A big part of living healthy and losing weight is making the right choices every day. On paper, this sounds easy. In practice is harder than most people realize. Many people think they can just defeat their unhealthy habits in a flash. They have great health intentions. However, they find themselves snacking on a chocolate bar in the afternoons. Why does this happen? This may be caused by decision fatigue.
What Is Decision Fatigue?
In psychology, decision fatigue is the deteriorating quality of decisions. This happens after an individual has made many decision during the day. Decision fatigue is one of the causes of irrational trade-offs when people make decisions. Many people rely on willpower to get healthy. The bad news is that willpower alone will not help us to develop habits. If you made plenty of decisions at work or had a rough day with the kids, saying no to unhealthy foods later may be harder. Our mental energy and willpower get depleted throughout the day. They are not unlimited. This is the reason why decision fatigue happens. Willpower is like a muscle. When it gets tired it defaults to the easiest option. After a session of making hard decision, we get tired. Many people opted for sweets or chocolate at the grocery aisle because of decision fatigue.
Decision Fatigue Affects Healthy Living.
Many people make unhealthy decisions later in the day or in the evening. They reach for the frozen fast food option instead of cooking a healthy dinner. Some snacks on sugary treats before they sleep. We may be thinking; “We had a rough day, let me have a break from cooking” or “We ate healthy all day, let me reward myself with a cookie” or “Life is a bit hard at the moment, I will start eating healthy next week Monday”. These may be signs of decision fatigue. We have to deal with decision fatigue head-on in order to make healthy a lifestyle.
How to Overcome Decision Fatigue.
It is possible to work on overcoming and managing decision fatigue in our health.
We need to direct our thought and actions.
Plan and Prepare.
There are many decisions we must make daily. We can prepare and plan for these decisions. If you are on a weight loss journey, you know you must eat healthy every day. Take some strain off your mental energy and willpower by having weekly and daily meal plans. You can even prepare it the night before. Planning and preparing help you make a few decisions.
Have clear rules about what time you sleep, wake up, and go to grocery shopping. This will go a long way to minimizing decision fatigue. Routines are great for overcoming decision fatigue. I have my workout routines planned for months ahead. Workout clothes are laid out the night before. I work out first thing in the morning. No arguments or making the decision in the heat of the battle.
Eat That Frog.
Mark Twain said, “If it’s your job to eat a frog, it is best to do it first thing in the morning. And if it is your job to eat two frogs, it is best to eat the biggest one first”. The frog is one thing you have on your to-do list that you may not be motivated to do. The task that is important and you have the likelihood of procrastinating it. Eating the frog means doing that task first thing in the morning. When you are done with eating your biggest frog in the morning, your day goes smoother.
Gary Keller in his book, “The One Thing” describes eating the frog through a question. The question that you need to ask yourself every morning is, “What is the one thing I can do such by doing it everything else will easier or unnecessary?” There is a handful of things we need to focus on. These tasks are important but not urgent. We normally postpone them until it is too late. Initially, for my journey, the answer was avoiding processed sugar and foods and exercising first thing in the morning. If you are able to exercise first thing in the morning do it. My days are better when I exercise first thing in the morning!
Eat Well And Stay Active.
When you improve your health, many other parts of your life improve. Exercising will increase your heart rate. This will provide your brain and body with the energy it needs for other strenuous aspects of your life. Exercising will improve your brain functions and make you more alert
Healthy eating will give your body a chance to resist decision fatigue. Even judges became better decision-makers after eating. Now, if your diet is filled with processed foods every day, you will experience decision fatigue.
Willpower rises and falls daily, it is not something you have or don’t have. You can maximize your willpower for every moment of every day. Making a few changes to your planning and day will help you to overcome decision fatigue. The aim should be reducing the amount of daily decisions. The more actions you make automatic (habits), the less decision fatigue will affect your life. Create a few routines and habits that will help align with your health goals.