Anorexia May Be Habit, Not Willpower, Study Finds

When medical staff see someone resolutely starving themselves in a state psychiatric institution, drinking liters of water before their daily weigh-ins to nudge the number up, and hiding their full Ensure cans from nurses to avoid the calories, it is hard to chalk it all up to any normal and relatable definitions of the words habit or willpower, especially given that the behavior overcomes the drive for energy consumption, one of the strongest and most primitive drives in all organisms, and one which seems abolished in a deranged fashion. Even if habituation plays a major role in the development of the disease, it is hard to seriously consider the proposed solutions like "switch to eating with the left hand, as a reminder to think about eating different foods" as promising therapies in cases of recalcitrant anorexia. Which is not to say it won't be tried; I imagine side effects are minimal...

From a rationalist perspective, relying on "willpower" is the same as just saying "I should really do that" without action to follow. To make changes in your behaviour, you should rely on forming habits, and you should make it as easy as possible to fall into those habits. This is how "fake it until you make it" works.

(Obviously, things get tricky if you have a mental illness.)

Willpower is fake as shit. You'll note it isn't mentioned in the article body. Executive function is a thing, but it isn't what people refer to when they talk about willpower. Then again, usually people talk about willpower to establish a hierarchy between people who do a thing, and people who don't do a thing.

Most non-obese adults have calorie restricting habits to some extent (I, for one, would eat all day if it didn't make me gain weight). People with anorexia just take it too far.