In the usual ways. Your body has its own ideas about your food intake which may or may not match what your consciousness decides. It also has a variety of levers to affect your brain—from outright feelings of hunger to subtle reduction of mental efficiency when it thinks itself underfed.
If I decide to consciously commit to any task, there will be obstacles. If I set out to increase my knowledge on a subject, I’ll fight boredom, distractions, etc. It will reduce my capacity for other tasks—both mentally and by consuming time.
Losing weight is difficult, but it seems much simpler to me than the discussion (and perhaps consensus) I’ve seen around here.
I’ve wondered if it’s due to body weight being such a personal issue?
In the ancestral environment, sweet food (i.e. fruits and honey) was difficult to find in the wild, and our brains got wired to take advantage of every little opportunity to recharge with those sweet calories.
Now that we can mass-produce corn syrup and all kinds of cheap calories, our ancestral urges play against our best interest.
How so?
In the usual ways. Your body has its own ideas about your food intake which may or may not match what your consciousness decides. It also has a variety of levers to affect your brain—from outright feelings of hunger to subtle reduction of mental efficiency when it thinks itself underfed.
Of course. But isn’t this the case with anything?
If I decide to consciously commit to any task, there will be obstacles. If I set out to increase my knowledge on a subject, I’ll fight boredom, distractions, etc. It will reduce my capacity for other tasks—both mentally and by consuming time.
Losing weight is difficult, but it seems much simpler to me than the discussion (and perhaps consensus) I’ve seen around here.
I’ve wondered if it’s due to body weight being such a personal issue?
Kinda, but the thing is, there are different levels of difficulty that one faces when trying to do “anything”.
Sometimes it’s just a matter of establishing a habit.
Sometimes you need to get over a hill and then the activity will provide its own incentives (e.g. runner’s high).
And sometimes it’s just a hard slog all the way and any time you relax you backslide.
In the ancestral environment, sweet food (i.e. fruits and honey) was difficult to find in the wild, and our brains got wired to take advantage of every little opportunity to recharge with those sweet calories.
Now that we can mass-produce corn syrup and all kinds of cheap calories, our ancestral urges play against our best interest.