The Paul McKenna Thread Number 13 ~ the Good Luck Number! A Simple Title, for Simple Weight Loss and All amongst Friends!!

[Solo]

Welcome to thread 13 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 friendly 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 into 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 Christmas outfits!!

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 and that is a great way to feel when you are dropping dress sizes at the same time!!! 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 those lbs off a few at a time, just think how we could look and feel for Christmas and The New Year!!!
Some of our thread members are also doing PMK's Virtual Gastric Band and although this thread is not about this avenue, we will still be supportive of our friends partaking of this, so don't think we wont be there for you. I'm pretty sure that the Golden Rules will be just as helpful in this process as the I Can Make You Thin process :) so get stuck in :)

Funny you say about breakfast. I used to eat breakfast because that's just what you do! Now I wait until I'm hungry. Sometimes I wake up starving and eat as soon as the animals are seen to. Other days I can keep going until 10 before I feel hungry.

I tend to not eat till lunchtime....never feel hungry in the mornings.

How much have you lost on this woe Vivacia?

I'm not sure about pounds, but I started again when my size 12s were feeling too tight and am now nearly a ten again.

Well had breakfast before Zumba as felt slightly hungry. Actually threw away 2 toast that I'd made as I did'nt like the taste of the bread. Unheard of for me. In the past I would have still eaten it. I then had toast with the bread that I love thick Granary whole grain smothered in butter and marmalade and a caffe latte. Left the crusts as my contribution and enjoyed every mouthful, smelling the toast, chewing slowly, and savouring the taste as the bread went down. I feel full now. Has taken me 10 mins to feel full.

Also I know that I should'nt have, and I will have to lose the scales, but I weighed myself and have lost 1 lb in two days

Also re read the book last night which was good. It actually says not to drink with your meals on the gastric band, and to avoid soups and smoothies. Reason not to drink with meals is so your food does'nt pass through the opening too fast, so you feel more full quickly.

And soups/ smoothies, casseroles- if you have a choice, choose something else, because more solid food allows you to feel full more quickly.

So am drinking after meals now.

Me again. I think I will have to write in my journal, as seem to be using here at the moment. But find it useful to go back to and share observations with you all.

Well, I know again that I have over eaten this morning, as half an hour after eating I felt stuffed. Will have to control what I eat like you suggested yesterday, by having breaks in between mouthfuls. I am also going to time things. Yesterday it took me half an hour to know I was full, yet today 10 mins, then 20 mins after that came the uncomfortable stuffed bloated feeling.

Also have a headache today, as think that I've not drunk enough water. To make sure I drink more water every day.

Good for you Vivacia. Did you originally start from a size 12?
Can I also ask, how long has it taken you to get from tight 12s to nearly 10s? I'm very nosy I know but positive stories help us all.

I have weighed too after a couple of days Jellybean ...lost a pound. I don't gain weight but had stopped losing so have restarted. Although it's easy to do this woe its also easy to forget to do the "rules" properly.

Jellybean....please feel free to write down your days on thread. We can all benefit from your feedback and also help you if you want it.

About six weeks? Perhaps two months. Can you tell I've not been very good with the journal?

I agree that reading 'diary entries' here is helpful and motivating. I think the only thing which would make Paul better would be face-to-face weekly classes.

Hello. Nice to meet you all. I've read most of this thread and I'm reading 'I can make you thin' at the moment.

I love the principles of this way of eating and I'm really hoping this is going to be my lightbulb moment. I am sooo ready to leave behind dieting, worrying about dieting, self loathing, guilt, secret eating etc etc, for good.

I am a size 16-18. I would like to be size 10-12. I absolutely hate weighing myself so I am more than happy to follow Paul's advice to put the scales away!

I have 2 questions for you:

1. I struggle to find time to listen to the CD. How much of a difference do you believe it makes? How often do you listen to it?

1. How long have you been following the rules and what changes has it made to your body size and your self esteem?

Thanks all. I hope everyone is having a good day.

Hi Flats.....Welcome
I personally believe the CDs to be amazing. Not only do they relax you and give you a lovely " time out" that is deeply nourishing but it also hypnotises you on a subconscious level. You dont even have to listen conciously to what he is saying. I listen anytime but you can do this without the cd as its just about re learning how to eat normally and instinctively.
With regard to body issues and dieting.....I have followed mindful eating for about twenty years and it has freed me for the most part from dieting. On the odd occasion I have attempted a diet it has resulted in diet first day full of optimism and excitement
Deprivation by evening
Feel sad and upset at not been able to choose any food I want
to finally crying and realising how much I am hurting myself ......and then to the shops to do a proper Mindful eating/Paul McKenna shop and feeling happy and in control again.
Dieting to me is the cause of bingeing and overeating and then we get fatter and fatter believing that the next diet will be the one that works and of course it doesn't. To eat this way frees you from all that but re learning how to eat when your truly hungry is a challenge as we have for the most part, lost touch with instinctive eating.

Sent from my HTC.

With regard to body size...that is ongoing as I have maintained and not gained weight for years with mindful eating. I started PM woe about a year ago and initially lost weight and then maintained that weight but have recently rebooted myself to lose another stone.

Morning all it's been busy on here !!! Welcome FlatsIn nice to meet you too. It sounds like you 've found the best WOE there is IMHO! to answer your questions -

1. The CD helps a lot esp. at the beginning but the book does too you can get an app too and DVDs. I 've been following it for nearly 3 years now blimey ! (off and on which is another beauty of this you can just pick up and start again if you go "off' for a bit).

1. I've gone from 14 to 16 to 8 to 10 dress size my self esteem has never been too bad because i only realised I was overweight by looking at pix.!! I'm lucky because I never was a calorie counter or Special Diet Food type dieter.. I follow another woe of eating which I 've done for over 10 years .

Bon journee to you too

Well just had a cheese on toast and some mini choc eggs (5) and feel full now. Currentyly at the kiddies play zone with my 3 yr old daughter. Did zumba and yoga this morning but felt a little sick. Also again a little heartburn. Is this side effect of the hypno gastric band?

Also been thinking of this woe. I'm my early twenties (30 yrs ago) I can remember before I ever dieted mlindful eating naturally. I remember never testing big meals or even chips in the daytime because of the horrible bloated feeling that I would get for the rest of the day. I never ate big meals. I didn't have weight issues then. I think it all started with dieting.

Also I look at my toddler who naturally eats like this. She only eats when hungry, and stops when full. Also only eats what she likes. And I let her eat like this, I never force her to eat more, and disagree with parents that do this.

Hopefully she will never have weight issues or diet.

That should have read 'in my early twenties'

Sorry lots of typo errors, because of predictive typing. Have to learn how to edit my postings.

Should read: before I ever dieted, I did mindful eating naturally.I remember never tasting big meals or chips in the daytime

Jellybean....that's it in a nutshell. Most children when they're little and before they start getting told off for their food choices, eat when they are hungry stop when full. Most slim people eat like this too. That's the aim if this way of eating. Diets are to blame for most of us. Diets cause disordered eating in that we allow others to choose what and how much we can eat rather than listening to our own bodies.

Also Jelly lots of people on the hypno band report those feelings in your stomach after inserting. Nothing to worry about. Your body is believing it has a band.
I too spent my life worrying about food and how much I ate and what size I was. Now I'm fifty I just am not prepared to diet ever again or have anyone or anything control my food choices.

Hi Milly, PP, Flats and Viv

I agree regarding dieting. I don't ever want to do dieting again. I admit that this year, I lost 2 and a half stone, taking me from 12.13 stone to 10.8 on a Vlcd. But that was hard and difficult. In the end I was on a VLCD for about 5 months, and the end results in the weight lost for the short term was good. However I know that it is not sustainable because of the damage it as done to my mind with regards to eating. I came off the diet, then did'nt know how to maintain it, so then went onto alternate day fasting. This made it worse, as I then wanted to binge on my up days. However within my kcals allowance. But it still felt like binging to me. Then I was feeling deprived on my fast down days.

I want to now either lose weight or maintain it without all these fad diets, as they are not sustainable in the long term for me.

I have also lost a lot of weight in the past on WW, but again, it is always short lived, and I end up putting the weight back on.

I think dieting is psychologically damaging and un natural, and I know that I have still got food issues because of it. Hopefully using PM will get me back to normal.

Going to practise the havering technique today.

Thank you for telling me that the heartburn and sick feeling is a side effect of the band. It has subsided now after my exercise class.

'Havening'

Wow Jellybean you have my respect for actually just doing a vlcd. They are terrible.
The alternate day or the 14. 10. or. 16. 8 are just fads and they too will pass. It's just another way of starving yourself.

If you can put the same effort and determination into doing this then you can and will succeed.

Right another observation made. I ate this afternoon at 1pm, and thought that I'd wait till I really am aware that I am hungry before I had my tea.

Anyway I cannot gauge me feeling hungry. So in the end I had my tea at 8.30 pm, 3 hours later than the rest of the family.

I even read the book, and tried to gauge where I was on the hunger scale. I guessed that I was no 5 neutral, but still not sure if I was slightly hungry no 4. In the end I had a side plate with a small amount of potato and cheese bake, and 2 tbsp beans. Finished off with a banana.

Again, felt the full feeling at 10 mins exactly.

Need some help though in recognising when hungry. I wonder if my VLCD diet disrupted this somehow, as I was always in ketosis, which suppressed the hunger signals?

Find that I'm having to guess. Any thoughts on this anyone.

Hi Jelly ...did you eat anything between 1 and 8.30?