I feel the same way but slightly different, for me it's less sweet talking the brain and more that the brain tells me what we need and i come up with as good of a way to achieve that as possible.

"Orders from above! We need pizza posthaste!"
- "Very well, let's walk to the grocery store and buy a frozen pizza, that way we burn some calories and the pizza is cheap."

[–] Avalokitesha@programming.dev 1 points 9 months ago (1 children)

Oh, interesting. To me it doesn't feel like orders, more like nagging? And the more I say no the more I want it. After I was able to afford things, my impulse buying went way down, because I didn't instantly think "no", but instead went "I could. But then I would use it once, and it would be in the way for the rest of my life, and it's a hassle" and all of a sudden thinking about the consequences makes me go "you know, maybe I don't need it after all..."

[–] Swedneck@discuss.tchncs.de 1 points 9 months ago (1 children)

well it's not orders in the sense of "do this or else", more in the sense of a captain commanding his ship, you really want to listen to the captain because they generally know what needs to be done

i guess a better way of putting it is like sneezing, yes you can hold in a sneeze but apparently that can result in your fucking throat tearing open so PROBABLY don't do that, instead you can sneeze into your elbow rather than into someone's face.

[–] Avalokitesha@programming.dev 1 points 9 months ago

Ahhh, that makes more sense. Yeah, when it comes to food atm I generally listen to my body even though it may be not the healthiest option. My main reasons are 1) that I believe you typically crave the nutrition your body desires and 2) it's a "pick your battles" situation.

If you try to change everything at once cause you're fed up and decided your life needs to finally get back on track after an eternity of slacking, you're setting yourself up to fail. I know, I've failed umpteenth times that way 😔

So I decided what area to focus on and in those areas I'm like the first officer who offers commentary to the captain when the captain makes a decision (cause captain is impulsive and often doesn't even ask for comments before making that decision). I've fould a way to "phrase it" that makes the captain consider things I say and sometimes we change course.

Food/weight is not among the areas I'm actively involved in right now cause my energy is just not enough to change my eating habit while fighting my other habits. I'm still trying to keep it within boundaries that I decided on first, so I'll detail the compromise that I made with myself below. If that bores you, feel free to skip :) Most of it involves reasoning with myself, though, which I also like to frame as compromising with the inner child. I guess I just think of my impulsivity as someone to reason with, and you win some, you loose some?

I work in IT and sit a lot, though, so if I constantly crave chocolate I do question myself if this is just one of the following three:

being bored. You wouldn't believe how often I just go open the fridge not out of hunger, but of boredom! I trained myself to always focus on my stomach when I open the fridge door and see if , I'm actively hungry before I decide anything
I'm so frustrated with something that chocolate/something sweet is needed to regulate my mood
this is is one of the moments where evolution has trained me to scream "sweet stuff! This is a rare treat! You cannot ignore this gift from the gods!" Because sugar is so rich in energy and that was really important in the stone age where you used a lot.

Being bored and the sweet stuff moments I go, well, this is not a healthy reason to snack, what can I do instead? With frustration I more often than not give in.