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!

Hi Dear falling asleep in common but if you wake up at the end when he starts telling you to wake up then you have usually listened. I find that you need to listen to the cd ( whichever one you use) for at least 7 days to ground it into your subconscious. I didn't really feel anything after listening to it but did find myself questioning my choices and if I was actually hungry. You can override it of course but that's where the rules come in and the rules are really the best tool for eating this way for life. As you know, its eating like a slim person does who has no food issues at all. It takes time to embed and I think most of us would agree that its an ongoing process but takes about 6 months to really get to grips with. Its about not having to ever diet again because diets might work temporarily but you usually end up bingeing and gaining weight and then some and then back to square one again. This woe might not necessarily be quick but if you really really eat mindfully you will find your losing weight. We all have loads of advice for you so keep coming back and the others will be along soon to add their brilliant knowledge.

Thank you Rulesgirl. I was just concerned because there seems to be a lot of talk about only being able to eat a few mouthfuls.

I really want to change my WOE for several reasons, so I'm prepared to stick with it - will keep listening.

Prudence (can I call you that) . With regard to eating only a few mouthfuls what I do is notice the first mouthful, if your genuinely really really hungry as in stomach hunger not mouth hunger, then the first mouthful will be amazing, by mouthful 4 I check in, does it still taste as good and amazing or has the taste slightly.....gone off the boil....if you still are really hungry then eat a another mouthful and do the same. pp always says its important to chew as much as you can and put your cutlery down in between mouthfuls so you really concentrate on each ones flavour. Stop when your satisfied......not full. To me satisfied is the point at which im no longer really hungry. Cover up your food and put it away.....you can always go back to it.....if you have any left that is.

Thanks again. Good advice

Morning all !! a big welcome to DearPrudence (i like that name it's one of my fave Beatles' songs).

Ref. 'few mouthfuls' If as rules says it only takes a few mouthfuls to fill me up then I know I wasn't eating when I was really hungry. It's not the norm IME of course we're all different. If you're breaking some long held unhelpful habits then it will take longer to change your mindset (we all get stuck into believing certain ways are correct that's why i like Paul Mckenna saying some habits are like steel).

Anyway congratulations for deciding to change (that's half of the battle won ) it now just takes time and chewing each mouthful 15 to 25 times depending on the food!

Hi Ladies,

Welcome Prudence. Yes, I agree with ppeat on this one - I think at the beginning the most important thing is to eat slowly so you have the chance to listen to your body's signals. If you find that after a while you know how many mouthfuls are going to make you full then you can use that but you don't have to start off with. It might over complicate things at this stage and if you do it ppeats way which is the way in the book, you are counting chews too - that would be an awful lot of counting. I would be forgetting to pay attention to what the food tasted like!! For me, eating slowly means slowing my chewing rate right down. If you remember, pause between one mouthful and the next. It is as simple as that. People tend to eat too fast and miss signals and that is what we are trying to avoid.

WRT to the hypnosis working and still having to use willpower, I think you always will but hopefully that will lessen with time. We are supposed to mindful of what we eat and we can't do that if we don't pay attention to the signals our body is sending and then making a conscious decision to stop - you could call that will power. In beginning, you are breaking old habits so it might be harder to listen to your signals and it requires effort but I don't think that is a bad thing. Just remember that even if you stop eating too soon, there is nothing to say you can't carry on eating if after a 10 or more minutes you decide actually you haven't had enough and once you get used to that, the willpower required will reduce because you don't have to force yourself to do anything.

It does take time - Rules says 6mths and I think that is right, it might even be the minimum. You will make mistakes along the way but ultimately, you are undoing the habit so years!! Some of us have more years to undo than others.

Can I just say,at the risk of rambling on, that the role of the CD, for me, is to booster self esteem and to work on your subconscious so you don't self-sabotage by thinking that you can't do this. There is a lot of positive reinforcement and visualisation on it, getting you to think about how you would look thin and how great you would feel and how good it is to be in control and not have to worry about food - if you can visualise how you feel, and if you feel good about yourself you are less likely to throw the towel in.

It isn't about taking away your conscious ability to listen to your body because that would make it like a diet imo. In a diet and if you let your sub conscious mind rule everything, you would lose control about what goes in your body because your conscious, mindful self isn't saying what goes into your body and when to stop. That isn't what we want, I don't think. Let the subconscious mind take over and you run the risk of being ruled by your emotions and past experiences which is what most of us are trying to get away from. Similarly if you are led by a diet, the diet dictates how, when and what you eat and you aren't breaking any habits, you are doing what you are told by something outside your control (unless you just give up!) That won't keep you thin.

That is how I see it. I don't see that the CD is at odds with being mindful and exerting some willpower. Actually, if you don't want to think of it as will power and would rather think of it as having control, it might not feel like such a negative thing.

That is my take on it. Maybe others see the CD differently. I'm off to work now so I will stop rambling.

ha ha ....BB you don't ramble......just really make sure people understand the point your making, I do that to, its important.
With regards to the "few mouthfuls" thing I think Prudence was talking about what Paul says on the HGB cd. He says after a few mouthfuls check in to gauge your hunger and then continue if you are not "satisfied". Satisfied is different to me than full. Full to me is uncomfortable but satisfied is when I am no longer really really hungry so that is when I check in with myself.

Also when you do this woe and drop the diet mentality you allow yourself to eat whatever you want. Some people get scared at first because they think that you cant really eat whatever surely! But that is the point, as long as the food doesn't cause you any problem, eat whatever you fancy. Eventually your body will choose foods that it really needs as well as what it fancies. That is where the having a few mouthfuls and then checking in comes in handy as PM says. If I am eating a big mac then after 3 mouthfuls (and that is quite a lot actually) I tend to feel that I have satisfied that urge for the big mac and can easily have no more cause I can always have one another time. If I was on a diet and had a big mac I would eat it all in one go mindlessly cause tomorrow I would be dieting again. ..........rambling.......
Have a good day at work BB

Thanks for all the helpful advice. I have definitely been overeating for a lot of years (except when dieting!) so I'm not used to stopping when satisfied, as opposed to full. It's a good point that this will take time to get used to.

You all sound like you've got it sussed! How long have you been doing this? I'm dying to ask how much weight you've lost, if that's not too personal.

Ive lost a stone since January by eating whatever I want.....cant be bad can it? Might be slow....and at times I do get frustrated but then I realise that this is for life . Some people lose quicker some slower but even if you lost half a stone by Christmas at least your on the right track and you wont be in fear of gaining it cause you have no need to binge. Emotional eating is the thing for me. Eating for no reason other than to feel better but I have realised that so am overcoming it this way. I definitely have disorded eating so dieting will never solve that.

Try not to look at it as a way to lose weight but as a way to not gain it again without dieting. Once you get it into your head that food is just food then the rest can follow and you can tweak it.

No not personal at all Prudence I've lost nearly 3 stone quite gradually I suppose it took over a year. I'm maintaining (just) but as I don't weigh on the scales much (that's another hot potato!) as soon as I notice some belly I don't want to see in the mirror I get more rigorous ( one of the many beauties of this WOE is that you can 'forget it' and start again the next meal or morning or whenever!

Just been to my gym ladies.....the sweat was running off me ha ha. Feeling good!!!

I don't remember PM saying anything about mouthfuls but I take your word for it Rules and take it as an indication that I need to read the book again! You'd think I'd have it sussed by now. 4 little rules and some hypnotherapy. How hard can it be?!

Yes, Prudence, it is slow but hopefully, if you can stick at it, it works. I am half a stone down since May but it should be more - I spent most of the previous year kidding myself. I only posted on this thread to give me a kick up the back side to get on with it for a lot of time.

I have got my act together now although the weather is playing havoc with my appetite. Come the evening I go from having hardly eaten all day because of the heat and not being hungry, to being starving and it isn't good. I am probably not over eating because I am eating so little during the day but it is messing with my head.

This excessive heat seems to be every 10 years. 2003 was a record breaker and before that 1993 was. Anybody remember as far back as 1983?

Ha! I just googled. It was hot in 1983 - another recording breaking July and hot August. I should be a meteorologist!

Rules - take it easy in the gym - you will melt away to nothing at this rate!

Well I remember it always been hot when the kids were little . But we lived in London then and they were long hot summers . BB Im sure he talks about checking in after every mouthful. I listen to the GB cd as well as ICMYT and read both books so ive picked it up somewhere.

www.paulmckenna.com/apps/thin/default.aspx
Hoping this shows up. There are some good answers to our questions in this article.

hellooo all & welcome pru that's me trying to catch up with everyone, behind like the cow's tail as usual! the horrible sore head & temperature bug which DD1 has just recovered from has now started to flourish in DD2 (thankfully without the vomiting & sinus complications) so as i go into mood meltdown when i've had no sleep (how did i ever have two babies??!) though the wee darlings are starting to recover i've been feeling like shit & right on cue slipped into a few old habits (like inhaling chocolate & cooking & serving more "because i'll probably be hungry by then" & am not but wolfing it anyhoo. but am happy to say i'm not berating myself but rather feeling glad i noticed & can redress the balance. was wondering if i'd a secret penchant for a bit of self-sabotage like mentionned upthread (was it post?) ie. after my holiday weightloss i was subconsciously panicking about losing the flab... ?? eh oh i'll never understand it. anyhoo i've realised i cany member listening to CD so must dust that off.

pp we were on a campsite in a static caravan, no as posh as a gîte!! there were loads of trees for shade & i loved the birdsong too but still 30°c in shade - i got used to it but DP just disny function above 25°c. we'd specifically chosen not to go further south so he wouldny melt! it was still bloody brilliant though, i'd go again in a second

rules thaks for the invite what's a shred? i thought it was a gruelling work-out-til-you-throw-up feel the burn ming thing, but that doesny sound like you guys at all!! are you a secret seargent major type in your shed?

ps. pru i started off on HGB but it didny seem to make any difference to me, however the four golden rules have made my life immesurably better & after a few months stabilising i've started to lose weight & girth now though as i just put above still having the odd blip but now getting better at bringing myself back with kindness & getting on with it again.

Hi VeryBerry - I'm pretty sure that Rules said a 'shed' party - not shred. If she did say shred she is on the wrong thread!! The only thing I'm shredding is some nice cool lettuce for my salads.

She has a large shed with a gym in it and seaviews on a hillside. She practically has her own spa. I reckon she is keeping quiet about the pool, Jacuzzi and topless masseur (I checked the spelling - that is defo the masculine form of the word )

We are all invited apparently. I shall be up that way at the end of August. Can you imagine her surprise if I actually did roll up at her shed gym.

Not that I know where it is although how many hills can there be in N Wales?!

Sorry to hear about your DD's. It is horrible when they have a temperature in the hot weather isn't it? Been there and done that one and hope not to do it again. You have my sympathy. Hope you get some sleep soon and in the meantime be kind to yourself.

he he !!! " Not many hills" lol.

very I think it's natural to eat unmindfully when your back home cause your focusing on everything and everyone again instead of just you and your food. Old habits maybe

that's why you have to just forget your blip and move on but being extra mindful of the rules and maybe have a listen of the cd

Ha, ha! I notice you don't deny that you have a spa, Rules!

Did anybody see that programme with Cherry Healey last night -Britain's favourite supermarket foods.

It was interesting because it was about beating the bulge as they put it. there was quite a bit I knew -

1. Protein fills you up (3 groups given the same chicken sandwiches, 1 group with extra mayo/fat, 1 with extra bread/carbs and 1 with extra chicken/protein and they were all asked to measure hunger at intervals afterwards)
2. Familiarity breeds contempt - you eat less without thinking if you have limited choices of food because you get bored even if it is your favourite food.
3. Soup fills you up more than just eating the food in solid form (it takes longer for the gut to digest the liquidised food when it is already mixed with water and as you are already partly full you eat less of the next course. The control was a group who drank water and then ate - the water didn't make them feel full for as long)

The one I was surprised at was the nuts. I knew that people who ate a handful of whole nuts a day weighed less than those who didn't, despite nuts being full of calories and fats, but I didn't know the science. Basically, it is because they don't break down much in the gut (they come out in much the same state as when you swallow them, if you catch my drift - bleurgh) but chewing is enough to release the nutrients. They fill you up and so you cut back on everything else (if you are Pauling of course and not eating until you are over-full) but they don't have much of a calorie hit themselves. It doesn't work with finely chopped nuts or butters because they have been broken down too much and the oils and fats are released before you even start chewing.

Fascinating to see the science and to be able to make better informed choices. The difficulty with nuts is that they are so moreish but I have an incentive to have some and stop now.