Woman, 27, reveals how she ‘BRAINWASHED’ herself to get sober and lose 30LBS after years of feeling ‘insecure’ and ‘hopeless’

A woman told how she ‘brainwashed’ herself to lose 30 pounds and get sober after years of feeling ‘insecure’ and ‘hopeless’.

Heather Maldonado, 27, of Austin, Texas, went from 152 pounds to 122 pounds after overhauling her lifestyle. She explained how she rewired her brain to make these changes over three years video shared on her YouTube channel of the same name.

“When I say I brainwashed myself into losing weight, I don’t mean I tied myself to a chair and just drank water and watched America’s Next Top Model. What I did was take action to finally commit to my new self,” she explained.

Maldonado recalled hitting rock bottom during the pandemic in 2020, saying she drank excessively and spent 12 hours a day at her computer between work and gaming.

“I was overweight and thought so poorly of myself that I disrespected my body by eating (and drinking) too much,” she admitted.

Her growing hatred of herself also led her to push away those who cared for her.

She knew that if she continued on that path, she would end up alone with no one to blame but herself.

said Maldonado her problem wasn’t that she was overweight, it was her unhealthy lifestyle that led to excessive weight gain.

She sought short-term rewards and fulfillment to assuage her negative feelings, while shaming herself into thinking she couldn’t change.

“You can’t hate yourself in a body you love,” she said.

Maldonado explained that hitting bottom forced her to look inward and ask herself if this was who she wanted to be.

The first thing she did to transform her life was ask herself what wasn’t serving her body and mind.

After realizing she was using alcohol as a crutch, she gave up.

‘Mentally it fueled my insecurities. “It fed that little voice in my head, the belittling ideas I had about myself, my little self-worth, and it always made me feel like I was the victim in my life,” she said.

Alcohol also negatively affected her body, as she consumed hundreds of empty calories each weekend, in addition to the cheap, high-carb food she binged on while drinking.

‘Quitting alcohol was one of the best life decisions I’ve ever made. “It had a dramatic effect on my weight loss, even just cutting out those calories,” she said.

“It helped me reprogram my brain and improve my mental health in a healthy way because I was then forced to deal with my feelings.”

Maldonado said the next thing she did was take actionable steps to retrain her mind and body by undoing all the negative self-talk that was holding her back.

“It’s time to introduce new voices in your head that believe in you, that tell you that you can achieve and that change is possible,” she explained.

She started listening to powerful podcasts, reading self-help books, and subscribing to YouTube channels that promoted the lifestyle she wanted for herself.

Maldonado combined this with the physical action of training in the gym.

“As I took my steps on the treadmill, I read my Kindle. When I was lifting weights, I was listening to a self-help podcast. “When I was eating a healthy meal that I wasn’t too excited about, I put on a transformation YouTube video,” she said.

She added that she also had to stop focusing on the scale because she stayed the same weight for a long time.

Maldonado recalled stepping on the scale after a month and a half of training and changing her diet and seeing that she still weighed 152 pounds.

“If my goal was to lose weight, I would never have done it,” she said. “I had to focus on my mindset and change that and my lifestyle. Do you know what motivated me? I don’t look great in a bikini, but I’m terrified that if I continue on the same path of gaining weight, I might end up being so unrecognizable to myself.’

She noted that it took three years of dedicating herself to incorporating small tasks into her daily routine to become the person she dreamed of being.

Maldonado said the third thing she did was give up short-term rewards and trained herself to embrace discomfort while changing her life.

“Successful people who achieve goals have a higher frustration tolerance,” she explained. “This means they can tolerate greater amounts of unwanted thoughts and feelings to achieve their ultimate goals.”

She shared how she hid uncomfortable feelings by watching Netflix, ordering takeout and playing video games.

Maldonado admitted she felt lost when she stopped gaming and hanging out with her old friends, but she soon discovered new hobbies, including indoor rock climbing, reading and skating.

She also started journaling and thinking about the negative beliefs she had about herself to help rewire her brain.

“The interesting thing I learned is that it is never the situation that is the problem, but our thoughts about the problem that are the problem,” she said.

Maldonado gave the example of how she told herself she was fat and would never lose weight. She learned to take that negative thought and reframe it.

She now said to herself, ‘I’m not where I want to be yet, but I believe change is possible. I believe it can happen for me, and if I continue to make small changes, a healthy mind and body should emerge.”

Maldonado is sober and has lost a total of 30 pounds since she started these changes three years ago.

“You have to think long term,” she said. ‘You have to think about what is sustainable for you.’