Skillpower …. Not Willpower, for Mother’s Day

There once was a time when if my children asked what I wanted for Mother’s Day I would reply …  some peace and quiet … which, when translated by my son, was turned into ‘a piece of quiet’, which he never could find to buy for me! In later years I would ask for some willpower … in an attempt to stick to yet another diet or inflexible and therefore unsustainable weight-loss regime. Even though my children were older they still couldn’t find this elusive gift for me.

 

Thinking ahead to this year I wondered what other dieters, weight-loss surgery pre and post-ops would like and this elusive ‘willpower’ came to mind again. Pre-surgery it would certainly help and post-surgery whilst seemingly not as essential would still prove to be useful. Our surgery gives us a great tool to help with cravings (real or imagined) and head hunger still rears its head from time to time so we would all welcome a bit of willpower to get through these tricky times.

 

But I have to say I don’t rely upon willpower or even believe in its ability to get me through the testing times any more. It’s an over-rated and much used word that gets banded about as if it is a virtue in short supply; is given to some and not to others; and has a finite life if you look after it well. When I look back now I know that I had masses of willpower – how else could I have stuck to countless diets for so long and lost hundreds of pounds? Admittedly they were lost and then regained several times over to reach this tally but I demonstrated amazing resolve (or willpower) whilst following these drastic regimes time and time again.

 

No, what have I learnt is the new replacement for willpower is skillpower. Arming myself with a battery of skills to deal with the changes I have needed to employ in my life has proved far more successful than transitory willpower. So skills relating to mindful eating; tactics to avoid , deal with or overcome cravings have been learnt; and an armoury of useful gadgets have also become my ‘batterie de cuisine’. This includes things like my kitchen scales, portion scoops, pre-surgery healthy eating plate and later bariatric portion plate, and have become indispensable.

 

If you have a mother who is looking for the gift of willpower this Sunday then you couldn’t do better than perhaps indulge her with a plate that will reward her efforts every day of the year – not just Mothering Sunday! Details can be found here for the pre-surgery plate and here for the bariatric portion plate. Order quickly if you want them for Sunday.