Personal Trainer Tips: Stop Trying to Control Your Willpower and Control THIS Instead

Willpower is a muscle you can build just like any other muscle. As a personal trainer, I think that helping my clients build that muscle is one of the most important parts of my job. But inevitably there will be days when you come home with very little willpower left in the tank. On those days, if you come home to a fridge with pizza and beer (insert your weaknesses here), guess what will probably happen. Even if you come home to a fridge with a bunch of things that could be a healthy dinner after an hour of cooking, if you’re like me, you may just find yourself ordering a pizza.

But if you come home to a fridge full of pre-prepared healthy meal options, a text from a friend who wants to go on a walk with you, or homework to do from your personal trainer (ahem!) the likelihood that you will keep moving down the path toward your goals even on tough days is so much higher.

Control Your Environment

So here’s an example of how I controlled my environment. I’ve worked from home for the past few years, and I started to really struggle with willpower from 2-4. I would get so lethargic and tired of work (my editing work, not personal training!). Just to get a break, I’d grab a protein bar, and then another, and another, and easily eat 800 calories of protein bars in two hours. If I happened to have anything more appetizing like leftovers in my fridge, they’d definitely disappear during that witching hour. I’d get down on myself and resolve to try harder the next day. After this cycle continued for longer than I want to admit to on the Internet, I finally realized that I would never be able to depend on willpower when I’m in zombie mode at my house between 2-4.

So I had a few false starts in trying to fix this situation. My first thought was that I just needed to get out of the house during that time and work somewhere else. But I couldn’t really find a place I wanted to be every day, I didn’t want to feel obligated to buy something at a coffee shop, and truth be told, zombie Emily never really felt like going anywhere at 2:00.

But here’s how I did finally did stop eating 800 calories of protein bars in the afternoon:

1. No more protein bars in the house. I know, no-brainer, right? Protein bars can be a healthy part of anyone’s diet, just not mine.
2. Make sure the first thing zombie Emily sees is ready-to-eat veggies. I’m always amazed by how many more veggies I eat just because of the fact that they are now the first thing I see when I open my fridge. (Side note: Zombie Emily won’t cut or wash vegetables, she’ll only eat them if they’re already ready to go.)
3. Taking my dog for a 10-minute walk at 3:00. Most of my protein bar binging was due to fatigue, and I realized I could change my state by getting outside and moving for a bit. But the BEST part about this change was that within a week, my dog decided that the walk was part of our afternoon routine and would whine at me at about that same time every day. Even when I don’t feel like a walk, I go anyway because I like making her happy (plus it is difficult to work when she is whining at me). 

These small changes have saved me thousands and thousands of calories over the year, and little things like that add up. I think people get it in their heads that they are weak when they can’t control themselves at the low points that inevitably happen for some reason or another. You’re not weak, you’re human. Sometimes you will be a zombie, a ravenous wolf, etc. So knowing that, what environment do you want to send that version of yourself into?

So take the time when you’re at your best to create an environment that makes healthy choices easy. Set up some walking dates, surround yourself with fitness training motivation, and make sure the first thing you see in your fridge is a healthy choice.

For more strategies, check out my all-time favorite book on building good habits and kicking bad habits is Atomic Habits by James Clear (paid link)