Paul McKenna "I Can Make You Thin!"

chezabelle_2

Hi Ladies,

Firstly, let me start by thanking you :beer: for some fantastic reading over the last two days - I came across this board yesterday when googling PM's 'I Can Make You Thin' and have become instantly addicted - I've now read every single post!

You all sound lovely and your progress reports and thoughts have been so revealing and comforting to me.

I have struggled with my weight all my life, and am currently on the Rosemary Conley diet, hoping to emulate my mum's success who has lost 2 stone with RC over the last year. However, on Monday night, after an evening by myself (classic emotional overeating, I know!!) I gorged myself stupid on a load of 'bad' food that I didn't need or want, but somehow filled a gap for me.

So far, I have lost 9lb following RC in about 5 weeks, but my loss is definitely slowing down now, and that is pretty depressing. I tend to do really well during the day, and then let myself down in the evenings.

When I crawled into bed a little while after my Monday binge, I felt rubbish... so I started to write some thoughts down (I often find writing quite cathartic, and it helps me to 'make sense' of my emotions). Here is an excerpt:

"I just can't seem to stop. I let go. I buy and eat stupid, greasy, horrible foods - foods that I know are making me fat and unhappy. And for a moment, I don't care. All I care about is the feeling of it in my mouth, filling me with satisfaction. I'm addicted. I'm a binger. I eat alone, hiding; eat past the point of wanting more - even to the point of feeling disgusting and disgusted - with myself. I don't know why I do it. I'm an intelligent, rational human being. I know what works and I know how to do it because I've done it before... so why can't I now??":eek:

At the time, I felt like I was the only person in the world who was like this; that I was worthless and had no willpower. And then something lurked in my memory - I remembered reading something about this in PM's book, which I've had for a few years (read once, then forgot!). So yesterday I started to re-read it, and it just makes total sense!! I've decided to give it another go, and to *try* to perhaps combine it with a little bit of the Rosemary Conley sense... i.e. where I can choose a low-cal but just as yummy option, I will, as well as doing plenty of exercise.

For me, I think the most important thing is the eating consciously... I amaze myself at how I can eat an entire pack of biscuits and only really 'notice' I've eaten one or two... yet somehow the whole lot seem to have disappeared!

If you don't mind, I'd love to join you on here, and continue to read and update on progress. I've just ordered a copy of the PM Journal, as I find keeping a written record of things helps me quite a lot, so I'm UP FOR IT!:j

Thanks so much for all your fabulous posts...
xx

Bitsy_Beans

Hi Chezabell and welcome to our thread. So glad you sound motivated. some days I am more motivated than others but hey a life time of bad habits won't unravel in a few weeks.
Can I say think to try and combine this way of eating with RC is a mistake (sorry I don't wish to offend you). If you savour your food you'll probably realise that most low cal stuff is actually dire. Of course you are free to try this but if you are not eating what you REALLY want then you're still a slave to "good" or "bad" foods. I'd rather eat food on the basis that I like the taste rather than whether it's low fat or not.
Sorry if I've spoken out of turn - please keep posting. I look forward to hearing about your journey with PMK.

chezabelle_2

Hi BitsyBeans,

Nice to hear from you! :T
I totally agree with you... I think it will definitely be a challenge to combine the two, and it'll be something I'll revisit a lot to see how I'm getting on. There are some things for instance (M&S low cal choc mousses spring to mind!) which I genuinely find just as yummy as 'the real thing', so on the rare occassions when that happens, I think I'll opt for the lower cal one.

HOWEVER

I totally get what you're saying, and to be honest, I'm a little sceptical myself... I think I'm just scared of putting back on the weight I've already fought so hard to lose with RC... 9lbs doesn't sound like a lot, but as we all know, it takes some dedication to achieve it!!

I was interested to hear from some of the earlier posters about the aversion therapy techniques that PM uses... I must admit, I haven't been able to bring myself to use this yet, as I keep thinking "but I LIKE chocolate!! What if I wanted to have a really nice chocolate pudding in a restaurant one time, and all I could think of was it being covered in human hair/rat poo/sick?!" (depending on which restaurant I'm eating in, the visualisation may be closer to the truth than others, of course!) :rotfl:
Has anyone tried this successfully? I read a few pages back that someone successfully used the technique to stop smoking (cold turkey) and they've never gone back since... I think it's a lot harder teaching yourself to not want something which is, in effect, good for your health (unlike smoking).

Any thoughts?

Bitsy_Beans

My H used the aversion type exercise for cheese and now avoids the stuff completely. I find that if I get the urge for chocolate that the tapping works so rather than putting it off me for life I can deal with the craving without losing the pleasure of chocolate. There is no way I never want to eat chocolate again - what i have noticed though is I've gone off Dairy Milk chocolate etc and prefer dark as it has more taste (and I am not even eating 70% stuff). I don't love all dark chocolate, tried some 85% coco one and it was vile, too bitter for my tastes. But eating slowly I notice that Dairy Milk is too sweet and not actually that chocolately!
As for the low cal puds - if they taste good eaten slowly then fill yer boots!!!!

chezabelle_2

Innnnteresting... I know several people that have an addiction to cheese actually - it's powerful stuff!

I will definitely try the tapping technique, although still trying to figure out how to do it on the tube on the way home without everyone around me doing the typical Londoner thing of "OMG, I'm sitting next to a nutter..." :rotfl:

How have you got on today? I must admit, I have been very sedentary as I'm actually at home with a contagious rash, so not much excuse to go outside and exercise. Was also quite naughty (I must get out of this mindset!! arrggh!) and had some 'yum yums' earlier... which I closed my eyes to eat. And they were delicious. Still battling the 'mindless eating' thing though, when I tried to follow them with what I thought was a 'proper lunch' of a sandwich wrap...

Bitsy_Beans

You can try the other technique instead of tapping if you are conscious of people looking at you.
Imagine a coloured wheel spinning parrallel to you (so you see the thin edge rather than the diameter IYSWIM). When desire to eat comes it tends to come from your belly and most people associate a colour of say red as in desire. Now the idea is when you have the craving imagine this red spinning wheel rotating so that it's basically going anti clockwise. If you want to you can discreetly move your finger in same direction. You then reverse the direction of the spinning and change the colour to blue which is supposed to calm the desire.
I haven't tried this as I don't care about people watching me tap but I've written this from the memory of watching one of his shows. I don't recall it being in the book.
As for today I had a friend over. She bought some doritos and I baked some Twinks Home made Hob Nobs (these are LEGENDARY on the Old Style board). I ate a little of both but stopped when I was full and despite them still hanging around the kitchen I've not touched them since. As far as I am concerned that IS progress!!!!!!
I do find eating and not doing anything else boring in the extreme, I am just so used to doing other things at the same time but if I have to read, watch TV etc I make sure I chew at least 20 times which helps to slow my eating down and try and remember to tune in. Its a work in progess and some meals I've done better than others but I am getting there.

Edited to add - exercise. Hmmm not great at getting this in. Got young kids at home with me so not easy to go on the Wii Active and it's tipping down with rain at mo so no walking either. I also suffer with my back so have to be careful about what exercise I do. I play badminton on Thurs so am off to that tonight (eek typing this made me remember it's Thurs today!). I find it fun and a good workout and its the one exercise I've stuck to each week for the best part of 6 months.

Bayblue

Hello Chezabelle (great name!)

Welcome and well done on your progress so far. I remember doing RC diet way back when, she does talk a lot of sense about healthy eating. Having said that I agree with Bitsy, to do PMK successfully we must eat what we want- not what we think we should eat. Now, I'll admit that I do have some reservations myself, and yes I suppose that I do restrict myself s little tiny bit. For example I really like having a dessert so I leave a bit of room in my stomach instead of eating till I'm full to allow that. Also, as you said if you absolutely love the low fat version of something then that's great.

I try to make sure what I eat is varied, not too many ready meals, but that's more about me not being a lazy mare rather than dieting. I love vegetables, the fresher the better but I can't always be bothered to cook them, so I do disciplin myslef a bit. I really don't like fruit much- I don't know why, I just never have so unlike on other 'diets' I don't feel forced to have to eat it. I suppose what I'm trying to say is; we're going to have to do this for the rest of our lives, so you'd better be doing it a way that suits you and eating what you know you're going to enjoy.


When you've binged in the past I guess that the fear is if you let yourself eat ice cream/chocolate/biscuits you will never stop, but I promise you that it doesn't happen. And even if you went crazy and ate a whole carton or box of something then you can still pick yourself up and carry on with the plan, and probably not want that ice cream for while . It's hard to explain, but it does work. They say it doesn't require discipline, hmmm well I'm going to be honest and say that I disagree with that, it does ...a bit. I do have to stop, ask myself if I'm hungry, and then proceed from there. But even so, it's so much easier than the constant hunger and daydreaming about food that I've felt with other methods. I feel like I cannot fail because even if I eat a ton today I can still carry on tomorrow, which sounds a bit odd, but is surely better than being 'good' for ages having one bad day and then everything going to pot. This is an ongoing process, that could take me a year, I hope it doesn't, but if I get the end result than I'll be more than happy.

You mentioned the aversion therapy; I have tried it for one thing. Just before I started this I had an obsession with those cream cakes that are square with icing on top. Cream slices, I think that they are called. Anyway I'll admit to being sceptical but it did sort of work. I avoided them for a few weeks in the supermarket, then one tough day I bought them, and ate them. They were not vile, they were OK but...something had changed and my obsession with them has gone. Whether that's because of the therapy trick or the fact that I'd simply moved on from them I'm not sure, but I didn't ever crave them, so who knows. I was a sceptic when it comes to the hypnosis side of this plan. I do think though that there are things which the mind is capable of which are remarkable and I do believe in the power of positive thinking. I quite enjoy the CD, not sure if it works, but I like listening to it and relaxing. I even used the techniques in it a couple of weeks ago when the dentist was drilling my tooth for nearly an hour.

Anyway, blimey I've gone on a bit....:p To sum it up - This works for me (I've lost over a stone), and even more importantly it feels right, and it's relatively easy to do. So I'd say to anyone just try it and see what works for you.

Good luck Chezabelle.... and everyone else.

chezabelle_2

Bayblue wrote: »

Hello Chezabelle (great name!)

They say it doesn't require discipline, hmmm well I'm going to be honest and say that I disagree with that, it does ...a bit. I do have to stop, ask myself if I'm hungry, and then proceed from there.

Afternoon all!

How is everyone doing today? Loved your quote above, BayBlue - I had experience of that myself this morning. I'm working from home today, and got bored around 11am. My first thought was "hmm... let's see what's in the fridge!". Hopeless. But I'm pleased to say, I applied the principles and asked myself if I was hungry... which the definite answer was "no" so I held off until a while later when I actually was. This kind of behaviour is just so ingrained in me, and it takes a fantastic amount of willpower to reason with yourself and actually realise that you're not, in fact, hungry. At all.

One of the weirdest things I'm noticing (and I know others have highlighted this on the forum, too) is that things I previously thought were totally delicious are in fact, rather bland and uninteresting. For example, a posh-o (and totally overpriced) yoghurt from Starbucks tasted completely boooring when I actually savoured it - I only ate a few spoonfuls before giving up. Does this mean I'm going to turn into one of those people that only has the best of everything?! And makes lots of mmmms and aaaahhhs when tasting something delicious in a restaurant?! (I don't think I really mind that).

I'd just be interested to know - everyone who posts here and is following PM, how much weight have you lost since you began?

Personally, I can say a loss of 10lbs, but that was from Rosemary Conley, so doesn't really count towards PM.

I think it would be really inspiring to find out how well everyone's doing and also highlight the best psychological benefits you've come across since doing 'the system'.

Look forward to hearing from you...
Chezabelle.x

Bitsy_Beans

I can't say what I've lost as I am trying to avoid weighing myself at all. I find it demoralising most of the time and just makes me feel depressed so am trying to walk away from using the scales as a measure of my success. I am mixing PMK and the Beyond Chocolate principles so really am working on the emotional aspect of my relationship with food. I don't expect quick or massive changes as I am taking each day as it comes. I have had some success so am making progress
The tapping is the best tool I've learnt from PMK - managed to stop dead any cravings that I've had

boddy

You are all doing well. Like you Bitsy Beans Im combining PM and the Beyond Chocolate principles. The daft thing is Im a tapping practioner. Its known as EFT. I realised in bed this morning that I have not used it for ages. Used it then when thinking how nasty my boss had been yesterday. Do you use it when you feel cravings. Ive seen me tap for cravings in the past andstill have it. More an emotioanal thing I think. Chocolate is always my downfall but it seems Im better at being around it now I know I can have it. Anyway re the eating when hungry. I did better at work yesterday. My colleague at work said she had lost 6lb. When I asked how it turns out she has been using the PM and Beyond Chocolate principles without knowing about them.