Prayer for Weight Loss

When the Body Feels Like It Is Fighting You

You know that. It is about the quiet struggle to take care of a body that feels like it is working against you. The frustration when you try and fail. The setbacks that make you question yourself. The feeling that willpower alone is not enough. If you have searched for a prayer for weight loss, it is because you sense that this struggle has a dimension that no diet plan can touch.

Reb Noson of Breslov, the closest talmid of Rebbe Nachman, composed a tefillah for exactly this. It is found in Likutey Tefillos (I:151) and it asks Hashem to help a person eat only what the body truly needs, in the right measure, with kedushah. This is not a tefillah about punishment or shame. It is a tefillah about healing the relationship between the neshamah and the body, between a person and the food Hashem created to sustain them.

The Rambam (Hilchos De’os, Chapter 4) writes that maintaining the body’s health is among the “ways of Hashem,” because a weakened body cannot serve its Creator properly. He calls physical discipline an avodah, not a punishment. When you say this prayer, you are not asking Hashem to make you thinner.

Before You Say This Tefillah

Before you begin, let go of the shame. Hashem did not give you this struggle as a punishment. He gave you a body and He gave you food, and sometimes the connection between them becomes tangled. This tefillah is about asking Him to untangle it. Breathe. Set down the guilt. Then speak to Him as you are.

If you wish, say this short personal prayer first:

Master of the Universe, You gave me a body and gave me food — but the connection between them is broken. The eating that was meant to sustain me has become a source of suffering. Heal my relationship with my body and with food — that I may eat in holiness and joy. God of Meir, answer me.

If giving tzedakah, add:

In the merit of the tzedakah I give in the merit of Rabbi Meir, may You purify my intention in eating. Ribbono Shel Olam, I care for Your children — please care for me.

Reb Noson’s Tefillah for Holy Eating: The Full Prayer

This tefillah is from Likutey Tefillos (I:151), composed by Reb Noson of Breslov based on the teachings of Rebbe Nachman. Reb Noson understood that the struggle with eating is not merely physical. It is a spiritual battle between the animalistic and the human, between mindless consumption and mindful sustenance. The tefillah asks Hashem to help a person eat only what is necessary, in proper measure, so that the body becomes a vessel for Torah and avodah rather than an obstacle. A related tefillah that speaks to this same yearning is the prayer in hospital.

What These Words Mean for You

Sheloi noichal yoiseir meihahech’reiach k’lal “That we not eat more than is absolutely necessary”

This is the heart of the prayer for weight loss. Reb Noson does not ask Hashem to remove the desire for food.

He asks for something more precise: that we eat only what is truly needed. The word hech’reiach means necessity, the bare minimum. Kapitel 131 in Tehillim says: “I have calmed and quieted my soul, like a weaned child.” The meforshim explain that a weaned child has learned to stop craving what it no longer needs. That is what this tefillah asks for: not the elimination of hunger, but the wisdom to know when enough is enough.

Shetih’yeh achiloseinu ush’siyoseinu bamidoh uvamishkol uvam’suroh “That our eating and drinking be in proper measure and proportion”

Three words for measurement: midoh (measure), mishkol (weight), m’suroh (proportion). Reb Noson is not talking about a diet plan.

He is asking Hashem for a spiritual recalibration, that the body should find its natural balance. The Rambam (Hilchos De’os 4:2) writes that a person should eat only until their stomach is three-quarters full. This is halachah, not a suggestion. When you say this prayer, you are asking Hashem to help you internalize what the Rambam taught: that measured eating is a form of avodas Hashem. Sheloi noichal shum achiloh y’seiroh shehu b’chinas ma’achal b’heimoh “That we not eat any excess food, which is animalistic”

Reb Noson draws a line between ma’achal odom (human food) and ma’achal b’heimoh (animal food). He is not talking about the type of food.

He is talking about the way it is eaten. When a person eats with awareness, with bracha, with intention, that eating is human. When eating becomes mindless, compulsive, driven by craving rather than need, it descends to the level of animal eating. This tefillah asks Hashem to elevate your eating back to the level it was always meant to be. A closely related tefillah is the prayer for recovery after medical fear.

Bikdushoh uv’tohorah mei’ato v’ad oilom “In holiness and purity, from now and forever”

The tefillah does not end with food. It ends with kedushah.

Reb Noson understood that when a person heals their relationship with eating, everything else follows: clearer thinking, stronger avodah, a calmer mind. It is about living in a body that serves your neshamah rather than fighting it. The prayer asks that this transformation be permanent, from now and forever, not a temporary fix but a deep and lasting change.

How to Say This Prayer

This tefillah can be said at any time, but two moments are particularly fitting. The first is before eating, especially before a meal where you know the temptation will be strong. The second is during hisbodedus, private conversation with Hashem, when you pour out your heart in your own words and then let this tefillah carry the rest.

There is no required posture. What matters is kavanah. Before you begin, think about what you are really asking for. Not just weight loss. Not just self-control. You are asking Hashem to heal a broken connection. Hashem, I feel so disconnected from the body You gave me. What was meant to sustain me has become a source of struggle. Please guide me to eat with mindfulness and kedushah, so that I can serve You with a healthy body and a whole heart.

When tefillah and tzedakah come together, they carry a special koi’ach. The Gemara in Bava Basra (10a) teaches that tzedakah can change a decree. When you give in the zechus of Rabbi Meir Baal Haness, you are asking Hashem to hear your prayer in the merit of a tzaddik who taught that everything follows intention. Elokah d’Meir aneni!.

Give Tzedakah in the Zechus of Rabbi Meir Baal Haness

The Gemara in Avodah Zarah (18a-18b) tells how Bruria, the wife of Rabbi Meir, asked him to rescue her sister who had been condemned by the Romans to a house of shame. Rabbi Meir took a purse of money and went to the guard. He approached the guard with a bribe, teaching him to say “Eloka d’Meir aneni!” — “God of Meir, answer me!” — if he was ever in danger. The guard asked for proof that the words would protect him. Rabbi Meir threw a clod of earth at nearby man-eating dogs — they lunged to devour him — and when he called out the phrase, the dogs turned away. Convinced, the guard released Bruria’s sister. Later, when the Romans discovered what happened, the guard was sentenced to hang — but he said “Eloka d’Meir aneni!” and was saved.

For over two centuries, Jewish families have given tzedakah through Rabbi Meir Baal Haness Charities, founded in 1799. The charity supports talmidei chachamim and families in need in Eretz Yisrael. When you pair your tefillah with tzedakah, you connect your personal struggle to something bigger than yourself, and that connection has real power. The talmidei chachamim at the kever of Rabbi Meir in Tiberias daven for those who give, by name, with kavanah.

Give Tzedakah in the Zechus of Rabbi Meir Baal Haness

A Blessing for Your Healing

May Hashem heal the connection between your neshamah and your body. May the food He created to sustain you become a source of bracha again, eaten in measure, with kavanah, with simchah. May you find the koi’ach to make the small changes that lead to lasting ones. And may the struggle that brought you here become, b’ezras Hashem, the beginning of a new relationship with yourself and with the gift of a body that serves its Creator.

You can submit a prayer request to the scholars at the kever of Rabbi Meir in Tiberias at no cost — they will daven for your healing by name through Rabbi Meir Baal Haness Charities. And if you would like to give tzedakah in Rabbi Meir’s zechus as well, your kindness will rise together with your prayer.