2011 Paul McKenna part two - our final diet

[whomovedmychocolate]

Welcome etc. blah blah. :)

Hi everyobe :)

Do you know what I like best about this way of eating? There is no dreded !Weigh in day" looming! If i had an off day while doing SW, or even 2 or 3 I would DREAD WI and would do everything I could think of to lose another 1/2 lb on the scale. How awful is that? Id count how many days I had left to "corredt" my bad eating and then not eat all day WI day :(. I am so happy to be free of that heavy feeling of dread once a week, the walk & weigh of shame!

OK, I'm doing my food order right now ......

Trying to think about filling my fridge and cupboards with delightful foods ......

Not sure how far I can take this. Do I allow myself to have crisps, chocolate, chips etc in the house and trust that the ability to eat a moderate amount of these will come? Or do I do the aversion thing on the foods that I normally binge on? (There are quite a lot of them!)

Very hard not to censor myself ........

Yes I think the aversion thing is for foods you feel 'out of control' with. I'd avoid buying too much of that stuff until you feel you have total choice about whether to have it or not.

Although a bit of it in the house will stop you feeling like it's forbidden.

Good advice blinder thanks

Came on here to ask a few quetions but see that franch has already asked them today .I'm loving the advice on here thanks

I'm finding I'm eating little and often rather than 3 meals, is this normal?

vjay - whatever works for you. The key bit is to really check whether you are hungry. I find myself going round actually thinking about the scale and rating my hunger on 1-10 and trying to keep it to within 3-7 all the time.

I'm also struggling with the eating breakfast so I won't feel hungry in the morning while working thing. Although this morning I accidentally made my porridge with gone off milk and started retching violently when I took a spoonful. So no breakfast for me! Or DS who was thoroughly disgusted by the whole spectacle.

Hello, can I join? I read solo's message on another thread, then read through the PMK threads and it totally convinced me on PMK. Those 4 principles make so much sense and remind me of basic portion control and intuitive eating (actually, reminds me of the natural way my toddler DD eats).

Have been doing it for 3 days now and I am amazed that I am already beginning to recognise what hunger and feeling full actually feel like. I've naturally eaten less over the past three days but have still had pizza, fillet and potato salad .

Biggest eye opener for me though is learning what portion sizes actually fill me up and how surprised I am that those sizes are much smaller than I'd thought!

I have a long way to go, weightwise, to lose (4 to 5 stones) but the PMK way seems so much like basic common sense. My book, CD and DVD will arrive end of this week!

By the way, this video by Diabetes Care, blows me away. Look at what a normal portion size should be:

If I really think about how much food I need to fill me up, my portions really do end up looking like those in this video.

PS, re the video: I know we don't concern ourselves with calories per se using the PMK method, but the portion sizes are instructive.

Welcome BsshBossh - Good to have you here :)

Franch - how about taking a fruit salad, some crackers or something like that that you know you will enjoy if you know you are going to be hungry. I'm not entirely bothered if I don't eat between 7am and 1:30 having had cereal at 6am. I guess I've just accepted that hunger won't kill me and actually it's fine to wait a bit?

Well I'm a lot thinner than I was a week ago. I can't quantify it because I don't have any scales but I look obviously thinner.
So that's good. :)

Hi everyone who's joined the thread recently :)

I feel awful, I have been out for lunch and did not follow the rules and now I just feel slightly nauseous BUT I do not feel down about it, it is teaching me that I do not enjoy overeating any more. I agree that I think naturally I eat little and often rather than meals, a portion size will look quite small and then actually still be too big.

Doubt I will need tea if I get hungry though I will eat some maple & pecan cereal that I really enjoy.

Oh - on the subject of times when we may not be able to access food but may get hungry, I have found that every day I have been at work & trying to do the PM rules I have not been hungry at lunch time, have bought something while the canteen has been open and have either eaten some anyway or had it sitting on my desk til it has gotten so sweaty looking that I have eaten it before it spoilt any more

My plan is to take a stock of nibbley bits that I like, but I need to do a good shop first. We are about to rip our kitchen out too so that is a worry.

Hooray, more converts! Welcome!

Franch - I posted a while back about having this problem at work - one 15 minute break between leaving the house at 7.45am and arriving home at 2.15pm (or if I'm busy, post school run at 3.30pm).

Things that I have found helpful -

1. Bottle of water with me at all times. Most workplaces find this acceptable now. I am often much less hungry than I think!

1. Prewrapped stuff like oatcakes in my locker. As much variety as possible so there should always be something there that I fancy. I also have some yummy hot chocolate sachets

1. Having faith that getting hungry will no longer automatically lead to a binge - still getting my head around this but essentially, the world won't end if I am hungry.

Re portion size - the video is really interesting. I have noticed that if I follow the golden rules, I eat slightly less than DS1. He is 4 I assume I need less because although I do exercise I do not spend ALL day hurling myself around making lightsabre noises and punching my sister.

I also love having no weigh in day. The number of people who used to stand in the queue for the scales at slimming world saying, "well, I got pissed and ate chips all weekend but I haven't even drunk any water today so it should be ok" was terrifying. This is a change for life, and a bloody healthy one at that.

I am totally sabotaging this at the moment by not going to bed until late. I KNOW this will make me tired and I KNOW that tiredness often makes me over eat. I am thinking of a no screen time after 8pm rule - bet I will go to bed then. Although will probably read until the wee small hours... Anyway, baby steps. I am changing my behaviours one day at a time. I went to a conference today and they were talking about changing children's behaviour and they used this wheel which I thought was rather applicable to this. Just remembering that if you relapse it does not put you back to the start (pre-contemplation) is very helpful.

Sorry, essay!

Me again - I used to think that I needed at least two if not three pieces of toast or a huge bowl of porridge or muesli for breakfast and then that I needed a snack a couple of hours later etc. It turns out, I need half a slice of granary toast and half an apple to be full for hours. Weird....

bloomingnora - I like that change cycle wheel - it was used in a 'change management for the curmudgeons' course I attended (not actual course title but accurate description of content)

Hello all the new thread frequenters

I'm just checking in, think i'm doing ok. Had a couple of wobbly moments over the weekend but overall good.

I got cocky last week, i went walking on monday night, running on wednesday night (couch to 5k podcast week 1) and thursday night went to zumba. As you can imagine friday morning i could hardly walk and have taken all weekend to recover.

Have just been for a run tonight and have started the podcast from the beginning. I know it must sound like i'm really active but normally i do no exercise at all.

I weighed myself today on a machine that works out your height, weight and BMI and i'm a stone heavier than i thought . Now have 6 stone instead of 5 to lose.

Like alot of you i'm also loving the lack of weigh in day. I think psychologically for me having no forbiden foods and no wagon to fall off is great. No excuse for me to say oh i've fucked it up now so i'll give up

I so hope this works, i am so over being fat!

Have read various books on the subject of overeating over the years but the one that seems most PM-like suggested ALWAYS carrying food with you (think emergency survival pack) and I have found that really helpful. I dont have only healthy stuff either think currently in my handbag is a couple of twix snack bars a cereal bar and if I'm going out for a longer time will usually take crisps. This book also is VERY keen that you eat what you really want i.e. chocolate,crisps etc rather than something you know is healthy as that way you will eventually tire of the crap and your body will begin to crave the healthy stuff. As I said very in-tune with PM. Also like others on here am really shocked at how little food it takes to fill me up! Today I had one biscuit been wanting to use that for ages! Some crisps (not a whole bag) and v small portion of stirfry (half of which I left) and small piece of banoffee pie Keep on trucking ladies (subliminal yorkie bar messages methinks)

Am thinking about asking MNHQ for a chocolate emoticon - but would it look like hairy prawns? Gah!

10 miles on the bike
and just ate 2 creme eggs.
i was hungry, and that is what i wanted.
today's tip in the diary is to enjoy.
but i still feel guilty.

God I hate cadburys cream eggs, they are just sugar and sugar in chocolate. Bleeeeeerggh. Sorry I digress.

I really ought to namechange you know. It's incongruous. If someone moved my chocolate I wouldn't even notice let alone mind.

I have not eaten enough today and I can't be arsed to eat anymore because I'm tired. I saw someone today who hadn't seen me for a month and apparently it's official I do look like I've been on a diet (I'm sure I didn't look depressed, disillusioned and quite cross ).

I am looking forward to my training on Wednesday though. Am going to get very fit and annoy the shit out of everyone by running past them at ninety miles an hour. I already annoyed the contents of my local Sainsburys today by running around the entire store doing the shopping pretending the trolley was a racing car. complete with the children holding paper plates as steering wheels . Have gone. Completely. Off. My. Rocker.

Which can only be a good thing methinks!

Toodle pip!

Hello all, I have just spent forever trying to catch up on this thread! Wow its long! So cool to hear everyone is doing well.

I really enjoyed the seminar, but on the following Monday we went away for a week to Rome - lots of food, mainly paninis and Pizza - I didn't take the CDs, and barely thought about the rules when eating, which was rubbish - when I weighed myself on sat I had put on 2lbs...so I'm just not going to weigh myself I don't think! Will have to try again listening to the CDs, last night the cat jumped onto the bed halfway through listening, which disturbed me, so I turned it off. I am struggling with all the different techniques, havering and tapping and whatnot, very confusing to have so many.

Do many of you do the tapping? I just can't get my head round it, I need to stop bingeing on bread though, and just going straight for the fridge when I get in and picking at whatever is there. Maybe it would help with that. I think is boredom, or comfort when getting home from work, so maybe the emotional eating cd would be good for that. Have transferred them all to my ipod now, so no excuse! Going to start the journal today too.

I think I saw howtolookgoodglaikit ask who was wearing a green floral coat....could have been me..its a mental green long coat with embroidery flowers, I have curly hair....was sat ath the left back for a while, then in the middle left, then the middle back...like to move around a bit...so might have been me - what of it, eh??

Did you savour the cream eggs? I imagine they are very hard to put down between mouthfuls!

I realised that I have not been eating exactly what I wanted. If I am in the mood for something sweet I am having whatever crap is in the cupboard or reverting to old habits. What I really want is something sweet and with long lasting energy - have just made flapjack and banana loaf is cooking as I type. Used wholemeal flour and added loads of sultanas. Smells exactly like something I will want to eat. That's today's little revelation

Have now totally gone off bread - seems the granary bread was last weeks desire and my body now wants something different. Not sure what though! Might try fruit salad for tomorrow's breakfast. Feel a bit lost as to what to eat at the moment. Maybe I just don't fancy anything?!

I don't do the tapping but think I should! that you've been to Rome.

It was amazing, so beautiful, and like, old stuff everywhere They really are a bit greedy, we should be allowed some! But oh my god expensive...should have just handed over a kidney at the airport.

Was expecting the food to be better though, it really was pretty bog standard, tourist crap mostly - and think because I wasn't very inspired by it I ended up just eating for fuel, and because we were trying to fit everything in to 4 days, I didn't take enough time over eating. Hey ho though, new start, going to write in my journal now, then early night, knackered after the first 6am start for over a week....