Boost Your Willpower; Break the Bonds Between Triggers and Cravings in 4 Steps to Keep Weight Off

By A.J. Rogers, Ph.D. 

Would you like to know a secret?

Your thoughts and habits are the barriers to lasting weight loss. I will show you controlling your thinking, you can make it happen.

Like most of us, you’ve been on many diets, lost weight, regained it, gave up, and tried again. You’ve tried to maintain the weight loss, but cravings for specific foods trip you up every time.

Why is it so hard?

Everyone experiences stress, emotions, and low energy levels, but not everyone eats junk food to feel better. For you, these events trigger cravings, which in turn cause you to buy comfort foods.

Over the years, the bonds between the triggers and cravings have been strengthened while your goals of a healthy weight were like a mirage.

You can learn to identify and study your triggers and habits, reset your goals, and manage your craving thoughts, then fade them until they vanish.

Here are the 4 steps to conquer your cravings.

1. Identify your triggers

Do your thoughts drift into craving certain foods when you are stressed, hurt, worried, angry, or tired? Perhaps certain situations or people trigger you. For example, going to the grocery store or driving by a donut or ice cream store can be a trigger.

Location triggers are not as obvious because they’re connected to habits, not emotions. For example, you’ve developed a habit of getting ice cream on the way home from work. At the intersection, where you turn right to get the ice cream or go straight to go home, you will experience cravings, whether you’re stressed or not. The intersection has become your trigger.

No matter the trigger, your focus will be on breaking the bond between the trigger and the cravings.

To start, list your goals.

2. List your goals

Make a list of your goals. For example:

• I want to be thin
• I want to feel healthy
• I want to stay thin

Use the goal thoughts as a replacement for thoughts of cravings.

3. Breaking the bond between triggers and cravings

The discussion of triggers was meant to help you identify your particular triggers. 

It doesn’t matter what your trigger is as long as you understand that you are experiencing a trigger for your cravings.

You will use the thought-stopping and thought-replacement method to break the bond between your trigger and the craving.

When thoughts of cravings, excuses, or fears arise, replace them with one of the goals on your list. For example, if you think,” I’ll start my diet next week,” replace that thought with “I want to be thin.”

Keep repeating, “I want to be thin,” until the cravings or excuses vanish. Your thoughts of goals will act as a shield against them.

Repetition of end goals in your head is the key to long-term success.

When you think of a specific food craving, replace it with one of your goals. When you think of cookies, tell yourself, “I want to be thin.” Do it many times until the craving disappears.

The cravings may come to you while driving, sitting at your desk at work, or sitting on the couch. Each time it happens, use the same method. Replace the craving thought with one of your goal thoughts, such as “I want to be thin.” Do it many times until the craving goes away.

Another way of thinking about the bond between triggers and cravings is as thought habits.

You can create new thought habits and routine habits if the old ones do not match your goals.

4. The Power of Habits and Routines

You may have noticed that certain places in your home trigger food cravings regardless of your mood. Perhaps you developed a habit of eating certain foods or drinking certain beverages on the couch in front of the TV.

Most people handle this by making a new rule for the whole family — no eating outside the kitchen or dining room area.

Taking Control of Your Thoughts

Weight maintenance comes down to what’s happening in your head as you make decisions, minute by minute. Before any action, your brain thinks about it. If you repeatedly think about something, you’re likely to do it. Your thoughts shape your actions.

Self-talk is the ongoing conversation with yourself.

Your challenge is to stop your thoughts as they wander into cravings, excuses, fears, and procrastination and replace them with your goal thoughts. It requires awareness. You can easily make it a new habit within weeks. Once it becomes a habit, it will be effortless. You will have changed your self-talk.

Break the bond between triggers and cravings to enjoy a craving-free life

As you work with this technique, you’ll experience lasting benefits. Your cravings will be less frequent because the bond between emotions, locations, habits, and cravings will be broken.

You will realize that willpower is nothing more than the act of monitoring your thoughts and changing harmful thoughts to helpful ones.

Cravings will become rare, and you will manage stress-induced temptations. Even if you experience occasional slips, you can use the technique to get back on track.

You Can Succeed

Your weight loss journey begins in your head. Mastering and using your thoughts to conquer cravings will boost your willpower and pave the way to weight loss. You can break away from old thinking patterns by creating new thought habits aligned with your goals.

Make lists of your goal phrases, cravings, triggers, and harmful habits. Start implementing these thought-control techniques today.