Day 185: Will Power and Planning

Have you ever wondered just how far you can make it on will power alone?  I mean, how many hot dogs do you have to eat before you just say enough is enough?  I have been thinking about will power a lot lately, for a number of reasons.  First, I think I have this fundamental belief that you really can do anything you want if you have enough will power (no, I am not talking about turning led into gold or making objects move via telekinesis or something, I am talking about changing one's self).  Second, I wonder why, despite that belief, I find myself giving in to things I shouldn't give into.

I think, generally, will power is in part about our state of mind.  When we are stressed, tired, overworked, or bored, we are more likely to eat more than we should.  Why?  Because we are not in a state of happiness.  Despite the fact that that fat Buddha you see everywhere is called the "Happy Buddha," I highly doubt that many of us are actually happy being fat.  (By the way, he isn't the original Buddha.  He is actually called Budai, and though he was a Buddha, I think that big smile may just be a desperate cry for help.  The guy is clearly eating too much and has no ability to restrain himself (hey, I am not being judgmental, I am there too!).)  That is, of course, in part because of the culture we live in.  Think of the cross messages we receive.  You can watch Friends reruns (I actually only watched the show once or twice, and let me just say, it was no Seinfeld) and see how skinny and happy all of them are.  Then they all eat cake and ice cream, go down to the pub and get a few beers, a commercial cuts in for McDonald's and Pizza Hut, and then you return to the program just to see them lying around lounging.  No exercise, no good eating habits, no getting up early before work and making a disgusting vanilla protein shake with rutabaga and Brussels sprouts.

Anyway, that is all beside the point.  The point is, how far can will power get us?  The answer:  I don't know.  I do know that I read an interesting article the other day that explained that most fat people have been shown to have an inability to perceive the hormone lepin.  Lepin is what tells us that we are full.  If you were to fast for several hours, that hormone would drop like an iron anchor in the water, and you would feel very hungry.  Interestingly, skinny people have an ability to perceive high levels of lepin in their system, and when they do, they stop eating.  Fat people cannot perceive this increase until it is extremely high, so they continue to eat after they are full, until they are so full that they simply cannot stuff anymore food down their throat.  Thus, the skinny stay skinny and the fat continue to grow fatter.  Doesn't seem fair, does it?

So, if the fat man or woman's body won't help out, will power is not an emotional thing or even a mental thing; instead, it must be an intellectual--almost academi--thing.  You have to plan, and you have to stick to the plan.  Remember the old mantra "if you fail to plan, you're planning to fail?"  Well, it is true.  For us unable-to-recognize-lepin-if-it-hit-us-in-the-face types, will power is manifest through planning.  So, I don't know about you, but this week, I am going to plan everything I eat, and then I am going to stick with it.  I hope you join me!