Take a guilt trip to weight loss

Throughout high school, I was two parts nerdy smart-ass, one part chubster. I wasn't at risk for a pre-20s heart attack, but I felt uncomfortable. Junior year I was hanging out in the better (or worse) half of 180 lbs., but I was nearly five inches shorter. Shortly after graduation, I decided to shed my lazy ways and told myself to you-know-what or get off the pot. And I did (the former).

All I had to do was take a page from my mother and grandmother's book of nag, and I gently coerced myself into a much healthier lifestyle.

A recent study from a Japanese university says I'm not the only one who drops poundage after feeling a little down about myself. Apparently, negative emotions toward a tubby self can cause an impetus for reformation (in their words, patients "care more" about their state).

For whatever reason, it seems to work. Since then (about six years), I've consistently weighed about 20 pounds less and felt much healthier.

I haven't found a study to boast the benefits of emotional self-flagellation, and I doubt I ever will, but I don't see the harm in relying on a sub-par self-perception to peel a lazy, sweatpanted ass off a couch.