> My biggest barrier to staying healthy isn't motivation or willpower, it's time.
To be fair, if you had more willpower, you'd be more willing to exercise in what limited time you do have. So it's fundamentally a willpower limitation.
This is a very arrogant and insensitive thing to say. Work hours + commute + family obligations doesn't leave a lot (or any) time for many people. And you have the gall to imply they don't have the "willpower" to commit the remaining time they have left to yet another chore.
I mean time seems to be the default excuse for failing to do many things, but it is not literally the reason. You can exercise in only 5-10 minutes a day.
they don't have the "willpower" to commit the remaining time they have left to yet another chore.
Wouldn't them having remaining time, and spending it in another way, imply that it is a matter of will?
We like to think that exercise takes much time, but the reality is that it's just an inconvenience. In fact, the more time we pretend it takes to exercise, the easier it is to disqualify it from our agenda.
It is a willpower issue for the majority of us on this forum who have it well off compared to most people.
You have to make time for it just like you have to make time to budget vegetables into your diet when it's more convenient to eat fast food on the way home. It's your health.
That you think it's insensitive for me to point this out just shows that there are some health issues, like obesity, that are taboo subjects. But we're not at the dinner table.
No, it's not a willpower issue here. I bike to and from work 11 miles, and when I don't have a meeting at lunch, go to the gym. Otherwise, I'm actually productive probably 4 hours a day, tops. Most of my time is spent just waiting on other people at work, because of corporate rules and life. I don't need to be told to work out, it's one of my favorite things to do. But add 10 hours to the 8 hours of sleep we're supposed to be getting, and you're left with 6 hours to deal with everything else in life, including making dinner for your family, dealing with kids in college, etc.
It's not taboo, you're just assuming too much here and instead of asking for a clarification you went right to "nope, it's your willpower". "Willpower" is a hotly contested idea in the psychological community as is, so, yeah, it's more than just "an inconvenience".
Because people justify use of their time with things like "require a certain amount of wind down time to relax". I do the same, so not dodging it. "Had a tough day. After the kids are asleep, I just need to relax for five seconds, is that too much to ask?"
We're all prioritising time. If you can't fit in 1-3 hours of riding a bike, fit in 10 minutes of something else.
(We built https://streaksworkout.com/ to help this. People choose the exercises that suit them and then start a 6-30 minute workout based on how much time they have.)
To be fair, if you had more willpower, you'd be more willing to exercise in what limited time you do have. So it's fundamentally a willpower limitation.