Paul McKenna "I can make you thin" support thread

[Breathmiller]

I found out about this book and audio this week from another thread and poster (thanks @ppeatfruit) and am finding it useful.

I found an old support thread from years ago but I dont think its still active.

Does anyone who is interested in this want to chat and support?
Or anyone who has used it in the past with good results want to give hints and tips?

I have tried every diet going and have had real issues with yoyo dieting but my big aim this year has been to make food not such a battle.

I feel this might just be the way forward for me. But I'm aware I'm in very early days.

Thanks @Breathmiller - I definitely think fitting it in at the start of the day would be a good idea. I'm trying to get up earlier - we've gotten into the habit of going to bed too late, and I've just been knackered recently. I know I feel so much better when I prioritise sleep so I'm trying to not go to bed too late. It's hard tho, as the evening is the only time we really get to relax now, as my days are spent home schooling and looking after the house and cooking etc, so it's always so tempting to just watch another episode of something, or read another chapter in my book. The Buddhist centre was a dhammakaya one, and we did "middle way" meditation, which was lovely. I think you're right, even doing five minutes, but doing it daily, will be a help.

I think the last few weeks have been tough for everyone haven't they, being plunged back in to lockdown (not that we were doing much before, but still), so I need to remind myself that baby steps in the right direction are still heading the right way. I have used my spiky acupressure mat a few times this week, which sort of gives me a bit of call time (when I get over the "omg this bloody hurts!" 🤣). I'm definitely going to try and do some more affirmations with the kids too. I picked up a child friendly book in aldi the other day which I think we'll have a read through together, to help introduce the idea.

I hope everyone's having a good day. We finished home schooling quite early today, so we went out to the local park, which we had all to ourselves, and it was just lovely being out in the fresh air for an hour. Rain due for the next week, so I'm so glad we got out.

I'm noticing that I need to start planning snack options a bit better now I'm eating this way. I've been eating less at meal times, but then end up hungry before my next meal, and as I don't usually snack, I'm tempted to reach for quick options that might not be that healthy (I'm looking at you, crisps that I ate while cooking dinner 😳),

Dinner however was sooo tasty! We had some of my batch cooked lasagne with salads and it was gorgeous. I didn't have a massive portion, and I throughly enjoyed it! Very happy that there are 4 more meals worth in the freezer :)

Hello everyone! I'm on Day 4 so just thought I'd drop in with an update. I'm finding I'm eating a lot less than I usually do, mainly because I ask myself whether I'm hungry before snacking and bingeing on biscuits or toast. That's been the main difference thus far, and since day 2 I've not had a single piece of bread (which is usually my weakness).

I haven't measured myself or weighed, so I've no idea if anything is working - I can't see any difference in my clothes yet. What I do notice is a difference in my energy levels. I find I'm doing a lot more than usual, and visualising the best version of myself as I do it. Oddly, I think I'm smiling more!

I do love the nighttime hypnosis but the other night my toddler had a bad night's sleep and interrupted it a bit - I definitely didn't feel as deeply into it that night as the others.

So yes - a work in progress! I hope you're all having good days and staying safe.

misskatamari i don't know that meditation, I'm going to look it up and explore.

Yes, to eating much smaller meals. I do snack if I'm hungry but I'm definitely not doing it as much as I did. And it's healthier stuff.

I had taken peas out the freezer to add to a pasta dish on Sunday but we had all been hungry about 3pm and I had had a little bowl of healthy snacks and none of us were hungry later for a big dinner. So we didn't have it. It was great. I had another bowl of healthy food later on when I was hungry.

But I went for a sback later and the bowl of defrosted peas were out and I snacked on some of them. They were delicious.

dontbeshelfish well done at getting to day 4. I also am enjoying my energy levels being better. And smiling more and feeling generally more on top of things.

And it's contagious. Dh even joined us on our dance burst song last night after our Burns Supper. He's usually really self conscious about that sort of thing but he said it made him feel so good.

I bought myself running shoes!! Barefoot running shoes. I'm going for a walk/run on the treadmill soon as it is snowing again here.

Happy Tuesday folks.

Well done on getting to say four @DontBeShelfish :) I think this will definitely be a slow process for me, in terms of weight, but it is amazing how it's changing my attitude to food. I've still not eaten and biscuits or chocolate, just because I haven't felt like it. Don't get me wrong, I've had some puddings etc, but not mindlessly scoffed biscuits in the kitchen, while feeling stressed! That's huge for me.

Mmm I love peas @Breathmiller - must try and grow some again this year! I love freshly prodded ones. This is the meditations I used to do, the lovely monk recorded them and started a YouTube channel. I loved the classes, we'd have a talk for 45 mins or so, about meditation and Buddhism and then have a break for a brew and a chat (and they always had gorgeous tuna sandwiches with capers in, which were amazing! 😁), and then back in for a lovely meditation session. I've not been since pre kids, as basically spent 5 years pregnant and sick, or breastfeeding, so it didn't work to be jaunting off at bedtime, but I could definitely go back once covid goes away 🤞🏻

Food wise, up and down yesterday. My energy was soooo low yesterday afternoon. I'm not sure why as I'd eaten well, but I was just exhausted. Maybe the rubbish weather and not getting out for a walk. Dd had an appointment coming up to tea time, so i grabbed McDonald's on the way home too. Not great but meh, that's life isn't it.

I've been doing an "exhausted to energised" boot camp on Facebook this week, which has been interesting and encouraging getting into healthy habits and taking time for yourself. So this morning I actually got out of bed when my alarm went off (which was an achievement as I was awake for ages at 5am and would normally snoooooze), and I've come down stairs before the kids and had my breakfast in peace. Hoping I can make a habit of it, as when I get up later I always feel like I'm running behind, and am constantly bombarded with other people's requests.

National chocolate cake day today! So we're hoping to cake a tasty cake (img I've been perusing the Jane's Patisserie website 🤤🤤🤤), but I know I can do that and not scoff the lot, which is really lovely!

I hope everyone has a great day xx

lol just realised I totally forgot to post the link as i started waffling away! Here is it Meditation

Thanks misskatamari
A new meditation to explore and national cake day!! Woohoo! Today is a good day! 😄

Mmmm the cake was very delicious. I alas slipped in to some not so mindful/hungry eating of bits when putting it in Tupperware 😳 but overall a good day 🙂 we've been busy today and I'm shattered tonight, so going to have a shower and curl up in my pjs. I hope everyone else is doing well

We had afternoon tea with some chocolate cake. Although i couldn't have it so dh bought me some tiffin bites. I enjoyed the couple of pieces I had but definitely didn't over eat.

Just had pasta and had a normal portion and was full before it was finished so i stopped. I am comfortably satisfied.

I did yoga, ran again today and went on the bike. And bashed through the housework, the home schooling and my work.

I do feel more energised and just more on the ball in general. We are enjoying a drama free life at the moment. Long may it last.

Enjoy your quiet evening

Hi everyone
How are we all doing today?

I feel like I've turned a corner or had a lighbulb moment about this.

I ran today in leggings and a vest top and I felt and could see a huge change in my shape. Not so lardy around the middle and definitely less wobble while I run.

I'm actually surprised at how little I NEED to eat now that I am fulfilling my emotional needs elsewhere. And the whole idea of being able to eat if I'm hungry really takes that battling conversation away.

I have mentioned this before but I am on a thread about stopping drinking. I am nearly 6 months in and one of my favourite benefits is I don't have that chat every day about whether I will have a glass of wine that night or not. It was so freeing, getting rid of that constant chat.

But I didn't think it was possible with eating because...well...we have to eat. We have to learn to moderate rather than being able to stop completely. But it has happened. I am not in constant conflict about what I've eaten, how much I've eaten, do i "deserve" a treat? Have I overeaten? Maybe I should not eat for a long time now that I've overeaten. When can i next eat? On and on and boringly on.

All this has stopped! If I'm hungry- I eat! If I'm full - I stop!

I feel good exercising. I "treat" myself to time out on my own on the treadmill or the exercise bike.

Or I boost my mood by putting on a song and dancing my wee heart out. Or i go for a walk. Or have a bath.

I choose healthy food (most of the time) not because i have to but because I like it. And yes, nothing is off the table so i enjoy crisps now and again at the weekend. And dessert some days. I'm just not mindlessly shoving all these things in to push down my feelings.

I feel very free!!

So stick with it everyone. The benefits to this way of working after years of feast and famine are amazing !

I hope you don't mind me posting, have just been reading this on my kindle - I found the bit about food cravings and stress very relevant right now with the DC at home etc.

I have just used the idea of imagining food you crave mixed with a horrible food (or something repulsive) which seemed to help me avoid eating it, for now anyway.

Welcome orangeblossom1977

All welcome.

I still eat a little at the weekend of my food craving but it has definitely helped me to not eat nearly as much as I did. I think partly because i don't want any foods to be off the table (so to speak ). But i definitely over time am lessening how much i eat of them.

Good luck with it. Have you got the app? I found it a gamechanger after i read the book.

I have got the app. Would like to be able to eat a little of something but find everything sweet very moreish and struggle to stick to just a small but usually. We'll see.

Welcome @Orangeblossom1977! It's good to have more people on board. I know I'm finding this thread so helpful and love to see how people are finding it.

You're an inspiration @Breathmiller, I'm so glad you're seeing real benefits from this. Is it December time you started it?

I know I'm only about three weeks in, but I am so much happier with my eating habits. I'm not 100% mindful at every meal, but my emotional eating is now pretty much zero, and that is something I have battled with for years! I am so excited to see where this journey takes me. I'm hoping for weight loss, but just mentally feeling better about food and it beating myself up about what I eat, is amazing. I've just realised that I don't think I've been thinking as negatively about my body actually either. I've not had the usual "ugh I'm so fat, why can't I just lose weight, this is so shit" internal monologue since starting this.

I've not really gotten much exercising in, besides walking and Pilates, and dance breaks. But life is hectic at the moment and nothing is normal, so I'm trying to cut myself some slack and be positive about the things I have managed and not feel bad for what I haven't. I hope everyone else is doing well 😊

Yes ,I started in December. Perhaps a daft time to start as Christmas was always going to be difficult. I do feel its taken its time to actually embed in properly but I do feel much better. I weighed myself today and I have lost 3lbs. Which is great to see that finally happening. But it still remains for me that all the other benefits far outway that.

@Breathmiller I definitely think my biggest take away from this is all the other stuff. Losing weight will just be a brilliant bonus. I've felt so down about my weight and eating for such a long time, it's so freeing to be able to eat mindfully without guilt. I don't trust my scales at all, they're so dodgy, and I can lose many pounds throughout a day according to them anyway, BUT I weighed myself tonight, and moved them around loads (which usually makes them change and settle at the highest weight) and they kept at a weight which would mean I've lost a few pounds! I'm totally not getting excited as it could be total nonsense, but I am hopefully that they're actual accurate 🤞🏻🤞🏻 I'll avoid weighing for a while and see what they say in a week or so, but I'm feeling positive ☺️

I hope everyone else is doing okay

*DO YOUR MEASUREMENTS KLAXON!"

This is something I always forget, but I've just measured myself as I want to make some leggings, and fortunately I had measurement myself in November as I was making us all Christmas pants - and I have lost inches! It's hard to know exactly, and could also be due to time of day and bloating, but my waist has slimmed down by an inch and hips by 2 according to the numbers this morning 😱 I tried on my "thin jeans" as well - a couple of weeks ago I couldn't even get close to closing them, but today I could do the button up (the required hoiking and they're far from wearable, but still! Progress for sure). It's made my day!

I'm alas a little hungover today, as had a couple of glasses of Prosecco last night. I feel pants, and I know I really need to tackle the Friday night urge to have a relaxing drink next. I thankfully don't drink very often. Definitely not every weekly, but post Christmas I've felt like it the last two weeks. Might hop over and have a read of the stopping drinking thread to find some pearls of wisdom. It just leaves me feeling so tired and sluggish, and just isn't worth it. I should be feeling lovely and energised today, but instead I'm just meh and have a headache 🙄 ah well, onwards and upwards

Hi all, just checking in. Hope you are all doing well. I’ve not had a great week, work has been demanding and I’m feeling a bit stuck, but as we said it is a very odd time. Going to do one hour birdwatching and will read my book again today, will try to go for a walk and not feel guilty for having a slow day.

The is going quite well for me so far (only just started really) however I noticed yesterday drinking wine led to eating a lot of chocolate (dark but still) and also more in general...I'm interested to see comments about stopping drinking also and wondered if people had found that helpful with the overeating also.

It can be tricky if others in your family do things differently. For example my DH hardly eats all day as busy, then comes home starving and wants a big meal. Then breaks out the wine and chocs in front of the TV.

Also with children off preparing food for them seemingly all the time, there is little break from it.

I sometimes think it would be easier just without others eating all around.

It's tempting today to think, oh, I messed up yesterday with all that wine and choc, today I should fast for the day to compensate but I won't. I'll continue but try and maybe not have wine this evening and see how that goes.

It seems to be a united theme that people on this thread have cut down or stopped drinking alcohol. I have, pre pandemic I would drink weekly but only when I was on a night out, at the start of the pandemic was drinking more, obviously at home and from the Autumn, now once or twice a month.

Sorry your week hasn't been great @MariahLucas, I hope you've managed to relax today and are feeling more positive. I think it's definitely important at the moment to try and be kind to ourselves. There is so much stress and uncertainty and change at the moment, and the fact that we are are trying to change our habits and become more healthy is brilliant! Any positive change, no matter how small, is taking us in the right direction. No guilt for the things we don't get perfect. I was following a boot camp on fb this week and the woman running it spoke a lot about micro commitments and just thinking about little tweaks you can make to you day, and the difference they can make. I think that's a good thing to aim for, especially when the world is in such chaos.

@Orangeblossom1977 I'm glad it's going well for you! I've found it's definitely a process, and I think it will take time for me to see the full effects, so just keep following the guidelines and it will get even easier, I'm sure. I definitely find if I have a drink I get really hungry and overeat. I generally don't drink all that much, maybe a couple of times a month, but I end up straight in the crisps when I do!

It definitely is made harder when you have to factor in others and their eating habits. I've found the craving buster really helpful in not eating things like biscuits and chocolate etc, which we still have in the house, but I just haven't felt like.

I also did the havening cd that comes with the emotional eating book, and I don't know if that has helped or not, but I'm definitely finding it much easier not to eat in the evenings. I know you can find the video online if you think it might be helpful. I guess with your husband and food etc, just try and stick to the "am I hungry, if I am, eat" rules and if you do just make sure to do it mindfully (so not watching telly, maybe turn it off for your snack or sit at the dining table etc). Mindless evening snacking used to be my downfall, and I can't believe how much I just don't feel like it now. Keep listening and eating as mindfully as you can and I'm sure it will get easier. I think there's a lot to be said for the fact that in this way of eating, nothing is off the table. Eg when dieting, your husband might be sat there eating all the treats, and you "shouldn't" have them. If you're anything like me, that means it's all you focus on, and they becomes more and more appealing. I would then eventually crack and eat loads. And then feel shit. But this isn't a diet. If you want those thing, there are strategies you can use if it is a craving you don't want to give in to, but if you do decide to eat that food, you can. Just be mindful and if you're full, stop. No guilt! I find that the most freeing part.

I noticed earlier when we were having pudding that the rest of my family seemed to be eating more slowly as well! I don't know if it's because they're absorbing my slower pace by some sort of dinner time osmosis, or a coincidence, but I found it interesting and will be subtlety keeping an eye on it at future meals. I just found it interesting and surprising that the kids weren't shovelling in chocolate cake like they usually do 🤣

Happy Saturday everyone!

Just to follow on from some of the previous comments, but I've definitely seen a sharp decrease in me hitting up the cupboard after half a bottle of wine, or getting a bit tipsy and ordering an enormous takeaway and almost feeling obligated to eat it all because we've spent money on it. Knocking booze on the head has definitely changed that.

Something interesting that I noticed yesterday in relation to an emotional eating pattern that I'd unwittingly developed. Before DD was born DP and I had a very difficult relationship, and he would often be out of an evening with his mates and not at home. I used to comfort eat a lot as a result - whole frozen pizzas that I'd slather in mayonnaise and demolish alongside a bottle of red.

Last night DP declared that he was going for a socially distanced walk with a mate, which is now legal again where we live, and I immediately thought about eating the pepperoni pizza in the fridge. But I actually stopped in my tracks when I put the two things together. It was totally cause = effect, and I consciously stepped back from that desire for the pizza, which was based entirely on feelings of inadequacy (and tasty pepperoni, of course), and suddenly realised what was happening.

Alongside the mindful eating, slowing down and being in the moment with a meal, this has been the single most profound thing to have happened to me in months. I honestly don't think I would have put the two things together were it not for the app.

Sorry, I know I sound a bit evangelical! But I think in terms of deconstructing my negative eating habits, this is huge. I had a McDonalds earlier (not ideal), but I ate it slowly and mindfully, and ended up throwing a load of chips away as I didn't feel that awful desire to clear my plate (DP ate them, but that's on him!).

Finally, I've read the book and watched a few YouTube videos. Count me in.

Will be back in a day or so with a progress update. Thanks again for the thread @Breathmiller.

Hi everyone

Could I also join in please? I am using the app and an currently on day 6. It's going really well so far.

I have a lot to loose, more than 7 stone, but I am focusing on a series of mini goals. I have been a classic yoyo dieter for nearly 40 years.

My main problem is portion control. For the last few years I have been on and off some sort of intermittent fasting but I can still overeat massively in the "eating window" so it doesn't work on it's own for me unless I also do some sort of calorie restriction, which then causes the falling off the wagon / binge /end up heavier than before cycle.

I was the heaviest I had ever been last year. Combined with being peri menopausal which has pushed my calorie requirements right down I simply cannot continue this cycle.

I was 18st 7lb last July and got down to 17st 3lb by the end of Aug. I have been creeping up slowly since and my weigh in last week was 18st 4.

This has to be it. It's pretty much the last chance for me. I can't bear the thought of another diet , because I know from my lived experience that every diet means my final weight will go up. It could be 6 months or a year or 2 years, but the end result will be the same.

Something has clicked though with this and for the first time in my life I seem to have portion control ! It is unbelievable really and seems so effortless.

Keep up the good work everyone! I've told a number of people in real life about this programme (people who asked about my weight loss) and whilst they were interested, I don't think any of them took it up. I love reading all your experiences and not feeling like the only "convert" .
It still takes effort for me. I'm a bit out of sorts this week, as my fitbit has stopped working and I'm waiting for a replacement. I'm using my phone to help keep my steps up. But this evening, I could have easily grazed on some snacks. Instead, I had a cup of tea and a bottle of water and I'm OK again. It's often thirst that gets me thinking about snacks. This evening it was also boredom, so I've come on here to sort that out!
I find that one good, healthy decision seems to turn into another and then another. Those of you just starting out - you'll start by making good decisions around food but then you'll probably find yourself becoming more active as well. And then just feeling better about yourself in different ways. I wish us all continued success and the ability not to give up when there are blips in the road.