Are you one of the many Americans who’ve tried diet after diet, just to end up putting the weight you’ve lost back on? Dr. Ian K. Smith, known for “The Fat Smash Diet” book and for being the diet expert on VH1’s “Celebrity Fit Club,” has designed the “Four Day Diet,” a new weight-loss plan that he says helps you overcome the mental obstacles to weight loss by switching the foods you eat every four days.
Is it easy resisting temptation? Absolutely not, but this chapter will help you stay
resolved in the face of it. Let’s establish context first. Temptations are abundantly
and conveniently located throughout our environment. Whether it’s that expensive
designer scarf that you want so badly but know it’s beyond your budget,
eavesdropping on a conversation between an arguing couple at the table next to
yours, or a piece of double fudge chocolate cake—the temptations are endless.
The good news is that we are successful more times than not at resisting the
urges to indulge in these forbidden callings. So why do we lose on occasion and
give in to temptation? What happens late at night when you can’t stop yourself
from downing a handful of chocolate chip cookies or plucking off the lid to that
pint of butter pecan ice cream? It’s about the mind losing its competitive edge.
One way of thinking about temptation is as a fierce conflict, one that you
can win if you focus mentally and train properly. When it comes to resisting
temptation, your mind is locked in an epic battle with your anticipated sense
of physical satisfaction. Your body knows that buying that scarf, eavesdropping
on the juicy details of that argument, or biting into that double fudge
cake will produce a physical response of pleasure. Your challenge is to convince
yourself that the brief reward you get from the indulgence will be less
pleasurable than the reward you get from abstaining. In other words, you have to train your mind, strengthen it, and prepare it to recognize and seek the more
enduring pleasure—a pleasure that does not provide immediate gratification
but can be extremely satisfying over the long term.