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.

Well done on 6 months alcohol free. That really is an achievement.

Day 17 ICMYT for me. Nothing really to report.

It's really strange because there is no weighing , and nothing to report on the food front, just feels like normal life, but I have this odd slightly different feeling about myself. Can't describe it but it's there Iykwim.

Yes, that makes sense canyoureallymakemethin

I think for me the freedom of all the negative talk around food is what I feel makes a difference. Things feel different but life is just plodding along with an undercurrent of peace around this subject. It's only when i think about how I have talked to myself and been worrying about food and weight in the past that i realise the difference by it's absence.
I'm not saying it's always easy or that I've cracked it by any means but definitely going in the right direction.

Do you think as you naturally eat less maybe the stomach gets used to smaller amounts perhaps. Just wondering why there is the feeling of needing less / being less hungry. Maybe it is a combination of things. I find it seems to vary from day to day, not sure why. Sometimes wake up hungry other times not. Just need to go with the flow I guess.

Exactly that. I'm pretty sure the odd feeling is an abscence of stress related to food and weight now that you mention it.

Also, with regard to smaller portions I think your body will let you know what you need. So at the moment I need a certain amount of fuel just to haul this mass around, but when I'm lighter I will need less fuel, so I guess I will be less hungry and fuller quicker.

Take a thin person and make them carry 7 stone around in a backpack 24/7 and I bet they would have an increased appetite.

I have noticed one tangible thing I can report. I don't really eat much sweet stuff but I do have a weakness for coffee made with 1 heaped spoon of sugar and 1 heaped spoon of coffee mate plus a normal splash of milk. Well the last couple of days it has been too sweet so I have gone to a level spoon of sugar.

What is strange about that is that it isn't a result of cutting sugar from my diet as I didn't really have much to start with, so it's not that it now tastes sweeter because my food is less sweet iyswim.

Anyway, it sounds insignificant, but I reckon it saves around 5 calories a cup. I usually have around 4 per day, so that's 20 calories, 140 a week, 7280 a year, which is roughly 2lbs of fat.

Okay, okay, I fully realize 2lbs of fat in a year is no great shakes, but if the theory of incremental gains works for the team GB athletes, surely the same applies to incremental losses 😀

That happened to me in the past when I cut down on sugar. Things in general started taking sweeter. I used to have 2 sugars in hot drinks years ago but now just have milk and it tastes loads too sweet with sugars in. It's a change in habit. My teeth are better for it.

It's odd though because I hav'nt cut down on sugar as in changed my diet to eat less sugar. I am eating the same food as I did before.

I'm wondering if its because my body is telling me I don't need the calories, rather than my tastebuds registering a different taste.

It's hard to describe.

Could it be that you have had that amount of sugar in your tea out of habit for so long that you haven't paid attention to how sweet it is? Now, that you have turned your attention to what you are eating and drinking you can notice that it's quite sweet and making small changes make you feel better.

I had half a packet of fruit pastilles early on in January and I felt atrocious after all that sugar. I probably always have but I chose to ignore it because well....fruit pastilles are tasty.

I then tried half a candy cane a few weeks later and felt the same. So, because I noticed that feeling rather than not putting two and two together, i could see that when i eat pure sugar, especially sweeties like that then I feel shit afterwards.

So, my brain has finally equated the two so I don't fancy them anymore.

A bit like the sabotaging exercise but more naturally. My brain now equates sugary sweeties like fruit pastilles and candy canes with feeling rubbish so when i see them I dont fancy them. Whereas before, i only imagined the taste.

Maybe, just maybe I can get there with crisps because in all honesty every Saturday morning I have a crisps hangover. I need to make that link somewhere deeper. Lots of crisps = feeling shit! I'm just not there yet.

Ahh, that makes sense actually. Thinking I liked it that way rather than actually liking it.

Hi everyone. I started the C25K recently hit really need to tackle my horrendous emotional eating. I've tried every diet going and previously wanted to try Paul McKenna but ypung children and zero break meant I kept getting disturbed during the hypnosis. I've now got myself some great sleep/running wifi headphones so I'm desperate to give it a go again. Is there a huge difference between I Can Make you thin or the Gastric band one? Just wondered if one is better than the other.

I'm on the ICMYT, not tried the gastric band.

I chose this one because I thought with the gastric band, if it really works that's great, but if you end up having a bigger meal for whatever reason I think for me it would kind of break the spell, and for me I don't think it would then work as well a 2nd time, once your brain knows it can override the band.

Does that make sense? Everyone is different though.

Yes that does make sense! I need to get it downloaded then. The last time I tried I really felt it was starting to make a difference and then the kids kept interrupting me left, right and centre. I feel like they are old enough now I could get to do it uninterrupted so it should work better.

I tried the gastric band one a few years ago but it didn't resonate for some reason. Whereas the ICMYT has. It seems to just make sense to me.

Hi everyone
Just checking in.
I haven't listened to the audio for a few days now but I will do a check in listen over the weekend.

Just kind of plodding on with life. Bit tired and not feeling 100% so not exercising much but not over eating much either. I'm sure motivation to move will return with the better weather.

How are you all doing?.

It's so cold and windy here to even go for walks so feeling much the same. Trying to be kind to myself

Doing okay here. I've had a few times of eating when not hungry - mainly when on my period and this afternoon when I was just utterly exhausted and mindlessly ate crisps. I think I need to make sure I've got an easy to grab healthy snack available for if I feel like that, and also just maybe let myself sit and rest for a bit if I'm tired. Sometimes just closing my eyes for ten minutes and sort of "powering down" makes all the difference, but I usually just try and power through, which can lead to autopilot eating. Generally still doing okay tho. Not doing too much on the exercise front, but it's so so cold, so trying not to feel bad that we're hibernating a bit!

Doing okay here too, but honestly the exhaustion is tough and I keep forgetting to do the morning motivation, and then that buggers me up for the rest of the day. I was so tired the other night I didn't bother doing the nighttime hypnosis. My portion sizes are still much better, however, I'm eating half what I used to eat; and I'm not beating myself up about it if I do slip.

Solidarity and good vibes to you all. Hope it's easier today for everyone.

Hope everyone is okay.
Motivation is low in all areas here. But the snow is finally going and Narnia is turning green! Yeehaa! Getting out and about won't be such an expedition

Same here breathmiller. Spent time listening to the download before work so just thinking that it is a new day and not to beat myself up too much for a bit of an off weekend.
Snow going here too, will try to head out for a lunch time walk. On a positive I have blow dried my hair, popped a tinted moisturiser on and I’ve not even got any calls today. I’ve looked in the mirror and it’s not too bad! I see a 40 something working mum with more confidence than I had at the start of the year, she has a bit of weight she’d like to lose but maybe she judges herself too harshly. Her jumper is rather awful though but it keeps her warm!

I have been reading this book Stuffed which is very similar approach, about how it helped a lady with food stress...interesting

www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B01N9NGWLQ/ref=dp-kindle-redirect?_encoding=UTF8&btkr=1&tag=mumsnetforu03-21

Just popped up on kindle after the book we talk about as a link..

Anyway I am noticing I'm eating really different from before, previous to doing this I would try to skip breakfast and then sometimes kind of binge later, confiding myself I had 'earned' the food (or something)

Now I'm eating breakfast around 9-10ish, and lunch around 1-2ish and not really snacking much, just fruit perhaps and coffee...and then not really that hungry for an evening meal so just having something light then. Really noticing it helping with my 'binge' eating in evenings (worse from lockdowns) and cravings, which is good.

I downloaded that book and I'm enjoying it. Thanks orangeblossom

It is all about feeling good about ourselves isn't it? Not really about calories in and calories out. It's quite a revelation

I feel back in the zone again. Irat least ready to get in the zone again. This bug my son and I have had has really taken its toll. And the cabin fever due to the snow didn't help.

I listened to the audio again and feel ready to start back on feeling better around food.

My takeaway from the audio today is when I'm giving myself criticism, I don't need to make it harsh. I can see what i need to do to keep making changes.

I feel I've been in a bit of a haze this past few weeks. Like a fog of not feeling well, busy project at work, an injury and snowed in. But i can feel that fog lifting a bit.

Onwards and upwards.

Hi, I'm plodding along here. Don't think I'm being as mindful as I was, and don't feel like I'm losing weight, but I'm not binge eating crap in the evenings still, so that's good. And I'm not feeling crap about my body so that's a plus too. I've not listened to the recording for a few nights, so I think I need to do that and go back to the start of the app and do the sessions again.

We have actually managed to get outside to the park a few days this week! It's been so so cold before that, absolutely bitter, but the first hints of spring are in the air, so that's been lovely. Rainy again today tho, so we're having a PJ day and taking it easy.

I'm looking into getting some sort of home exercise machine, maybe a cross trainer, so if anyone has any experience or advice that would be much appreciated. I've been having issues with chronic pain around my pelvis/hips/lower back for the last few years. I'm doing physio and Pilates etc, which is helping a bit, but I really miss doing some decent cardio, and I'm just not up for attempting running etc or high impact stuff just yet, so I'm hoping something like a cross trainer might help (more than anything I miss the mental health benefits of having a good, sweaty workout, listening to some music).

I've also started "stuffed" as well. Don't know when I download it but I spotted it on my kindle so am having a read. It's very interesting so far :)

I hope everyone's doing okay. I'll try and check in a bit more often, which will hopefully keep me more "on track" with being mindful about eating. It's so easy to start slipping back into old habits gradually!

Yes, i need to keep checking in again to keep me on track.

I kept thinking that I was doing really well through January amd now I'm not. And my thoughts went like this...

I felt good so I was engaged amd eating mindfully, listening to the audio, exercising and therefore feeling good.
Then I got ill, had an injury and got the lockdown blues and lethargy and have fallen back into old habits. Then its a spiral from there downwards.

And I kept thinking when I feel better I will get back to being on the ball and running and dancing and eating well and..and...and...

But i am tired. So where do I start? How do I get the oumph yo get back into all that activity?!

And it dawned on me that I don't need to jump back into all that positivity in one feel swoop. It will come back if I just listen to the audio and trust in it. It's hardly exhausting to lie down and listen to a hypnotherapy track!
So I have listened again yesterday and today and will just keep on listening and letting it embed in until it works its magic again.

Hello everyone soo nice to find this just marking my place, (i've been trying to cut down my time on MN) or I'd have seen this thread sooner ! Hope to help anyone who needs it!

The tiredness is wheat, and some refined sugars IME and IMO . There's a good book called Wheat Belly by William Davis MD which explains it all better than me. I'm not coeliac.

I haven't cut carbs completely I eat spelt and rye bread (not much of it, it's true) but they don't give that me awful exhaustion that wheat does.