Pleasure or pain?

Lawrence Toppman

As I was eating a piece of red velvet cake last night, I wondered whether positive reinforcement or negative reinforcement works better for dieters. Do we respond more to encouragement or to horrifying images of what we could become if we lost every iota of self-discipline?

I thought about that because a right-sized friend showed me "Muffin Top," a parody video to the tune of "Rocky Top" that he'd uploaded to YouTube. I asked where he'd found the bone-chilling material and was told I merely had to search online for "fat belly images," and I'd see a horror show of vast proportions. (Here's the link: www.youtube.com/watch?v=H2Pz9bjFlyY&feature=email.)

My guess is that positive reinforcement succeeds if we hear it constantly, but those of us with a lifetime of unhappy feelings about our bodies may not take compliments to heart. (I'm doing better now that I'm losing weight, but there's still a feeling of "Me? Really?") And negative reinforcement works only if we can identify with the guy in the picture; it's too easy to say, "Nah, that could never be me" while chugging a sack of M&Ms.

Most of us don't know how we come across physically, anyhow. The most insecure woman I've ever dated was a model in New Jersey who thought every tiny wrinkle was as wide as Bryce Canyon and every extra half-pound stuck out like the tail fins on a '57 Cadillac. No amount of positive reinforcement could make her think otherwise, once she set her mind to fretting.