The Paul McKenna Thread Number 12. A Simple Title, for Simple Weight Loss and All amongst Friends!!

[Solo]

Welcome to thread 12 of the Paul McKenna's I Can Make You Thin weight loss system.

The Golden Rules that will aid you on your journey with our like minded support system are:

1. Eat what you WANT
2. Eat when you are HUNGRY
3. Eat CONSCIOUSLY
4. STOP eating when you are satisfied and full

This weight loss system is about re-educating your body; learning to listen to it and in doing so losing weight and inches. After all, eating a meal is not a competition, it's about enjoying what you are putting in your mouth, but not feeling bloated and uncomfortable (or guilty) afterwards!
Many people have issues around food. Many of us have been brought up by the 'clear your plate' parents of yesteryear which leave us feeling guilty if we leave even the smallest morsel of food, but we are working through this guilt or any other hang up we may have, and we are learning to leave a bit on the plate; return to it another time if we really want to or even feed it to the dog or the bin!
So!! forget diets; they may work for a while, but they aren't permanent solutions. This is a new way of living for your brand new life!! Let's get lighter for those summer clothes!

The Paul McKenna system really works and is easy to maintain.

I've C&P'd our previous threads links as they are helpful.

Here are the book choices on AMAZON which is all you need to get started! they aren't compulsory, but they do help! it's something to refer to and listening to the cd's can really focus you.

This is the tapping technique EXPLAINED - this can be useful to combat cravings.

You don't have to buy the book and CD, but we have found that they do help and somehow they keep you on track, so it would probably be a good investment and will cost you far less than a couple of trips to WW or SW meetings, so do consider having them in your life.

Please feel free to join us, whether it's 10lbs or 10 stones you want to lose.
We are friendly, supportive and successful, but we're not hungry ~ NO we're not!!! so come on in and start living your new life today and make 2013 your year to drop a dress size or several...if we can get into a smaller size for summer, just think how we could look for next Christmas!

Sorry, forgot to ask how everyone else is today? Hope you're feeling cheerier Makeand

Morning all The thing is Tinwe paul mckenna is fairly down on weighing too much. I go by my clothes and looking sideways in the mirror when i'm nakd in the morning (tmi sorry!!)
Also skipping a meal (if you don't feel hungry then eat when you're hungry again but be careful not to go too long) remember that the actual act of eating slowly and digesting uses up calories !).

Mornng!

Tinwe, forgive me from being nosey but why are the scales banned? I don't think we should be banning anything so long as we are not obsessive (more than once a day, fretting about not weighing and that sort of thing). I completely disagree that not weighing is a good thing for everybody. If you are like me, weighing is motivational and not weighing is a sign I am not happy and have completely fallen off the wagon. I stick my head in the sand and don't want to know. Far better to keep an eye on it than have to wait until my clothes are too tight which would be very depressing and would probably mean I have put on at least 1/2 a stone or more. That isn't a blip, that is a problem. Experts seem to disagree about how often to weigh so I do what works for me especially as the weighing advice isn't one of the rules. Don't be made to feel guilty about it if it helps.

Hi Ladies
Adding my bit here
Tinwe my interpretation of the rules is that they are not rules invented by pm, they are the normal way that people with no food issues eat. Eat when your truly hungry( why else would you put food in your body if your not truly hungry?).
Chew rather than just swallow
Eat in a manner of truly tasting and savoring .
Stop when you feel satisfied.
Portion sizes is still diet speak in that your allowing how much is on your plate to dictate how much you eat. As I was saying before, I accept that when I have not lost any weight or have gained that it's because I have eaten more than my body asked for. I think it takes practice to tune into your hunger.

I agree Rules

BBB I interpret Paul Mckenna's attitude towards obsessive weighing as being that some people allow the scales to dictate their feelings for the day (depression or elation IYSWIM) and he thinks that's not a cool way to look at it; being as weight can sometimes be time of the month or the scales are incorrect etc. Which isn't to say never weigh just maybe once or twice a month.

Well 1st week or so back on pm and it hasn't been an overwhelming success, started so well then pmt hormones kicked in culminating in a day of full on emotional eating yesterday. Woke up this morning feeling so angry with myself, but then came back on here (why didn't I do this sooner???) and given myself a shake. This isn't the end of the world and to be fair if I'd been on a diet this would still have happened, except now I'd be desperately trying to calculate how many syns/points/calories I'd be allowed for the rest of the week rather than thinking all i need to do is just let go and trust my body.
Tinwe I feel your pain, hope you have a better day, week etc. We can do this!

Morning ladies,

Notgood - I like your attitude.

You don't have to wait until tomorrow to start again with a fresh load of syns/points/calorie allowances. You can start from now, just don't eat again until you are hungry. It isn't even a wagon to fall off imo. It is more like a small pull along trailer - it is much easier to get back on than a wagon.

I agree with most of your sentiment ppeat I just don't think that weighing is such a bad thing. Twice a week is OK imo.

You probably don't remember but a while ago I linked to an article by a nutritionist who agree almost enitirely with the PMK approach but thought people should weigh daily so there were no big shocks and no fretting about whether weighing was 'allowed' - that in itself is unhealthy if you are wondering the whole time about whether or not you have lost, whether your clothes fit, how you look in the mirror (I don't bother for weeks at a time so I have no idea what a full view looks like) and you start planning when to weigh. I suspect that if you are allowed to weigh daily you simply don't bother - I don't. I agree it can be dangerous for a few but I don't think people should feel wrong for weighing nor should it be banned. Banning should be banned imo!

I suppose it all depends on one's outlook at the time of weighing BB I agree about banning being banned BTW (apart from the bomb of course!).

I like the idea of Pauling being a little pull along trailer maybe its less than that, just a sideways step to add to the normal forward facing ones (IFYSWIM).

Welcome NotGoodat but as Paul says we all should learn to be kind to ourselves its just a case of breaking unhelpful habits (though of course some habits are very difficult to break hence the hypnosis)!

Hello all. Thanks for your thoughts. Thanks for the commeraderie especially Nogoodat. Hope you are feeling better today. On reading your post my first thought was that you had done well to do a whole week with only one bad day! 6/7 of the time you had followed the rules and that's great going! Of course, weight loss will be quicker the more days we can stick to the rules so onwards and upwards!

Having read all the kind feedback people have given following my fed-up-weight-gain-post, here's a few answers:
I weigh myself every few days, a couple of times a week probably. I read some research that said that people that weigh themselves regularly are less likely to be very overweight. That is certainly true for me as the times when I have been most overweight are the times when I have ignored the scales (and tighter clothes etc) as I suspected I would get an answer I didn't like! When I keep a closer eye on my weight I tend to tackle things sooner, before they become such a big problem. Also, on the flip side, when dieting I don't build myself up for a huge weight loss only to be super gutted when I've not lost only a bit disappointed instead

Could be hormones as I'm sort of on/off TOTM at the mo (being on the coil has messed my normal cycle up a bit). Time will tell...

I had a bad week and definitely didn't follow all the rules but had hoped that overall I might have eaten a normalish diet (no splurges or emotional eating just no mindfulness either) which combined with carrying the extra weight and exercise might have made a small loss. I will try to listen to the cd more as it definitely helps.

When I mention portion control I mean that I give myself a smaller portion when I think I might not eat every mouthful mindfully so that it forces me to evaluate whether I really want/need more when it's gone. If I really am still hungry then I will eat more!

On a brighter note I'm on a site that prompts me to enter my weight every now and again and logs it on a graph towards my target weight. It got in touch and it seems I'm still 2lb lighter than last time I recorded (maybe a fortnight or a month, not sure). So the comment about slow loss adding up is making me feel better too.

Plus I'm on day 5 of Shred and sticking with it!

Just checked and its 2lb loss over 3 weeks

Yay! 2lbs in 3wks is great!!

"I read some research that said that people that weigh themselves regularly are less likely to be very overweight. That is certainly true for me as the times when I have been most overweight are the times when I have ignored the scales (and tighter clothes etc) as I suspected I would get an answer I didn't like! When I keep a closer eye on my weight I tend to tackle things sooner, before they become such a big problem."

That is exactly how I feel about it! Now you mention it, I think that research you talk was mentioned in the article where the nutritionist said weigh daily. That seems to much for me personally but others might feel differently.

I can't use clothes as a guide. I am pear shaped. My waist bands are always loose and hips are much bigger than waists anyway so a slight gain would barely register on the hips and have no impact at all on how tight a waistband might be because they are never tight.

Well done Tin and there was you saying you had gained 2lbs.
So glad your on the right track and you feel better about it all. The losses can be slow as it can take months to adjust to this woe and to really understand how simple it is once you let go of all other "diet" mentality.
With regards to regular weighing....Im not sure how I feel. On the one hand I think weighing is a negative thing because you are judging yourself each time you hope on the scales. If they are up you feel soooo defeated (as you did Tin and you were thinking of giving up) and you judge yourself all day, feel ugly and fat and it can even send you into an overeating cycle. Being free from the judgement of scales is a good thing and all the mindful overeating books etc tell you not to weigh yourself much at all and let clothes be your guide. That weigh (way)( see what I did there!!!!! ) you don't judge yourself on your weight and self sabotage every day. You don't feel bad and insecure and your self esteem doesn't suffer. BUT having said all that I have been a regular weigher and can really feel bad when I jump on to see an increase so havnt been doing it for the last couple of weeks. I go to the gym regularly and do weights and I know that as I tone muscle that my clothes fit better cause the muscle eats up the fat around it and therefore my body shrinks but this will not necessary show any change on the scale. In fact generally when doing weights you will actually gain weight but not fat IYSWIM.

I think the whole weighing thing depends on

1. the sort of person you are - do you find it motivational?
2. the shape you are (the clothes thing just won't work for me)

You could argue that Tinwe was motivated to ask for help after the scales appeared to go up. It was almost a whole week since the Hen do/foodie friend visit and it wasn't until she weighed that she took herself in hand and took stock. Weighing kept her on track, it didn't make her give up even though she thought about it.

I know when I have given up doing this for a while I just don't bother to weigh either

We can all agree to disagree on this one though. I don't think there is one right way for everybody.

On a personal note, I weighed this week but due to ToTM it is more or less the same as last week, maybe slightly up. I know the reason so I am fine with that and look forward to later in the week when it should have gone down again plus a little bit more I hope.

I suppose I'm lucky because i'm at a stage where if my belly looks bigger in the mirror and the waistband on my tracks is tighter (i'm a classic apple shape) i just concentrate harder on P.M. and lose it quickly without weighing! Oh i also do the muffin buster more often!

My stomach is the least of my worries ppeat.

It is always the first to reduce. My weight goes to my hips and stays there. I am lucky that I don't bloat up round the middle if I put on a few pounds and of course being pear shaped is generally healthier as you aren't carrying weight around your vital organs so much.

The downside is that as the population becomes more obese, it seems that clothes are made to suit the apple shaped more and more and not so much us pear/hour glassed shaped people. Can't have everything our way I suppose - we can't have fewer health worries and nice clothes although I wouldn't mind being able to buy something, just occasionally that actually fitted round the waist.

Thanks for the positive comments rey little loss. I still think I've put a couple of pounds on since last weigh so would have lost 4 IYSWIM. Still it's heading in the right direction. I've started with a cold though and it's my birthday tomorrow so will have to remember not to comfort eat!

Hour glass here. Measured myself recently in discussion with my sis and I am absolutely classic hour glass proportions. Find it very difficult to get clothes to fit nicely (for reasons previously described). I need lots of stretch so things don't hang like a tent off my big bossom and cover my narrower bits but with stretchy material everything clings too The mixed blessing is that I put weight on evenly all over so I keep my shape and the weight doesn't show so much but it's also v easy to put on a lot before I realise Hence the weighing...

I used to be an hour glass but 2 kids have wrecked my once tiny waist and flat stomach so now I have big boobs, big hips, chunky thighs AND a flabby stomach! Oh we'll just keep visualising....

Happy birthday Tinwe! Hope you have a lovely day and the cold doesn't derail you too much. At least you can be safe in the knowledge that with PM, cake for breakfast is perfectly acceptable!!!

Happy birthday Tinwe. Hope you have a good day. It's my Dad's birthday too! I shall have cake his cake this pm too and hopefully less dinner. .

Nogood. - I think putting on weight has changed me from a pear to a fat hour glass. I have a flabby tum but not as fat as my lower half but I now have bigger boobs and sadly bigger arms. The waist definition is still there, just expanded along with everything else.

.......Well, that thought was enough to make me think about my cake conversation today. .

Consumption not conversation.

How is it possible to be thinking of such a long word and type another very long word instead?

but i generally have conversations about cake BB !!! have a good day today tinwe you're allowed a looong conversation about cake !!!!

Cakes have conversations with me - "I'm so yummy eat me now"!

NoGood You should see the patisserie shops here OMG the cakes CALL to you they are so beautiful!!! There was one in Poitiers today; a dark chocolate inch thick sponge base then piped whipped cream studded with whole raspberries and a slice of white choc on top in a large triangle shape!!!

With grated choc. and rose petals on top !!!

[Drowning in own saliva over that cake description]

God bless PM and his rules that we can eat cake and still lose weight!

Off to convince DH we need to move to Poitiers now