Visualization for Weight Loss -The Gabriel Method

Part I: The Principles

adulthood, Jessie was what you could describe as pleasantly plump. He didn’t work all that hard and spent most of his spare time loafing around the house, just like other cats. Buddy, our next-door neighbors’ 120-pound mastiff, hated cats. Every afternoon, Jessie took a pleasant stroll over to our neighbors’ yard and would lay on the grass to tease poor Buddy, who was locked indoors. Jessie would mosey on over, lie down on the grass, yawn, and stretch, and Buddy would go crazy, barking and screaming from inside the house. One day, the neighbors got sick of it and let Buddy out. Buddy shot out of his yard like a freight train firing on all pistons. I never saw anything so big move so fast. He and Jessie ran off into the woods, and I didn’t see Jessie for the rest of the day. The next day, Jessie came back limping. Buddy had gotten a hold of Jessie’s leg and bit it. I nursed Jessie back to health and he was fine, but then something amazing happened. Over the next few weeks, he got very thin and wiry. People started commenting on his weight drop, and they suggested that a vet check him for worms. But I knew exactly why Jessie had become so thin. Jessie’s body wanted to be thinner to keep him alive. A new stress had come into his life, and Jessie was adapt- ing to the stress. Let’s look at it from Jessie’s perspective: Stress —Big Mean Dog Interpretation —If Big Mean Dog gets me, I will die. Reaction —Run for my life. Adaptation —Get thinner and faster so next time this literal son-of-a-bitch tries to catch me, I’ll outrun him and I’LL BE SAFE. The important part of this equation is the adaptation strategy, and it was the adaptation that made Jessie’s body want to be thinner. That’s a question you may want to ask yourself right now: “How is my body adapting to the stresses in my life?” But there’s more to this story.

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