How to Have Self-Discipline with Eating Habits

Lack of self-discipline is something that comes up often as a reason why people believe they can’t stay on track with healthy eating habits. This is of course a big contributor, but self-discipline is something you can start practicing today. (Yes, today!)

In this blog post, I’m sharing the most simple way of how to have self-discipline with eating habits.

There are reasons why people can have a lack of self-discipline, which I’ll discuss briefly in this blog post first. That way, you’ll understand there is nothing “wrong” with you. I’ll also include links to related podcast episodes or blog posts that will help you with those.

What is Self-Discipline Anyway?

Self-discipline is not a personality trait. It’s not a matter of if you are motivated or not. In fact, it’s a skill that is completely independent of motivation.

Self-discipline is taking action DESPITE how you feel in the moment. This means, you take action whether you’re motivated or not.

Now, you can be motivated by your long-term goals, but you don’t have to feel motivated at that moment.

Here’s an example of self-discipline. You may wake up and it’s raining and you feel tired, but you put on your raincoat and sneakers and go for a walk anyway.

You’re not necessarily feeling motivated in that moment, but you do what you intended to do anyway.

Or self-discipline can mean you don’t take action, regardless of how you feel. For example, you might feel bored, but because you’re self-disciplined, you DON’T go to the kitchen to grab snacks.

At first, this may take some willpower, but over time, this skill becomes easy. It becomes a habit, so you don’t need any willpower. Then, you’ll just automatically have self-discipline with eating habits.

Also, although you don’t have to feel motivated in the moment to take action, motivation can of course very much help you take action. Here are a few resources for you…

• LISTEN OR READ: 2 Tools for When You Feel Unmotivated (Podcast Episode)
• LISTEN TO OR READ: What ACTUALLY Motivates You (Podcast Episode)

What Interferes Most With Self-Discipline

Emotions are a big thing that make self-discipline challenging for people. Emotions strongly affect our actions and inactions. So practicing self-discipline means overriding your emotions for the long-term gain.

Emotions affecting actions and inactions is just a normal human thing. People who are self-disciplined just learned the skill of going against the grain if need be. Again, taking action (or inaction) despite how they feel.

Sometimes this means eating a salad with chicken even when you feel bored. Or, making dinner instead of getting takeout when you feel rushed. It might mean turning down the chips someone offers to you, despite feeling desire for the chips. (Desire is an emotion too!)

So, no matter how strongly you feel your emotions influence your actions/inaction, you can learn the skill of self-discipline with eating habits. (I’ll be teaching it to you in just a bit.)

• LISTEN OR READ: The 2 Biggest Emotional Eating Mistakes (Podcast Episode)
• LISTEN OR READ: Boredom Eating (Podcast Episode)

Thought Errors About Self-Discipline

Another thing that makes self-discipline challenging for people is thought errors about self-discipline. Thought errors are just thoughts we have as humans that are taken as truth, but they aren’t really.

So, regarding self-discipline, many people believe they just don’t have it. But like I mentioned in the beginning of this post, it’s just a learned skill.

The thought error here look like, “I just don’t have self-discipline.” Or, “I’m not a self-disciplined person.”

With thoughts like these, you’ll prevent yourself from being open to the possibility that you can become VERY self-disciplined. That’s because you can learn the skill by practicing. The more you practice, the more you perfect it.

Another thought error is thinking that you need to feel motivated to take action. I actually have seen definitions on very popular websites that say that self-discipline means you’re motivated to take action. This is simply not true.

You’re not going to be motivated all of the time. You’re human with normal human emotions. Many times you’ll feel unmotivated, stressed, tired, disappointed. You can still take action despite these emotions though. They’re just emotions. That’s it.

If you have a child, think about it like this. You may feel exhausted, but you still take care of your child despite how you feel, right?

Or, you may feel a lack of energy on a Monday morning and you woke up with a headache, but you still get ready and go to work anyway, right? That’s because you want to keep your job.

So, thought errors are the second main reason why people feel they don’t have self-discipline with eating habits.

• LISTEN OR READ: Thought Habits and Your Results (Podcast Episode)
• GET WEEKLY TIPS: Eating Habit and Weight Loss Tips

The Simple Way to Have Self-Discipline with Eating Habits

There’s nothing fancy to it, but here it is. The simple way to have self-discipline with eating habits is to commit to taking action (or inaction) once a day despite how you feel.

So basically, start small. Don’t try to go crazy with making too drastic of changes. Don’t try to choose healthy for every single meal or snack when you’re not used to that yet.

Just commit to choosing healthy (or healthier) one time each day, regardless of if you feel like it. You may not feel like eating a Greek yogurt instead of the cupcake, but do it anyway.

Because you’re committed to YOU. You’re committed to your long-term goals.

Then, when you feel like that’s become pretty easy for you, commit to twice a day. And just a note, it doesn’t have to be all eating habits. You can also practice self-discipline with other things like exercise, drinking more water, watching less TV.

Practicing the self-discipline skill with other things, helps with self-discipline with eating habits.

• LISTEN OR READ: 5 Best Ways to Avoid Failure with Eating Habits & Weight Loss (Podcast Episode)
• PRIVATE COACHING: Learn How I Can Help You

Important Take-aways:

#1 You can become super self-disciplined regardless of how much of a lack of self-discipline you think you have. It’s just a learned skill and it’s simple too!

#2 Start small and slowly build your self-discipline with eating habits.

#3 Don’t be afraid to practice self-discipline with other things too like moving your body, going to bed earlier, reading more, etc. This carries over into having self-discipline with eating habits.

P.S. I can help you form the eating habits you want to form and break the eating habits you want to break. Let’s talk about where you’re struggling, where you’d love to be, and how I can help get you there. To do so, sign up for a free 60-minute consult below.