Think and Lose weight? What a load of dirty socks, you say. Is this some weight loss take on the psychic book The Secret?
Well, a recent NPR Article, Hotel Maids Challenge the Placebo Effect, describes the weight loss effects of Hotel Maids. If you are not familiar with the placebo effect, the placebo effect is when you think something is going to happen and it happens even though whatever you did really did not cause it.
When you think of a Hotel maid, they’re doing working all day. Would you call that work exercise?
What about a roofer or construction worker? Is that work considered exercise?
Most of us would say yes, but to the Maid, they just think its their job. So, the Maid is not aware of the physical exertion he or she is doing on a daily basis. What the article demonstrates is that if you think you are not doing exercise, your body acts like you are not doing exercise.
Wow- What a negative placebo effect. You mean if I am carrying my 6 lb baby around the house all day, and I don’t think that is exercise, then I don’t benefit from the exertion.
That’s what the Harvard psychologist states in the NPR article.
I’d personally like to think I would probably benefit from the exercise, but maybe not as much if I think carrying a baby around is exercise.
Can we do the opposite? If I think my work, which consists primarily of desk work, is exercise, will my body react by losing weight?
Sure why not? As long as you can convince yourself that your day-to-day activities actually burn calories, then yes, I think you would have some positive effect from the placebo.The key is Can you convince yourself with honesty? You have to make the vision so realistic and so vivid that you convince yourself as well others.
So. Can you think and lose weight?
Yes! That’s an emphatic Yes! In fact, I say if you don’t think you will NOT lose weight.
So, let’s think, think, think (as Winne the Pooh says)
So many diet plans say,
- Lose weight without trying.
- Lose weight the easy way.
- Lose weight by eating the same foods.
- Lose weight without making any changes.
- Lose weight without thinking.
- Lose weight by surgery.
- Lose weight with diet pills.
- Lose weight without going to the gym.
- Lose weight with only 7 minutes a day.
- Lose weight…. etc.
How can any diet, exercise, fitness plan make these claims? If I read that, I have to NOT think to believe those claims. Everyone knows to lose weight one must eat less food than they expend.
My take from the NPR article is: The only way to lose weight is to think.
By thinking, we live consciously. Some examples:
- Think: that food going into my mouth is good for me and helps me lose weight.
- Think: the bouncing of my leg while working at my desk helps burn extra calories and stimulates weight loss.
- Think: the standing up straight and smiling is more difficult to do than slouching and frowning so it uses more muscles and I burn more calories providing better weight loss.
- Think: Before I take this bite of food, Am I full? Can I live without it?
- Think: At the restaurant, that plate of food sure is big, before I even take a bite, Can I get a to-go box?
- Think: I am losing weight therefore I am.
- Think: My clothes are starting to feel big on me.
- Think: While doing exercise, think how many calories you are burning and how great it feels to burn those calories. Stay focused. Remember, if you are doing the exercises mindlessly, you might as well be a hotel maid doing work.
By Thinking, you will actually begin to create habits. By creating habits, that’s when you can lose weight without even knowing it.
Many people shoot down books like The Secret, Think and Grow Rich, and Creative Visualization, because they tell the reader you can think to achieve some goal. But, really, You have to think.
Another example, I have to think to remember to record my weight every day. I have to think don’t eat all that fatty restaurant food, because they’re just giving you a ton to make you feel like you had a good value.
So, yes, for every action, there is an equal reaction.
You can Think and Lose Weight!
You don’t believe me, do you?
Here is a challenge:
Before you go to bed tonight, Write down your weight loss goal in present tense and describe in vivid detail you in your perfect form. When you wake up tomorrow morning, read your goal out loud. Do it again the next day, and I do literally mean physically write out again your weight loss goal and perfect body in graphic present tense detail. Then wake up in the morning and recite the goal. Repeat these steps every day for 30 days.
For example,
By entering my weight into simpleweight, tracking my activities, and by logging the calories I ate daily, I am losing 2lbs this week while eating less and thinking my activities are burning calories. I have a size xxx pants, and the feeling of my flat stomach in the form fitted shirt makes me confident, etc… I am burning calories by standing up straight, walking to work by parking my car in a far away parking spot, and walking up two flights a stairs each day, etc…
The key here is try to be as specific as possible and do some variation from day to day reflecting what you visualize for the next morning.
By taking this action daily of writing down your goal at night and reciting your goal in the morning, you will Think and Lose weight.
Photo Credit: ‘why yes I love him, but keep it secret!’ via Flickr, by TheAlieness GiselaGiardino²³
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I really need to lose weight because I am 26 years old. I have kids and I weigh 253lbs. I dont work and I want to try it for free
Wow. The human mind is really something. I was in the gym the other day working out I realised that I’d worked out one calf muscle more than the other-ultimately one was bigger than the other. after that i concentrated on the smaller one and I really didn;t think anything was going to help and it didn’t-the calf muscle stayed the same. Then after when I was coming back from the gym for some strange reason I thought that it had bulked up, so I tensed them in a window nearby and it had looked more alike the other muscle than before. Maybe I should start telling myself that I will have a smaller tummy and rounder yet bigger bum. =] x x
@Marghella. Great Story demonstrating the power of thinking. I believe our brain is the key to our weight loss. We must utilize our brain’s power (some would say hidden power) to assist us in our weight loss.
It is possible.
I found this article because I did a Google search on “lose weight by thinking about it”. Why would I search for that, you might ask? Well, because that’s exactly what I have been doing for the past 2 years and I have lost 40 pounds while doing so! And in that entire time, I have not gone to the gym once and I have not done any dieting whatsoever. I did start eating healthier about 2 years ago, but nothing drastic – just mainly portion control and avoiding too much sugar. But I still eat pizza, burgers, pasta, donuts, etc – just in moderation. I am confident that the things I have done mentally have been the main contributing factorin my weight loss. Many of the things I do are exactly the things which are listed at the end of the article, such as really thinking about what I am eating and what affect it will have on my body, and telling myself that every little movement I make is helping to burn calories and help me lose weight. I do small things that might not seem like a lot, but I tell myself that they are. For example, I flex my abs frequently throughout the day while sitting at my desk, and I have convinced myself that this will help me lose weight around my belly. I have been doing this for 2 years now, and my mid-section is toned and I have gone from a size 38 waist down to a 32-34! Also, I have told myself that rather than having my metabolism shut down at night, I need it to keep running so I can burn calories while I sleep (and also burn any left-over food in my stomach). I also make sure to eat a small 100-150 calorie snack right before bed, and I tell my body that I need to burn that while I sleep, and I think this has helped tremendously. I can’t tell you how many times I wake up starving rather than waking up semi-full from the night before like I used to. I started doing a lot of these things just out of curiosity to see if they would work, and they really have! The proof is in the pudding – I lost 40 pounds over 2 years of repeated thoughts and mind control habits, without exercising or going to the gym a single time.
@james
I love to hear successful weight loss stories such as yours. Keep us up to date on your mindful weight loss process. Thanks.
wow! amazing!
I think mostly logically, and I literally cannot be that delusional, to “trick” my body into thinking that I am exerting myself when I physically am not.
Also, animals don’t think they’re exercising, and they lose weight, and gain muscle, so I personally have “doubts” as to if this works even with the stupidest of people.
@Gacollen – I think you missed the point of the post.
The idea is you have to be mindful when you are doing exercise.
You have to be mindful when you are eating.
You have to think about it.
We are not strictly Pavlovian animals. Humans have a much more complex brain psychology which can and will impact your actions. Positive mindful thinking will work both for “stupid” people and “smart” people.