Empowered Health Course · Worksheet

The Power of Wanting

Much of what drives eating isn’t hunger — it’s wanting: a learned pull set off by cues around us. A cue leads to wanting, then to an action that relieves the wanting and reinforces the loop. Mapping your own pattern is the first step to gently changing it. This isn’t about willpower.

1. Your cues

When and where does the wanting tend to show up for you? (For example: after the kids go to bed, driving past a drive-through, a stressful afternoon, sitting down to watch TV.)

2. Trace one loop

Pick one cue and follow it through the cycle:

Cue (what sets it off) → Wanting (the pull) → Action (what you do) → Reward (the relief that reinforces it)

3. A gentle experiment

What small change to the cue or your environment might soften the wanting? (For example: not keeping that food in the house, changing your route, or swapping the after-dinner routine.)

Changing the cue is often easier — and kinder — than trying to out-muscle the wanting.

Tip: fill this in on screen and use Print / Save as PDF to keep a copy, or print a blank version to work through by hand.