriously: because you're probably undereating. Most people on these boards have an f-ed up notion of how big a human body is supposed to be. How tall are you? How much do you weigh?
Around 5'7 and just under 135 pounds (fluctuates between 132-135 in the mornings depending on how much I ate the night before). Trying to get down to at least 120-125.
im 5'7, and 116, but im pretty skinny, i am a guy aswell, i just have small bones and little muscle, your fine with your weight.
MIrunner14 wrote:
im 5'7, and 116, but im pretty skinny, i am a guy aswell, i just have small bones and little muscle, your fine with your weight.
Good Lord! I'm 5'9" 150 and look like a f*cking beanpole!
Count calories with one of the web sites or phone apps available. They make it easy.
Make sure you don't try to lose too fast.
Also, 120 sounds pretty low. Shoot for 128 and see how you feel.
you run one hour
you have 23 hours left that you have to eat right
takes 60 seconds to eat a family sized Candy Bar
Buuuuuuurp !
You don't have an eating problem: you have a body image problem.
I would venture a guess that training and eating are both gratifying activities, so your lack of food control will power isn't really contradictory.
Dan
To answer your question directly, it is because it has nothing to do with willpower. You enjoy working out. So you do it. You do not enjoy under-eating. So you do not do it.
More importantly, the folks on here who are telling you that you have a body image problem are correct. If anything, you should be trying to eat more calories, not less.
Eat as much as you want but only eat healthy calories.
Two pounds per inch of height.
67" x 2 = 134
Sounds like you are about right.
Here is the answer you seek wrote:
To answer your question directly, it is because it has nothing to do with willpower. You enjoy working out. So you do it. You do not enjoy under-eating. So you do not do it.
This is exactly right. You enjoy running, including the sensation of pushing yourself through a challenging workout.
You also enjoy eating.
Read the book, "Willpower: Rediscovering the Greatest Human Strength," and you'll find out you're using up all your willpower to run.
Willpower is limited and to a large extent FIXED, genetically.
But I don't want to run when it's really cold/really hot/I'm tired but I get out there and do it anyways...
your urge to eat is biological...hard to have enough willpower to overcome millions of years of evolution where our ancestors developed a "if there is food present, eat it cuz if we don't catch anything we may not eat for a long time!"
but of course now we live in a modern society where the average american is surrounded by accessible food 24/7 + meal portions are ridiculous...so it's no wonder we're such a fat-a** society. if it's there, we eat it.
so the solution if you don't want to overeat? don't keep food that you overeat on in the house/apartment/dorm. take "i have to have willpower!" out of the equation completely. (and don't eat out, portions you are given are too much)
a sobering-up alcoholic wouldn't keep a bottle of rum or a 24 pack of bud diesels in the fridge would he? hell no, too easy to relapse and have several days of sobriety go down the sh*tter when the booze is that accessible. treat foods you binge on the same way.
Please tell me why? wrote:
Good Lord! I'm 5'9" 150 and look like a f*cking beanpole!
No you don't
Former Average Runner wrote:
Two pounds per inch of height.
67" x 2 = 134
Sounds like you are about right.
Only if she's 5-3
Anyone 150lbs and 5'9" does, indeed, look like an unmuscular beanpole.
OP: this is a body image issue, not a diet issue.
Go primal, paleo, low carb (whatever you want to call it).
Cut out the starch and you'll be less hungry; cut out sugar and, eventually, everything tastes better (sharper, richer, fuller flavored).
You'll be running tired for a few weeks, then you won't... You'll have steadier energy ALL the time (and can still carb up before longer races).