2011 Paul McKenna P3 - the march towards skinny jeans continues

[whomovedmychocolate]

Well the old thread was getting mordibly obese wasn't it?

Welcome new people and people who've been here for a while, this is the definitive Paul McKenna support thread.

Whether you are dribbling over his Paulness or wibbling over pudding, we're here to listen, slightly mock you and tell you to step away from the scales.

The Paul Mckenna plan is not a diet but a way of teaching yourself to eat slowly and consciously and achieve the body you've always dreamed of.

There will be no diet foods on this thread, no starvation and no beating ourselves up because ^lifes' too bloody short to weigh a carrot and we'd far rather be doing something incredible instead!

Positiveattitude - it took me a while to reverse my eating order. I used to leave my favourite bit for last but I realise now that it meant I was only truly savouring the last mouthful of my meal. Which is very silly! This is the perfect excuse to leave all your crusts

I haven't done great today. I seem to be identifying the moment when I am full and then quite deliberately eating past it at the moment. I know I am comfort eating. I know I know I know I know but I can't seem to stop. I am fairly sure that I feel I don't deserve to be thin. And I know that I am sabotaging how I will look at my brother's wedding. Silly bint.

I am back to work tomorrow so having more routine should help. I won't be able to eat all day as I work in a school and the kids get a bit funny if you nosh chocolate while helping with their maths.....

Well, I know I shouldn't be weighing myself, bu I have just 1/2lb to lose until I'm at the better side of 14st...that hump is sooooo important to me.

PositiveAttitude, I eat like you too...least favourite first, most favourite last so that I can savour the final flavour...I'm finding it hard to reverse the order too as I've done the same since childhood.
I'm eating loads less now :) the good weather helps too I find.

Good morning everyone

Please don't apologise for your "tedious waffle " Dandy, I am finding other people's musings very helpful in making me not feel crazy alone.

One small thing that I have noticed is that when I am hungry I am wanting to eat "healthy" food. How on earth did that happen??? I would never have done that a few weeks ago. I have even enjoyed the odd "diet" product, not because its a "good" food, but because I have wanted it and enjoyed eating it. I am wanting to eat fruit, too, which was unheard of a while back.

Back to work today for me. Not sure how I am going to do with that and eating when I need to, when I am hungry. I just hope I don't fall back into my bad habits.

Good morning!

We all waffle on here, its whatthis thread is all about! A lot of what we go through totally resonates with others, and I think it makes us realise we are all similar, not alone and that this method actually makes us think about food in a positive and reasonable way. Prepare to have a lot of epiphanies!

Hope everypne has a great day, all back to our usual routines x

I started yesterday after trying to do IDP last week and really struggling with the restrictiveness of it. I did do it a few years ago and lost a good amount of weight but couldn't hack it this time. I have had the PM book for a few weeks and decided to give it a go.

I was pretty good yesterday. I did eat some chocolate. Remembering to eat slowly is pretty hard and it really is amazing how often I went to eat something but I wasn't hungry. Fortunately I managed to stop myself on most occasions! I also tried to drink more water to stop myself feeling hungry.

This morning I have had porridge. I tried to make a slightly smaller portion than usual, ate slowly and stopped before I finished. Before I would have kept eating just to finish it all. I probably ate about two thirds of it.

I listened to the CD last night for the first time. I found it very relaxing but am not sure I listened properly to it all. Does that matter? Does your brain take it in anyway?

The other thing that I really struggle with is not weighing myself at least twice a day! Has anyone else got any tips on how to stop this?

I am also hoping that the PM approach is going to stop me obsessing about food all the time. Has this happened for those of you who have been using the approach longer than me?

I am sorry if I am asking lots of questions as a newbie! I have read some of the messages but this is a really long thread to read everything!

Welcome :) never be worried about asking questions! I doubt anyone here minds at all.

Firstly, well done on a great start!

Hide the scales! Put them somewhere difficult to get them - mine or on a shelf in my airing cupboard that I cant reach. They come out once a month only!

It's ok to drift off/fall asleep when listening to the CD, it all works on yoru subconcious.

I have found my food obsession has reduced enormously! I wouldnt say i dont still think about food, but its all in a positive way. Now I enjoy food shopping, I dont check labels and I love reading cookbooks for new recipes. All my negative obsessions are gone though!

Thanks HowTo. That all sounds very reassuring and positive.

I am hoping to lose about a stone and a half. Is it resaonable to think that I could lose a stone by June using the PM approach or am I being too ambitious?

Welcome way2serious. Do you have a DP who can hide the scales for you and only let you have them if/when you weigh in eg every two weeks? I've never bothered weighing myself (which is perhaps why the weight has crept up, in my case) but now I am weighing every 2 weeks I "hide" the scales beneath my DD's changing unit in her room. As she sleeps there all night I'm never able to sneak in and weigh myself at night. And during the day I'm working.

I'm a real foodie and both DH and I peruse cookbooks for pleasure. But this PMK way of eating has renewed my passion for eating really well so I take a lot of pleasure from planning delicious meals but because I am no longer obsessed with eating all the time I find that I am now able to look forward to meal times and actually wait until meal times to eat. In short, PMK has enabled me to stop snacking all the time and really appreciate a meal when I am hungry enough to eat it (usually breakfast, lunch and dinner). So in between meals I don't think about food (too much) and busy myself with other activities (work, knitting, writing, DD, DH, gardening, films, going out, friends etc).

Regarding losing 1.5 stones by June - well, I guess it depends on how much you have to lose. If you are not much overweight then weight will come off more slowly and if you have alot to lose then the weight will come off quickly. I have alot of weight to lose so have lost 22lbs in 8 weeks. This will definitely start slowing down as I get closer to normal weight.

Thanks BB. I will look for somewhere to hide the scales - I may well ask DH or DS for some help to do so! I started yesterday but am not sure that Monday is a good day for weighing in (particularly as I find it harder to be good over the weekend!)

Am back at work tomorrow and so am hoping to keep up the momentum!

I try and weigh in on Saturday morning (before the weekend begins) .

Hello everyone, I'm back. And step-mother didn't say anything annoying, for a change. Good job too, as it was the first anniversary of my father's death, so probably not the best time to have a go. Although, Nora, you will be v amused to hear that there really was a badger, but it was dark, so I couldn't tell if he had a gun or not.

And thank you everyone for the support, it does make a difference being on here. I do kind of know why I got fat - messed up family, me as the scapegoat, food as an escape. I won't write it all out because it would take forever. But it's so hard to escape the habits - and the sense that I don't want people to see the real me in case they don't like it. But I shall persevere. I think I need to spend some quality time with the mirror exercise in the next few weeks.

And you have been chatty over the last few days, blimey. So just a few comments, and I will come back again tomorrow too and say some more. Hello to the new people too.

Positive - I think he actually says something in the book about eating your favourite things first - otherwise you're assuming that you will eat everything on your plate.

BsshBossh - another foodie meal planner here too! But my big weakness - which I still haven't quite got over - is that I snack while I'm cooking (like I don't believe I'm going to be given enough at the table and so have to steal it). I'd really like to stop that, so that I can enjoy the meal more and keep my hunger for then.

I love nothing more than pouring over teh good food website or my cookbooks, planning what delicious meals I am going to make this week, instead of flipping through cookbooks looking for the lowest fat recipes or recipes that I could take all the fat/calories (and yumminess usually!) from!

what do you think?!

Hi everyone and hello to all the new people. I hope you all had a lovely non guilty choco fest over easter

Sorry for being Awol. I haven't caught up with the thread yet (just a quick skim) so I will need to go back and have a good read through later on this evening. I haven't managed to listen to the CD's this weekend although I've still adhered to the main principles (except for today when I stuffed my face whilst eating very unconciously ). However this morning I tried on a pair of trousers that were way too tight and they fit me. Yaay! So something is working...at last! Go me Although they might just have stretched because I've tried them on so much which is probably more likely

BsshBossh Well done on your weight loss. You are an inspiration . Last week you asked me if I'm still struggling with the chocolate. I am a little yes. But my food intake on the whole is way down now and i'm eating much more sensibly so I decided that I'm not going to beat myself up about it any more like I had been doing thanks to Paul and the support from here

Ok, so this was just a wee flying visit to say hi. Sorry that I haven't done any personals so "yaaay" to the losers and "don't sweat it" to the strugglers and big [smiles] for everyone. Pheww that should cover it for now I hope

Yay solo

Dandy I have been debating over wether to buy some Hotel Chocolat stuff in the easter sale, but I still have the two boxes I bought half price after Mothers day was over sitting unopened in the cupboard which is completely alien to me, so maybe I shouldn't bother. I do need to feel that chocolate is available to me should I wish to eat it, and then I tend to find that I don't want it if that makes sense.

After my little rant yesterday, i weighed myself this morning although I shouldn't really. Amazed to find that even after quite an indulgent week and an Indian last night which I certainly didn't eat mindfully in any way at all as was over hungry, I am still the same weight I was after my first weigh in which I am quite chuffed about, so fingers crossed that will put me back on track.

I listened to the CD when I was on the running machine at the gym, not exactly the way you are meant to but am going out tonight so didn't want to not do it - does it count to you think if you don't relax when you are listening to it?

I can't believe how little I have eaten today. My DS even wanted a Mcdonalds for tea tonight and I didn't get anything or want anything for myself - not even a cream egg mcflurry which I love!! Have also found myself wanting to drink water. I don't know if I would be doing as well if I was premenstrual!!

I will listen to the CD again tonight and am going to really try hard not to wiegh myself when I have my bath.

My next challenge is to try to build in some exercise / activity each day. I shouls be able to do some walking over the weekend but find it really hard during the week. I work long hours and DH works shifts. I am usually shattered and there isn't anyone to look after DS. Any suggestions as a way forward gratefully received. Sorry don't want to sound as though I am making excuses!

Onesandwich I chew gum when I'm cooking. Otherwise I "test" what I'm making too much! :)

Celestialstarlight, great news about the looser-fitting trousers and yay to rookiemater for staying the same weight despite the over-indulgences - you see, it is working, isn't it! And SoloIsApparentlyACougar, am loving the new name .

way2serious, re the exercise - could you go for a power walk during your lunch break (or any break in the working day)? Alternatively, do a exercise DVD at home after your DC is in bed - I've heard The Shred is very good and maximises a pretty intense workout in just 20 minutes. I'm power-walking before work three times a week but also I'm generally trying to be more active throughout my day eg running after my toddler DD as much as possible on the weekends or, during the week, taking the stairs rather than the lifts, getting up and moving all the time (as much as my computer-focussed job allows me!).

I have to be so careful now that I am losing weight not to get complacent. Over the weekend, I found it easy not to think about the four core eating principles and though I didn't stuff myself (as I used to) I certainly grazed alot when I didn't need to.

I've only been eating intuitively for 8 weeks so I need to remind myself of those four basic principles daily.

Mahoooosive step forward for me tonight. I decided to go swimming for the first time in years. I so nearly backed out once I got to the car park, but pulled myself together by thinking that the first time had to be the worst, so do it once and it would never be as bad again.
I got to the door of the changing room and noticed it was packed and nearly had another panic!! Once inside I was fine!!! The session before had been for the local blind society, so the changing room was packed with blind people. I could have done the Can-Can butt naked and they would not have batted an eyelid. Perfect timing!
I did 30 lengths and am knackered! Not hungry though, but I wouldn't be surprised if I needed a good breakfast tomorrow.
Feeling Goooood!

Good for you PA ! :o I haven't been to a pool in years!

Hello everyone :) Glad everyone has enjoyed their chocolatey (or not!) weekends!

I had a so-so weekend on the food front. We were away at my parents, and so food wasn't under my control which made it a bit difficult. I did turn down several things which I don't love though, which is probably a first. In the past I would just have eaten everything, and extras of the things I really love. I have eaten barely any easter egg, which is again very unusual, so perhaps things are beginning to change?
Today has been disastrous because DS2 has not stopped crying and wanting to feed, so I've felt exhausted and strung-out all day and have therefore wolfed cake in large amounts without even realising. But at least I recognise that I've over-eaten because of emotions rather than actual hunger.

It is really interesting to read everyone's 'history'. I'm only really beginning to process my own thoughts about my relationship with food.
I had some counselling for another issue about 18 months ago, and we did touch briefly on eating because I had had a bit of thunderbolt of realisation on the same day as one of my sessions.
I was at the house of a thin friend, and we were clearing up after a lovely lunch. I carefully put all the leftovers to one side and asked her what I should cover them with to go in the fridge. 'Oh just throw it out' she said 'it won't get eaten'. I was horrified, and actually found it a physical struggle to throw that food away. It made me think a lot about why I had such a problem with it, and I'm not sure I've really got to the bottom of it yet. Certainly there are things to do with being thrifty, clearing my plate, not wasting food etc etc that have been drummed in from early childhood. I also look back on a period of time when I was incredibly skint for about a year and couldn't afford to buy nice things to eat very often, and I wonder how much effect that has.
I have been overweight as a child, teen and adult though, so that time with limited money is certainly not the reason but did perhaps exacerbate the problem.

I can really relate to those of you who talk about being womanly rather than waif-like at school - I was exactly the same and I wish someone had told me that was ok. I look back on photos of my 16 year old self, and I had a lovely figure underneath the baggy clothes that made me look huge. I thought I was fat, and I wasn't, but I ate and behaved as if I was (ate huge portions, avoided exercise whenever possible).
I could let myself get really angry with my mother if I wanted to - why didn't she help me? But then she has always struggled with her weight and struggled with how to dress for her shape, so perhaps she didn't have the ability to help me.

Oh well done PA - that is a fantastic thing to have done.

I went for a lovely long walk yesterday in the sunshine with DH and the DSs. Not bad for 4 weeks post-section!

Not a good Paul day today. :(

I gave up cinema popcorn for Lent (I work there) and today was the first day back. I was actually hungry, so I decided to eat some and ate WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY too much. And then went home and finished the little portion of stir fry that was left. Why?! I don't know.