The Weight Loss 4 Charity Plan:
The goal:
1) To eat half the amount of food you normally do and add up the amount of money saved from eating less.
2) You will donate the sum of 40 days of eating half the amount of food at the end. (at least $20 a week)
3) You will donate the sum of 3*the amount of weight lost in 40 days. (up to $60 if you lose 20lbs)
At the end of 40 days, you can donate up to $200 to your local soup kitchen, and be in better health.
This goes on from 1 March 2006 to 15 April 2006 (excluding Sundays where you can chose to eat your normal portions) Even if you start late, try it for a few weeks!
How to accomplish the goal:
*Pause for a moment and give thanks to your chosen deity for each and every meal.
*Cut your meal in half and set it aside for the next day, envisioning yourself giving that food to someone who needs it more than you.
*Eat your half and briefly give thanks again for the food and think about how you just helped someone hungry.
*Mark down roughly how much you have just "donated" to charity
Why this will work?
When you sit down at a meal do you stop to be grateful for it, or just gobble it down? The ideal is not to feel guilty about the fact that you have food and others don't, but to take a moment and just be grateful that you have it.
When you try to lose weight, it is hard to find motivation. By setting a goal to help people truly in need, it will be easier to say "I am full," because you are, in a sense, full of love and charity, elements that are much more fulfilling than over-eating. The idea is to stop and reflect before each meal about how you are just about to help others in need by your sacrifice. If you break your promise, no big deal, just try again at your next meal. When the going get's tough, remember Sundays are excluded from this plan.
Envisioning yourself giving the extra to charity will make you less likely to want to go for seconds, or "take someone else's food."
(Consult your physician before any major plans to your diet.)
The idea here is dually self-serving and sacrificial. Many of us can afford surplus food, and have surplus pounds packed on in return.
This is a chance for successful weight loss that is motivated by selflessness and giving. Please forward this along if you think this is a good idea.
Here is one soup kitchen in Detroit where you can donate online:
The Capuchin Soup Kitchen: http://www.cskdetroit.org/
