I had my hypno gastric band 'fitted' by Paul McKenna last night...

[lynniep]

...so far so good! Admittedly its not even 11am yet, but I havent eaten my snacks which are sitting on my desk and not even tempting me! Normally I don't allow myself anything till 10am, then I pounce!

I am doing this in conjunction with weightwatchers, which Paul McKenna would not approve of, since he despises 'diet clubs' (boy does this come through loud and clear in his book).

However since I don't know the man personally, and I feel I need the WW sessions for support, I am carrying on with pro- pointing and hoping that my gastric band will provide the backup I need to not binge and eat more than my body needs.

I've been (back) on weightwatchers for several months now and failed miserably because I am both a compulsive eater and a (hopefully) reformed bulimic.

I'd like to think this will help me - and I'm willing to try it because I am now as heavy as I was just after I gave birth to DS2 3 years ago (my heaviest, unless you count when I was 40 weeks pg!)

If anyone is interested I will report back :)

I listened to the installation CD last night but fell asleep almost immediately so I'm not sure it has worked! Think I'll have to listen again tonight! I didn't want much breakfast but that's not unusual for me so we'll see how the day goes. I'm almost fighting it in my head though - don't really believe I can change my habits and have a strange dread of not being able to eat a big dinner. When I've read of peole getting real gastric bands I've always thought how awful it would be to only be able to eat tiny amounts forever. Obviously thats not what we're doing but I seem to be clinging to my foody comfort blanket. And I'm going on holiday in 5 weeks and I wanted to be about 2 stones lighter than I am now. Ah the mind is a peculiar thing! Can someone please talk some sense into me!!

stillstarving paul said so long as you wake up at the end where he says "wake up" & counts down, then it doesn't matter if you can't remember any of it, it will still have gone into your subconcious. if you don't wake up at the end, do it at a different time of day when you're not so zonked!

i know exactly what you mean about being worried about not eating so much anymore, & i think from what mameulah said upthread she felt the same too. it's like overeating is an old friend (albeit an unhelpful one) & you think you will miss it... as if you get a bit of happy from every mouthful & you fear not getting enough happy from not eating so much. but in fact eating less you will get more pleasure from every mouthful because you really taste it & you'll be losing weight so you will be overall happier than when you were overeating if that makes sense?! if you try it and don't like the small portions like fairy you can just do the four golden rules.

but 2 stone in 5 weeks?? eek that would be a bit much to hope for realisticly. i'm going on holiday to a beach in france in 6 weeks & i'd originally hoped to be thin by then (got 3 stone to lose) but have revised my expectations just to be thinner by then. lost some inches so far so good!

That's it exactly very! I'm afraid I'm going to be miserable without my old chum of food being there every time I have any kind of emotion - bored, happy, sad, anxious. And I like my food!
No I absolutely know I can't lose 2 stone in 5 weeks!! I'm cross though that I haven't managed so far to lose ANYTHING since Christmas so fighting the whole thinking its pointless, nothing makes any difference I'm so rubbish spiral of self-defeat. I'm a right cheerichops today aren't I!
This is the plan. I will put away the scales. My weight fluctuates enormously and really puts me off. I will do what that nice Mr McKenna says about the 4 rules. I will do some form of exercise daily - sometimes just a walk sometimes more strenuous. I will take measurements today. I will not have any wine until Friday. I will not weigh myself until end of May.

Just read back on the thread and saw the posts you were talking about very Yes mameulah and fairy I could have written either of those posts!

For me that's the good thing about Paul - nobody's telling me I can't eat the kind of food that I love (and I love eating).

The thing you are being told not to do, is to eat beyond your fill. To stuff yourself beyond being able to move. It's a nice feeling though! Every time I'm tempted to stuff myself I think what's nicer - feeling stuffed for the next hour or pulling on that pair of size 10 jeans? That's what keeps me motivated during Friday night take away.

stillstarving that's a great plan! i think i may have to join you banishing the scales, because like many i tend to hop on hoping for a sneak peek at a good result, but more often than not it derails me when i go on too often. when i was thin i only weighed out of curiosity every few months! measuring ourself seems like the best bet, after all it's my underwear i want to look good in, no-one will be under me noticing how much i weigh!
WRT foody friend, i've found the havening excellent, even got me out of a panic attack. & it's been nicer not dealing with emotions by food, because to be honest food never dealt with it satisfactorily anyhoo. but mostly i've been surprised to find i've hardly needed the havening, because every mealtime is joy & satisfaction instead of stress/guilt/longing, & thus it's like my happiness has been kept topped up by simple wee pleasures.

top marks vivacia i like your commentry & self-motivation there. i sometimes manage to say "& it will still taste nice later when i'm hungry again", but had a couple of unconscious blips recently. funnily enough, i found when i had accidentally overeaten (because i just wasny paying attention & eating too fast, tsh ) it was the overfull feeling which triggered the binge urge??! like really wanting chocolate on top of being fit to burst what's that about eh? maybe just an old mental connection from when i was binging before?

OMG i just read back & thought someone under me sounds decidedly dodgy HAHAHA well so long as it's DP & i'm not crushing him to death!!

Fitted the band again and fell asleep again - not so soundly this time though - and I kid you not there was a sudden tightening feeling just below my diaphragm!!! Don't know that it's made any dramatic difference to my eating today but I'm trying to follow the rules.
I hear what you're saying about havening very I need to get better acquainted with it

how's the motivation going stillstarving ? i hear what you said about being so fed up not losing anything since christmas, i got my new diary out in the new year & said "right! 28 weeks 'til beach holiday = 28 lbs to lose at 1lb per week" it all sounded so easy! then i put on more weight & ended up with more to lose in less time aaarrrgghh!! but in fact now i'm not setting myself a timescale it's easier, as an older & wiser lady friend from my curves gym said to me "the weight will come off when the time's right" but at the time i was all "bugger that! i want it off yesteray!!" & all stressed & it taking over my life etc sigh but now i see other things had to fall into place... like a Pauling mindset! Pauling isn't pointless & will make a difference!
to get the havening: after watching the DVD a couple of times, i did it about 5 times in a row every day for a few days, each time seeing how far i could get without having to look at the book. now i have a pattern to remember it by (3 things with eyes, 3 things beginning with "s", etc) it is very comforting

vivacia i remember that interview martin bashir did with princess diana, where they talked about her bulimia, & what particularly stayed with me was her saying "when you feel so full, it's like someone putting a pair of arms around you" sounds very comforting, is that how you find the full feeling?

mameulah are you back yet? how'd you get on? we're here for you to get pauling when you're ready

viv oops didny mean it to sound like i assumed you were bulimic/emotional eater or anything, just wondered what it was about the full feeling you liked?

My band loosened over the weekend when I forced it by eating & drinking socially. Listened to the cd again & felt a tightening again. Will get back into the 4 golden rules & havening. I think I'm one of those people who needs to listen to the cd most nights.

I think I need to listen to it most nights too! I'm finding myself much more aware of when I would automatically eat to avoid doing stuff I don't want to! I'm eating much more slowly too but eating without doing something else as well is quite challenging! I need the backup of the cd to keep me at it I think.

I'm loving being back to eating normal food! So far I have just been following the rules and haven't listened to the cd. Think I might give it a go at the weekend. I used to listen to the cd every other day, I'm wondering if this is the reason I had hardly any appetite.

Don't really care if I've lost any weight or not.I feel good, and atm that's the most important thing

hurrah i'm really happy for you all it sounds like it's all going swimmingly! good stuff girls, keep it up.

fairy if you're happy doing the four rules, why not stick with that for now? loads of people lose weight happily with that alone.

midwife & still you both sound like you're getting much more aware of what your body is telling you, which can only be good. on the path to enlightenment eh

I'm not sure that I'm going to lose weight! But this does feel like a healthier attitude. Just don't want it to wear off.

I am just marking my place as I've just ordered this book and cd. I am having a hysterectomy this year and will be starting surgical meno so want to shift some pounds and get in tip top shape before my op. I have about a stone to lose but I am a sugar junky sadly!

still i know what you mean, just having faith that it will work is hard before you see the results, especially if you've tried things that have failed in the past. i found that focussing on the healthy attitude & how much happier i was helped in the first instance, & i wrote a list of things which had changed for me so far, like not thinking about food all the time! if i felt my resolve wavering, i'd look at it & go "oh yeah, stuff is happening!"

clench welcome! (can i call you that!?!) is your sugar addiction the result of previous dieting or just a sweet tooth?

I too have had a huge sugar craving. Paul says to cut out sugary foods for 2 weeks before installing the band. If I could have done that, I would have been able to stick to one of the a million diets/ fads I've tried!!

I just installed the band straight away, and naturally didn't want it as much. I still have the odd biscuit, cake or choc but don't eat the whole packet in 2 seconds

I don't understand. Is it a kind of hypno tape that he calls a gastic band?

There's a book to read and then the cd 'hypnotises' you so your stomach thinks you've had a gastric band.

We know we haven't really got one, but the results are amazing.

Very yes you can call me Clench

I think I've always had a shockingly sweet tooth, if I eat something sweet I can't stop. I have found in the past that if I manage 3 days of no sweet stuff then I don't think about it really. But I have to do the 3 days and that in itself is hard (as most of us sadly know). It makes me feel horrible when I've had a sugar binge! Literally feel rough.
I can't wait for my book and CD to come.
I did do some PM stuff with the 4 rules a few years ago and it's a liberating process but hard to remember at times especially at meal times because as a family we all eat together so when we are chatting away it's not so easy to eat consciously.
I really need this to work because I need to shift this stone and be able to continue this after my op.

I should add I am a fully qualified Hypnotherapist so I know the Gastric Mind band does work. Its a bit like a busman's holiday really but I prefer to use other therapist's CDs etc for my own issues. I like PM although he uses a LOT of NLP and I love the Havening technique because it's essentially another form of Emotional Freedom Tech which I am also qualified in and is very powerful.
For those of you that find the book repetitive it is supposed to be, he is seeding your mind for success in this :)

Well changes afoot here. I had a really busy day at work yesterday and didn't get lunch until 4:30 I didn't finish it because I felt like I'd had enough - not that I was so full I couldn't eat any more but just I'd had enough. That was it then. I wasn't hungry again so I didn't eat. I did have Friday night wine - prob most of a bottle so too much - but I still didn't eat because I wasn't hungry. Usually I would be eating everything in sight and probably if there had been any crisps in the house I would have just gone for it but as it was it was easy. It's amazing how something that's been so hard and complicated for so long has become so easy! Yes I'd still like to be miraculously thin in 5 weeks for holidays but I'm beginning to care less. I'd rather have this easy relaxed approach than the stress of counting and weighing up everything I eat.
I'm sorry I don't have any advice for anyone else. I haven't got my head round this myself yet!

Do you not diet on it? Formally diet, I mean.

Nope no dieting on it. Just eat when you're hungry, eat consciously, eat what you want and stop when you're full. That's the much simplified version. All things that have eluded me in the past but this week have been doable.