No willpower? No problem.

Seriously. You should never believe me when I say I’ll be right back. I have quite a few posts half-written and a severe case of writer’s block. Oh, and need I even mention my lack of self-discipline?

But my lack of self-discipline is actually related to what I wanted to talk about. I came across an excerpt from a book that I haven’t read (nor do I have any intention of reading), entitled “100 Days of Weight Loss” by Linda Spangle. The book apparently has “thought-provoking” articles for each day.

The excerpt had to do with the difference between being interested in losing weight and being committed to losing weight. Think about that. Most of us are interested in losing weight. Sure. Why not? Throw us that magic pill and we’ll be all over it. Just don’t expect us to give up too much. Oh – and make it easy, will ya? Because if I diet for one full day and that scale doesn’t move, then it’s just too hard and, frankly, I’d rather have a doughnut.

But when we’re committed to losing weight, we stick to our diet plan – no matter what. We decide what we want and we do whatever we have to in order to get there. If that means staying away from fast food, even when we’re hungry and tired, skipping certain social events, and planning and prepping meals - when we’d much rather be lying around watching TV armed with a bag of Cheeto’s – then that’s what we do.

Personally, I call this the difference between willpower and WANTpower. I have no willpower. Oh, I might have it for several hours, but then it fades away the minute I smell pizza. But wantpower? I’ve got it!

Wantpower is when you want something so badly, you’re willing to sacrifice just about anything to get it. For example, if there was some $200 gadget (or pair of boots!) you really, really wanted but couldn’t easily afford, you would probably be willing to give up your $4-a-day Starbuck habit for a while and save up the cash. It would be hard at first to go without your daily Skinny Vanilla Latte, but you would keep your goal in sight and before long, as you watch those unspent dollars piling up in your piggy bank, you would forget how much you used to enjoy that Latte.

To pass up all the wonderfully-bad-for-me food that shows up at work this time of year, I literally have to stop myself, one hand already stretched out to grab a handful of chocolate-covered cashews, take a deep breath and picture myself wearing something tucked in. With a belt. Without back fat. Then I can walk away. Because I want to be that vision of myself WAY more than I want ANY food. And celery sticks are a pretty reasonable substitute for chocolate, right?

So the point of all this is – if you’re really interested in losing weight or in just eating healthier, screw thoughts of willpower and kick your wantpower into high gear.

It makes it so much easier to just say no.

Oh, and P.S. - A funny thing happens when you stay away from your blog too long. Anonymous commenters. Ugh. They’re all over the place. But I hope if you were reading old comments, you managed to find yourself some good sources for Viagra. Because that’s impotent important.