A good friend of mine told me yesterday she lost 63 pounds in 90 days with the following diet plan. She would take off all her clothes in the morning and stand in front of a full-length mirror and yell at her fat body: “I hate you!” Then she’d shower, eat a small meal, get dressed and go to work — eat nothing for lunch — and when she returned home at night she would repeat her morning naked “I hate you!” ritual before she had a sensible dinner. She found success in her quest to lose weight.
My question is this: Will she be able to keep off the weight? Or will she slowly gain it all back as the nude “Woe is Me” diet flickers out in the breezes of her success? Is that kind of self-hatred really effective and healthy for the mind-body connection? Is she just shaming herself into a behavior she consciously does not want?
I have always found the best way to lose weight — and you get to keep all your clothes on and you get to also avoid all reflected images of yourself — is to repeat the following sentence during the day when temptation presses the hunger in your body: “I want to be thin.”
If you remind yourself you “want to be thin” then every decision you make will positively move you in that direction. “Would you like a Krispy Kreme donut?” “Why, yes, I would, but I want to be thin, so I can’t have one.” “One bite won’t hurt you.” “It won’t hurt me, but I want to be thin, so why waste a pinch?” “It’s your loss, lard body!” “Thank you for the offer, but I want to be thin, so please enjoy your naked mirror yelling routine later tonight.”
Losing weight is all about actively changing your mindset into a new good way of permanent thinking. You need to make a lifestyle change to keep the weight off your body and your mantra will eventually need to change to, “I want to remain thin” when you hit your goal weight. Dieting is only a measure of failure. Eating right foods and keeping your goal in mind will preserve your desire and mitigate your hunger for the rest of your life. It’s simple, really. Simple as a sentence.