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Weight loss chat

A space to talk openly about weight loss journeys and challenges. Mumsnet hasn't checked the qualifications of anyone posting here. You may wish to speak to a medical professional before starting any diet.

Original poster

Paul McKenna

93 replies

realitychick · 02/04/2010 14:59

Has anyone tried this?

Those ten pounds I've needed to lose for so long have become more like 20, or 30 if I wanted to be slim rather than just not overweight. But I am useless at dieting.

Just got his book and wondered if anyone wanted to give it a go with me. I want to lose at least 20lbs.

OP posts:
BouncingTurtle · 24/04/2010 20:05

Yes I agree,you do have to be more conscious of if you really need to eat or not!
Going okay here I think!

Pwsimerimew · 25/04/2010 17:57

I've got the book and CD too - but fell off the wagon a while back. I'm hoping to get back into listening to the cd every morning before work. Please help keep me inspired!

peggotty · 25/04/2010 19:43

Hi all, can I join in? I have been doing this for about 8 weeks and have lost approx half a stone, so it IS sloooow BUT the main thing I am so thrilled about is my change of attitude towards food - I feel it doesn't control me anymore and as a bonus, I don't feel deprived of the things I like. I don't have to have that 'I'm on a diet' mentality all the time - I feel that this system will be maintainable for the rest of my life .

butterscotch · 26/04/2010 01:03

Oh I'd like to join too! I'm having a csection on Thursday and have said tomyself first six - twelve weeks o dieting! Hoping to get this mindset so I caneatcwhen hungry etc.... I biugh theboookappro. 6yrs ago buthavenever really read it throughly and listen to cd nightly again!!!

Original poster
realitychick · 26/04/2010 13:14

Hi and welcome everyone. I agree it's slow Peggotty - but it's without diet or deprivation and it won't come back on if we eat what we like when we like but don't overeat. If I could lose 1/2 stone every two months for the next eight months I'd be very happy! And it's free. No going to meetings and obsessing and weighing...

Still loving it here and have noticed my appetite shrink (a little bit!) as I genuinely couldn't finish a meal last night. Can't remember when that last happened!

OP posts:
NicknameTaken · 26/04/2010 15:14

Cheated and weighed myself this weekend instead of waiting two weeks. No dramatic changes, so your tally of nearly a pound a week sounds good to me, peggotty! Slightly disappointed, but I feel I'm getting better at sorting out physical hunger from emotional need, so that's a good thing. I'm trying to look on it as a lifetime change rather than a quick fix.

ZZMum · 26/04/2010 15:25

I am the same - very slow but I console myself thinking "do it once, do it right"

It is too easy to do a diet drop weight fast and then put it all back on .. this is for life.. so has to be a long haul not a quick fix

BouncingTurtle · 26/04/2010 18:33

I weighed myself today and shouldn't have, supposed to be next week! Serves me right that I have put 2lb on. Still think I am not sure when I am full. Going to put more thought into it this week.

peggotty · 26/04/2010 21:05

Bouncing Turtle, I think I put on a pound or so in the first couple of weeks, which totally bemused me. I think it may be was that I was still getting the hang of eating when I was really hungry and not bored/ depressed etc. I started having a hot drink when I thought I wanted to eat, and it usually turned out that it wasn't hunger in the first place. Don't get disheartened.

Is anyone doing any exercise as well? I've been going to the gym, and think it is probably helping. I don't think it's necessarily speeding up the weight loss but have noticed my shape has changed a bit.

amothersplaceisinthewrong · 27/04/2010 08:00

One problem I find with PM is that he says eat when you are hungry. How does that work with sitting down with the rest of the family and having a family meal - that assumes everyone is hungry at the same time. I managed to lose weight doing something along these lines because my kids are away and DH just put up with it.

NicknameTaken · 27/04/2010 10:32

That's encouraging, peggotty. I can tell when I'm very hungry or very full, but I can't always distinguish the in-between sensations. As well as eating when I don't need to, there is also the risk of not eating when I should and finding myself bad-tempered and low in energy.

anothersplace, I certainly find it easier when I just have to listen to myself. I don't live with another adult, which helps, but certainly when I'm eating with my 2-year old, there are so many distractions that it's hard to be mindful about what I'm eating.

I think I must have been quite out of my touch with my body's hunger/satiety signals for a long time, and it's harder than I expected to get back in touch.

Original poster
realitychick · 27/04/2010 17:29

One thing I found was not to eat as soon as you feel hunger. To learn to wait until a meal, unless you are starving. Not suggesting anyone doesn't eat when they badly need to, but in the past three weeks I've sat down to a meal and really been ready for it more times than I had in the previous three years.

So, with family meals, I'd say, hold out if you know you're about to sit down to one. And if you're really not hungry, don't eat it yet, save it and eat later. I've not been eating breakfast some days until after the school run. No one has noticed - too busy asking for more bacon and toast!

OP posts:
peggotty · 27/04/2010 18:11

I find it hard sometimes to wait until our teatime, because me and dh eat after dc are in bed, so around 7.30 usually. If I am really hungry I just eat early as I noticed that I eat more when I wait too long and am less able to stop when I feel full enough!

Original poster
realitychick · 28/04/2010 18:14

That is the hardest time Peggotty - feeding kids then waiting to have your own meal with your partner. Can you have a snack and then a smaller main meal?

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peggotty · 28/04/2010 21:05

Hi Realitychick, yes, sometimes I do that, but it can be hard not to pick and pick at things when I am actually really quite hungry! I hate that time of day generally and find it quite stressful so it's probably not a good idea to eat then anyway. There's nothing less relaxing than eating with your children imo, especially when one of them is really fussy...

Original poster
realitychick · 29/04/2010 19:50

I get through it by drinking gallons of tea.

OP posts:
peggotty · 29/04/2010 19:56

Hi! Oh dear I have just eaten too much, definately verging on the overfull end of the scale. My dh is away tonight and I get this wanting-to-binge thing when I am on my own in the evening - HELP!!

NicknameTaken · 30/04/2010 10:45

I can't help you, but I can sympathize. I am about to explode with PMT, and Paul McKenna's soothing tones aren't going to stop me EATING.

Original poster
realitychick · 30/04/2010 14:19

Hi Peggotty. Sympathy. I did too when my husband was away. It's OK though. There's always going to be days that don't work out just as there are in a diet. The good thing is though that when you get back on track you don't have to starve or weigh yourself or get all hung up about food. It's just back to eating what you want, when you want, and slowly.

NnT - I truly believe there's times of the month when your body is begging you to eat its weight on chocolate. I used to when I was thin and won't stop now No one says you can't on P McK. It's just so long as those times we're not hungry we don't eat, then it balances out. But yes, maybe it's wise to avoid those treacly hypnotapes during PMT - don't want any broken CD players in the house.

Hang in there ladies - it's better than sniffing lettuce and feeling deprived every time you walk past the bakery. It does work. really, truly it does, if you keep reading the main rules: Eat exactly what you want. Eat exactly when you want. Stop as soon as you're full.

OP posts:
NicknameTaken · 30/04/2010 20:55

at the broken CD player, rc.

Caeme home prepared to binge, and then decided I really fancied some oat crackers with goat's cheese and rocket. Followed by tirimasu, yes, but two servings, not six. And I ate with pleasure, not self-loathing and now I feel pleasantly satisfied. Feels like a breakthrough!

NicknameTaken · 03/05/2010 13:36

Two week weigh-in and I'm a couple of pounds down! And I'm really enjoying my food!

Pwsimerimew · 04/05/2010 09:38

I've listened to the cd this morning. and waited to eat my breakfast until I was hungry and I've stopped eating half way. It's only a tub of mullerlight, but I can eat the rest later when I'm peckish again.
I find it difficult if I don't listen to the cd, and I tend not to listen to it when the DC and DH are home, which means I've had a three day break over the bank holiday.
But, I have approached an aquaintance of mine and she has said she'll hypnotise me next week. SHe knows I'm doing PM and will reinforce his plan.....so, watch this space!

vintage · 04/05/2010 13:57

i had deregegistered but had to come back on to tell you i have lost over 2 stone on this since January . I inly het weighed once a month at the dietician and i am not due back to the 19 th of May so i am hoping for a lot more to have came off. When i go it has been 10lbs i have lost usually, I have went from a size 20 to a size 14 and even managed to get into a pair of M&s jeans today though muffin top was much in evidence but i felt great. I am vegetarian . have been going to the gym and swimming and i am about to start the 30 day shred as well it is the best purchase i have ever made. I LISTEN TO MY CD RELIGIOUSLY AND THE BOOK COMPLETLY CURED ME OF CRISPS WHICH HAVE BEEN MY DOWNFALL FOR EVER GIVE IT A GO IT IS BRILLIANT sorry so excited im shouting

vintage · 04/05/2010 13:59

meant to say size 12 m and s jeans

Original poster
realitychick · 04/05/2010 23:55

Hey Vintage - stick around - what brilliant news.

I've lost another pound. Only one but seeing as I've been noshing crisps, pints of beer, choc cake, ice cream, pizza, peanut butter and loads of wine I can't really complain. (Had a very heavy workload - not been around much - and just ate what my OH was having instead of preparing healthy fresh food.) And it still worked. Really happy with it and don't mind that it's slow. Feels like food and being overweight is one thing I just don't have to worry about anymore, ever. Went out with skinny friends a few nights ago. I am usually the biggest of the group, and though I was still, I didn't feel completely out of place, got comments on my clothes (they never comment on my clothes because they don't normally want to look like me) And I ate less than most of them too, for the first time ever!

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