Why I’ve Been Successful
“How did you do it?”
I get this question a lot now that I’ve lost thirty-five pounds. The answer is simple, but no one wants to hear it: self-control. You can put it in any form of words you like, but what it boils down to is willpower. I’m not trying to toot my own horn here, but it was an essential and necessary component in everything I’ve done to improve my health so far.
Allure magazine Dec 2009 cover
The amazing thing is I had no idea that developing my willpower was the key behind losing weight (rather than subject knowledge, which tools you use or any other contributing factor) until recently. As in, until this morning when I read this jaw-dropping article in Allure called “Mission: Control” by Judith Newman. I would love to link to the article, but it appears to not be available online. Instead, I must encourage you to run out and buy the December 2009 issue, open up to page 189, ignore the half naked model wearing pleather on leg press machine, and start reading.
You’re probably saying, “Karen, since when do you subscribe to a magazine devoted to makeup? You don’t even wear makeup.” Well, that’s true. The fact of the matter is, I didn’t exactly pay for a subscription to the magazine. With the paper-based news and magazine industries hit so hard recently, I’ve gotten free subscriptions to Wired and Allure through other purchases I’ve made. In the case of Allure, I could have instead gotten Glamour, which I used to read years ago. I decided to go with Allure over that since I’m less familiar with the content and likely to learn more from it. That’s one of the better decisions I’ve made, based on what I’ve learned from the magazine so far.
The article I’m referring to cites multiple psychological studies, most of which are over ten years old (I must be out of the loop), that help explain how strong self-control is developed, maintained, and most importantly, how it wears out.
To quote the article:
What most of us don’t grasp about willpower is that it is a limited resource, according to research by Roy F. Baumeister, a professor of psychology at Florida State University. This is particularly true when it comes to losing weight. You may have every intention of eating less, but if you are exercising self-control in one arena of your life, it may be hard to get it together in another.
In a 1998 study in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, hungry subjects were presented with plates of radishes and chocolate chip cookies. (The latter were actually baked in the lab, so that the air in the room was fragrant with cookie goodness.) Some subjects were allowed to eat the cookies, and others were told to eat only the radishes. Later, they were given puzzles to solve–and the radish eaters gave up more quickly on a puzzle than subjects who had not had to exert self-control by avoiding the cookies. In other words, the radish eaters who had to say no to the siren song of cookies could not exert the discipline needed to plug away at a boring, frustrating task.
Thus, self-control is a resource your body uses, similar to energy. Certain actions/foods will build up willpower, while others drain it. The article goes on to explain that exerting self-control obviously drains your self-control resource, in addition to other actions like decision-making, thought control, emotion control, impulse control, and task performance.
The good news is you can build self-control up, similar to strengthening a muscle. This is something I have been doing unconsciously for the past year. I started to get a handle on what things I wanted to change about my life, I started enacting them slowly. The first things I changed were small, like “I want better posture,” “I want to speak more clearly,” or “I don’t want to speed as much while driving.” The article considers these to be mental workouts that help increase your willpower. Since willpower is a limited resource, though, you shouldn’t try to change too much at once, especially if the things you’re changing are big.
Then, as if the article already knew it had me hooked and wanted to make sure I’d blog about it, it went on to slightly bash artificial sweeteners.
Using up your self-control resource also lowers your blood glucose levels. To replenish your pool of self-control, sugar does a good job at being a quick fix. Artificial sweeteners, on the other hand, were shown to not have this effect. In the long run, though, the protein-rich snacks will be better for you and have a similar replenishing effect; it just doesn’t act as quickly as sugar does. Additionally, liquor will lower your blood glucose levels, which may be part of the reason why our willpower goes out the window when we drink. Sleep also replenishes the self-control resource, and lack of sleep puts your willpower in a bad place.
Oddly enough, the article then goes on to talk about other ways to motivate oneself. It recommends the threat of losing money, as opposed to the reward of gaining even the same amount of money, as “Tons of economic studies have shown that people work harder to avoid monetary losses than they do to gain a similar amount.”
Back on topic, though, the article mentions another self-control method that I’ve been using myself, without thinking about it. The author calls them “if-then plans.” You think about a situation beforehand, and make specific plans in the event of a situation that would otherwise throw you off. For example, “If I’m tired when my alarm goes off, then I’ll get up anyway.” You’d be surprised at how well this works, if you take a little time to focus on that. The article claims that these plans remove the decision-making that would normally take place at that time, which prevents that decision from using up your self-control resource.
So, to sum up, here is a list of things that REPLENISH your self-control resource:
- Sugar (for a burst)
- Protein (slower, but lasts longer)
- Sleep
These are the things that DRAIN your self-control resource:
- Using self-control of any kind (thought, emotional, impulse, etc.)
- Decision-making
- Task performance
- Alcohol
So, keep that in mind if you have an indulgence situation coming … like Thanksgiving. Give yourself every advantage you can. Plan ahead so there won’t be any decisions to be made. Get a lot of sleep. Do tasks ahead of time if possible. And, if all else fails, have a little bit of some real sugar.
On a side note, the article goes on to say that a 2007 study in the Journal of Consumer Research found that exerting self-control in one area of your life increases the amount you’ll spend shopping. That probably explains why my checking account hit an all time low. Well, that and Jamaica. 
Woo It’s Working
Exciting! Now it’s time to stop playing around and get some exercise done. Speaking of which, I’m tired of hearing people tell me I’m too skinny to still be losing weight. I’ve got ten pounds left to a 20.4 BMI – which is the middle of normal (18.5-24.9). Plus I’m not ecstatic about my jeans size.
So, quit bugging me about it. I’m not a moron or an anorexic. I’m healthy for once and dammit I’m gonna stay that way.
Sorry for the rant but it really irks me.
Lunch
Importing from blogger is proving much more problematic than expected, because the default import finds no posts. Sigh.
New WordPress-based Blog
WordPress
I’ve moved over to a blog powered by WordPress, formerly powered by Blogger, for a couple of reasons. One, I’d love to be able to reliably update this site using my iPhone. Blogger cannot handle this for whatever reason. I was even unable to get Blogger to cooperate with emailed blog posts. Two, it’s a much stronger platform with greater customization capability. Three, it gave me something fun to do for a couple of hours on a Saturday morning.
So, thank you to Blogger for your posting capabilities in the past, but I’ve moved on. We’ll see how this goes from here on out. Hopefully, this will be even better than the old blog.
This is a test blog post. This is only a test.
However, you may be interested to hear that this is a test from my new
iPhone!
This is a Dark Game
You’ll probably laugh at me, but The Sims 3 made me cry last night. I’m sure it had something to do with my female hormone fluctuations, but regardless, it was rather upsetting to see my “sim me” age well before her time. She had made it to the end of her athletic career, but was four skill points short of her lifetime goal (Golden Tongue, Golden Fingers: 8/10 guitar and 8/10 charisma). Granted, she can change her lifetime wish and quite possibly fulfill it, but it seems too depressing. Who wants to watch a rock star granny?
I took a video of her getting engaged (although she didn’t get married or have kids) and of her final “birthday.” Since she wasn’t looking forward to aging, I opted to not throw her a party. Instead, she was playing guitar in the park for tips when she went from pretty to muumuu.
It made me reflect on my life and wonder how many things I want to do but will ultimately never accomplish. I’m going to be 27 soon, and at the rate I’m going, I don’t see my life as anything special. There are things in my life that I enjoy that I have put on hold. For one, I’d really love to be in a band again, but I feel like I don’t have time. I’ve always wanted to have an MBA, but I don’t like the expensive and difficult process of going back to school. I thought I’d be married by now, since a lot of my friends are married and/or pregnant, but I don’t feel ready for that. How old will I be before I have kids, if I even get to have kids? I feel like my time is slipping by and I’m not doing enough with it.
While that all is depressing, I do have to give myself credit for one thing. Despite feeling like there was no hope, I did weigh in only 1 pound higher than my initial goal weight this morning. Since December, I’ve lost over 20 pounds. The changes I’ve made in my life feel more permanent than anything else. I enjoy working out (to a certain extent, at least) with my workout videos and rollerblading. I get a sense of accomplishment from tracking my calories, and I don’t feel like I have to eat as much as I once did. It hasn’t been an easy road by any means, but I did set out for it and do it. I don’t have any plans to discontinue my current activities or habits, so who knows. Maybe I’ll get into even better shape than I was in high school.
On the more good news front, I may finally be able to pick up my Eclipse today after work. The mechanic has had it for a full month now. Granted, he’s fixing a massive list of problems. Since I got cold feet on buying a new Nissan Altima Coupe (I didn’t want to say goodbye to my current car), I got all of the problems I could think of fixed.
- Engine mounts
the initial reason for bringing it in - Water pump leak
caused by the engine mounts wearing down - Fuel door pop
would release but not pop the door open so I had to wedge something in the release and go around to pry open the door - Driver’s side windshield fluid sprayer
one of the two nozzles sprayed directly onto the hood - Air conditioning
compressor needed replacing - Power locks relay x2
power locks would not unlock the door but would turn on/off the alarm; the first time he replaced it, it failed within a few days; mechanic thinks because it was getting wet, so he’s moving it - Moonroof seal
my car would pee on me when it rained because the seal had been distorted - Driver’s side door handle
mechanic broke it off
Needless to say, it won’t be cheap, but with a little luck, my car will run almost like new for quite a while after this.
Feeling: So very, very old
Listening to: Aerosmith – Cryin’
Testing Out Windows Live
Windows Live
So I saw all the silly commercials for Windows Live, but I thought, “Why would I want to use some Microsoft program for that when I’ve already got Google (picasa, gmail, blogger, etc.)?” Well, the answer was clear: 25 GB of space per account.
Google’s Picasa software is very easy to use and intelligent. But 1 GB of space already has me wary about uploading any more photos. Despite not even using 1 GB (of a total of 7 GB) of my email space, it’s encouraging me to pay for more web space hosting. I’m not a fan of that.
The other thing I’m liking about Windows Live is it makes it very easy to switch between “linked” accounts. It’s pretty obvious that I have two Gmail accounts. One is for friends (real people) and one is for companies (not real people). Excellent spam filter or not, I still care about an email from any real person a lot more than an email telling me there’s a sale at some department store.
So, here I am trying out the blogging software, which claims it can upload to blogger. I don’t know if I’ll stick with it, but I’ll be sticking with the “Skydrive” (what they call your 25 GB) for photos so long as I can figure out a way to feed it into my photos page on kabby.net.
Shed
My family is in the final stages of getting a shed-well, a barn-put in our backyard. It’s a much more arduous process than it should be, thanks to permits and digging restrictions in addition to the normal foundation requirements. Yesterday, we spent most of the morning and some of the afternoon shoveling 5,000 pounds of limestone into a dirt square in the backyard and trying to level it. Yesterday evening and this morning, my back reminded me that I’m not a kid anymore.
Bunnies
To those of you who haven’t heard yet, Jonathan now has 2 lively young bunnies. Despite their naughty behavior, he has no plans to eat them. I visited and took way too many photos of them, which you can see in the album linked above. For what it’s worth, I’m impressed with the album linking feature in the Windows Live Writer.
Rollerblading
Yes, it’s true, I’ve tried to take up rollerblading again. I’ve gone with Renee a few times, and I had a lot of fun, despite having issues stopping. I decided my 15 year old skates needed a bit of a tune up, so I bought some new bearings. WOW, did that make a difference. They were like completely different skates. They actually felt a lot like my ice skates, which I’m comfortable with.
Best of all, changing the bearings made it a ton easier to stop, oddly enough. You’d think with new bearings, the skates would just be faster and harder to control, but that’s not the case. The skates are faster, sure, but they’re also not unpredictable like they used to be. The problem I had with braking the normal way was I couldn’t keep my balance very well. That was because braking means balancing on one foot, which is hard to do when the skate is rolling at an unpredictable pace (bad bearings cause your wheels to lock up). That was the best $40 (had to buy a $12 tool, too) I have spent in a long time.
Feeling: Sore
Listening To: Pink – Mean
So Much and Yet So Little
Driscoll Catholic, my high school, is closing at the end of this year. I’m shocked and very saddened, as if I could get any sadder at this point. The people, the building, the memories; all of it feels so much further away now. I remember the auditorium, where I felt so at home. The prop room backstage where I signed my name on the wall in marker, where so many others had signed before me, some of whom have already left this world. I remember the hallways, and how I felt like I knew every little corner of every room. I remember the ugly carpets and the putrid-smelling vacuum cleaners. I can’t imagine never being able to go back to see how it has changed.
I want to remember forever, but I know I won’t. I want to think that this doesn’t change anything, but I can’t escape the feeling that it will.
…And yet this is just one of the many things that is causing me grief lately. Combine that with the cutbacks at All Tile. Throw in some dashed hopes of having a dog. Mix well. Top with a general feeling of misdirection in life. This is not exactly the cake I was looking for.
Feeling: Depressed
Listening to: Kelly Clarkson – Irvine
An Open Letter to RIM, Apple and Others
Today’s technology is a giant open door for possibility. The capability of all these new gadgets is astounding, and yet I’m remarkably disappointed.
Call me a cynic, call me picky, but I am drastically unimpressed by the iPhone and Blackberry Storm. I want to like them. Hell, I want to be obsessed with them. The fact of the matter is, I haven’t even bought one, because they don’t understand what is important.
I keep my important gadgets with me at all times. This includes my digital camera, iPod, and phone. I wish I could still use my old PDA, but it’d be just too much to carry around. This starts to hit on the important point: it should not be necessary to have four gadgets to do the job of one or two.
Granted, to make a camera as nice as my Canon, you’d need a rather large, heavy gadget. It’d need a zoom lens and a few easy-to-use buttons that just don’t make sense on a phone. This is why I don’t care if my gadget has a camera; it can’t possibly hope to replace a good point-and-shoot with where technology is today.
On the other hand, it’s just a matter of software to add easy personal organization apps, like contacts, calendar, to do and such. Blackberries and iPhones seem to handle this aspect fairly well, since email is one of the key features that draws people to those gadgets. As for my iPod, the calendar feature is laughable with no to do list. It’s massively limited by the miniscule number of buttons, and this makes it utterly useless when it comes to being a personal organizer. Since this is the one gadget I carry that has the most “disk” space, it makes the most sense to double as an organizer, but its self-induced physical limitations are too great.
Getting right down to it, this is what I (and quite possibly, many others) am really looking for when it comes to what is being coined as a “smart phone”: some gadget that can effectively do the job of two or more other gadgets. As I mentioned, the technology isn’t there to replace the camera, but there should be no problem combining a 30GB iPod, an old-school PDA and a phone. Since the largest iPhone is a disappointing 16GB, it can’t possibly replace my nearly-full 30GB iPod. Plus, I am doubtful that the onscreen keyboard entry system is sufficent for personal organization needs.
What do I want? I’ll tell you. I want it to sync calendar, email, contacts and to do lists with my home computer. I want it to be easy to input text, either via querty keyboard or voice recognition (speech-to-type) software. I want it to be at least 30GB, but probably more like 120, to completely replace my iPod. I want GPS to tie in to a mapping software. I don’t even care if it’s a phone, although that doesn’t seem like a big addition anymore.
So, like I said, call me picky, but unless you’re able to replace at least two of my current gadgets, you’re not getting any purse real estate for being “smart.”
Prep for Halloween
I’m really excited about Halloween this year. I’m going to be dressing as Dr. Cameron from the TV show House. I’ve already produced her name tag, pictured at right, which is based on the glimpse of her name badge in some promotional photos. Her fan site, JMorrisonFan was immensely helpful in finding pictures to base my costume off of and to make the badge art.
You’ll notice that I modified the badge slightly from the one in the promotional photos. First off, I changed the picture. The one in her real ID is what you’d expect an ID photo to look like – UGLY and barely recognizable. Since this is one of the most identifying parts of my costume, I chose a picture of her that people will recognize from the show. I chose not to use a photo of myself in costume because (a) I don’t have the rest of the costume yet and (b) that will make the costume quite a bit harder to identify. I also changed the text a little bit to add her first name. “Dr. Cameron” makes the name badge appear more fake. How many people have a name tag with no first name? I also added an “M.D.” at the top before “Immunology” so I could remove the “Dr.” from the name entirely.
To make the actual tag, I printed the image on my printer and bought some big, glossy GBC SelfSeal Laminating pouches that worked extremely well. Between that and my trusty personal paper trimmer, the rest was cake. After laminating, which was as easy as applying a sticker, I just trimmed the edges and used scissors to round the corners. I made the slit in the top using the paper trimmer and shoved the name tag clip through that. I had an extra one of those lying around from miscellaneous trade shows.
Last but not least today, I purchased a $20 twill lab coat off of amazon.com. I had no idea lab coats could be so inexpensive. I should wear it more often!
Next on the agenda is to make a pill bottle label for “Dr. House,” i.e., Jonathan. I’m thinking it should be somewhat traditional, but the word Vicodin should stand out a little more, since that’s a key to identifying his costume as well.
Feeling: Excited, Happily Busy
Listening to: Kelly Clarkson’s Cover of Aerosmith – Cryin’
