Jumpstart your diet with trauma today!

Somehow a slew of weight-loss newsletters and diet sites advertisement managed to find their way into my inbox. Obviously someone out there thinks I need some help in the waistline area.

Undaunted (and obviously in acquiescence with what I have been accused of --- fat!), I clicked on one of the sites. The first article that popped out started with "Believe it or not, a comment such as “You’ve gained weight!” could be the best thing that ever happened to you".

What? Does that mean that Phillip and Choon's taunts and remarks since 1999 were THE quintessential pat on the back for me?

Apparently so. Remember in my previous entry, I talked about how our negative mind is the our only enemy? Apparently you can export that theory into weight-loss too. Accordingly, we are ALL capable of looking like stick-thin anorexic twiggy models if we put our minds to it. What we need is to jumpstart our weight loss plan is to first experience a "trigger event or critical incident"

Whatever its origin, a trigger event is invariably an “aha” moment that causes you to examine your life from a new perspective so that you gain new insight and see yourself as you really are. It's arriving at a higher level of perception. You know that the course your life has been taking is no longer acceptable and that you need to change

So their point is, to begin and maintain a steady weight loss program, you must first develop a sudden realisation that you are fat and need to lose weight. This realisation usually stem from some sort of traumatic and often emotional experiences. Here are some examples:

Medical Diagnosis Trigger
Let's say when your doctor pronounced that you have seriously high blood pressure and diabetic and you need to lose weight NOW or else you will DIE. This sort of trigger (a threat of imminent death) is one of the best as it shocks you into thinking about your mortality. Compared to being dead and fat, I'm sure losing some weight and keeping healthy is not such a bad alternative. As long as you are alive, you might as well live a good (and skinny) life right?

Special Event Trigger
These are often short term life-changing events which you often need you to look good at. Examples are losing weight to fit into your wedding dress, or that tiny string bikini for your trip to Barbados or to look absolutely gorgeous at your high school reunion dinner so that your Secondary 2 crush will die from mortification that he ignored you back then. Of course such triggers are often short-lived (depending on whether you actually got back together with your crush afterwards) but they are highly motivational triggers to jumpstart your diet.

If you hang your swimsuit
On the refrigerator door,
The goodies inside
Will be easier to ignore

Emotional Trigger
Imagine you plan to go on a holiday to a beautiful island in Thailand. You went up to the Air Asia counter and asked for a budget ticket. The counter girl shot a thoughtful look at you and began tapping furiously into her computer. Minutes later, she informs you that all the seats are taken. In disbelief, you stormed up behind her and checked the seating plan yourself. You saw that there is a single seat available at the back row. You asked, "Why you say no seat? That one not seat meh?". Apologetically, she replied, "Sorry miss, your backside cannot fit in one seat. Need two seats. No have two seats."

Embarrassment and revenge are usually very good motivational tools and such emotional triggers are usually the most enduring because "Humiliation is long-lasting, and if you channel your energies into eating healthier and increasing your physical activity, you will likely lose weight and keep it off". The downside: This trigger may work so well that you overhaul your entire lifestyle into losing weight in extremity. Use this strong inspiration wisely!

Vanity Trigger
Imagine you finally bagged a seat (or two) on the flight and you arrived at the beautiful island in Thailand. All day long you eat phat thai and tomyum kong while basking in the sun and guzzle Singha beer all night long. When you come back a week later and excitedly collect your holiday photos from the printers, horrors of horrors, you find yourself staring at a big tanned hippotamus in the photos.

According to experts, attractiveness is one of the top motivators for successful dieters. But for it to be successful in the long run, "the desire to be attractive must be more important than any distraction. It must be one of the more central themes in your life". In other words, to make this trigger work, you got to drop all modesty and seriously cultivate a keen sense of vanity.

Do remember, this is not about HOW to lose weight but rather how to BEGIN your weight-loss program. Once you are triggered off and have planted that insidious thought in your head, my best advice on HOW to lose weight would be by the proper (and only) way - a healthy diet and making exercise a part of your life. Remember, moderation is key.

Inside some of us is a thin person struggling to get out, but they can usually be sedated with a few pieces of chocolate cake