Paul McKenna "I Can Make You Thin!"

Maisie_M

Day 3

Well work today. Had to decide what I wanted for lunch before I left home, which kind of goes against the rules as it wasn’t necessarily what I fancied at lunchtime. Had my breakfast before I left home. Only had one slice of toast and a glass of water as I felt full when I finished the first slice I had made. I was peckish around 1030 but had a coffee and that satisfied me until 1130 when I had a bag of crisps. For lunch I had a cheese sandwich and yoghurt and didn’t want the fruit I had taken in as I was too full. Normally I would have had two sandwiches, crisps, fruit and a chocolate bar without even thinking about it. I also listened to one of Paul’s CD’s on my MP3 player at lunchtime (not an eyes closed as I didn’t want to go into a trance at work lol), but it was great to have that reinforcement.

Felt really tired in the afternoon but instead of reaching for the biscuits I had a coffee and then half an hour later had the grapes I had taken in for lunch. Had my tea when I got home with my son as I still want to have family meals together and not have to eat on my own. I didn’t have the Gu pudding I had left over in my pack of three from yesterday at dinner time but I did have two slices of toast for supper.

I watched my son when he was eating dinner this evening and noticed that he naturally follows Paul’s rules in terms of chewing your food well, enjoying it and also eating until you feel full. He is healthy, slim, full of energy and eats when his body tells him but can eat at set times for his main meals such as breakfast, lunch and dinner. This kind of reinforced the rules that Paul is telling me about and made me realise how natural this should all be.

I have to confess that although this appears to be a ‘what I ate today’ list I did find that I didn’t think about food, what I would be eating next and when would I have it today which I usually find myself doing quite a lot during a normal day. It was great to suddenly feel peckish and assess as whether this was true hunger, boredom, thirst or tiredness as all of these areas have affected my eating. I feel that I made good choices in terms of when to eat and eating consciously. I thoroughly enjoyed everything I ate today and will listen to the CD again this evening. I also finished the ‘I can make you thin book’ which I will start reading again tomorrow as I think I kind of skim read it to get through it and now I need to go back and start absorbing it and doing the exercises.

welcome Flossiepops hope you enjoy the cd, book and journal when they arrive.

Maisie_M

Day 4

A different day yet again today. I appear to be doing all the challenges I could think of for this eating system in one week, which was not planned, just the way the week is panning out. Work again today but was having lunch with a friend so I didn’t need to anticipate what I might fancy for lunch when I was making breakfast!!!

Enjoyed a bowl of Crunchy Nut Cornflakes this morning, which I adore but haven’t had in a long time as they were never allowed on any of the ‘diets’ I have been following over the past 21 years. Gosh it sounds terrible saying that and I haven’t been loosing weight all that time as I did reach a good healthy size 10/12 in 1988 and stayed that until 1992, then again in 1994 until 1995 and then in 1998 to 2000. But even when I wasn’t dieting I was trying to maintain the slim me on the diet plans I had been following to get to that size. As Paul said in his book and CD I am a typical yoyo dieter and each time I follow a diet and get to target weight I then put it all back on and more as the diets I have been following have been difficult for me to maintain for life.

Anyway less pondering about the past and onto today. Quite busy at work and again I felt hungry around 10:30 and had a coffee to see if I was really hungry or if it was thirst. However 15 minutes later I did feel hungry so had a small twirl. I then went out with my friend for lunch at 1pm and ordered garlic mushrooms and then chilli con carne with rice and pitta. For both courses I ate slowly and enjoyed my food and ended up leaving some food on my plate for both, which is extremely unusual for me at I normally like to polish off the whole lot.

This evening I wasn’t hungry at dinner time so decided not to have anything but I did feel hungry at about 830pm. I had a glass of water to make sure that I was really hungry and again realised I was so I had some eggy bread. Again this is something I love which reminds me of my childhood but I rarely have it as again it would be ‘banned’ on the diets I have previously followed. I definitely feel a lot more relaxed around food as I know I can eat whatever I fancy and that is really liberating. I have found that because of this I am obsessing less about food and wondering what I could/would have for the next meal or snack.

Today’s project in the journal is to accept myself and spend a few moments in front of the mirror sending love and approval to myself and I am now off to do that then listen to one of the CD’s.


Hope everyone else is doing okay and looking forward to hearing how you are getting on.

flossiepops

My Books arrived in the post yesterday so I now officailly ready to start day 1 (really this is day three but it was useful to have the first two days as practice for the real thing!). Just like a little kid I have filled in my name and the date in my journal and I'm feeling quite excited about the whole thing!
For the last two days I have been trying really hard to eat consciously - its amazing how much better things taste and how much I was able to pack away previously when I wasn't concentrating on what I was eating. Eating slowly is taking some effort and I don't think I'm down to a quarter of the speed yetbut my dinner did go cold on my plate last night so that must be a good sign!
Maisie, you sound like you are really in the 'zone' and doing really well. I know exactly what you mean about not obsesing about food in the same way when you're not always trying to think 'what can I have? How many syns / points / cals etc?'. This is really early days for me and I'm sure there will be many challenges ahead, I already feel less of an emotional attatchment to food. I'm less worried about missing out on something IYKWIM?
Not had breakfast yet, although I'm up just after 6.00 I don't feel hungry for a while usually (probably becuase in the past I'd have stuffed myself silly the night before)but I'm lucky in that I can get breakfast at work.

Plan for the day:
Eat when I'm hungry until I'm confortably full and eat s l o w l y ...
Listen to the CD for the first time
Complete my journal

Heres to my fabulous day 1 and I hope everyone else has a good one too,

Flossie xxx

Maisie_M

Day 5

Well a strange day today. Have had a couple of what I would call ‘light bulb’ moments with regard to my eating habits and also tackling some willpower issues.

Had a busy day Christmas shopping with mum. Did loads of walking and okay yes it was around shops and a garden centre but as Paul says no matter it was an increase in exercise for me. I have to be careful with exercise as I have a problem with my hip and will have to have an operation at some stage but in the meantime I am trying to regulate the pain without resorting to painkillers, thus I have to make sure I don’t overdo walking etc. I know this won’t help my weight loss be as quick as it could be if I incorporated extra exercise into my daily or weekly routines, but that is something I have accepted.

I made myself two slices of toast for brekkie this morning as my stomach was growling at me when I woke up but only ate one and a half pieces as I was satisfied when I reached that and did not want to ‘force’ the other half down, so in the bin it went. Had a coffee in town around 10:30 am, which is definitely a thirst time for me. I never noticed this before as I would have considered that I was hungry and would have had a chocolate bar, cake, biscuit or crisps at that time with a coffee and assumed it was the food that was satisfying the feeling I was having. However over the past few days I have realised that in reality it was the drink I was having with my snack that was satisfying my craving not the food.

At 12:30 I had lunch with mum at a lovely local garden centre and we had a sandwich and a delicious cream filled scone between us. Absolutely lovely and I thoroughly enjoyed them. For dinner we got a curry and naan bread from the local takeaway and shared it between us and I microwaved a portion of rice between us as well. We both commented on how nice it was to have eaten good tasty food that we had both enjoyed and not have that bloated/sick feeling we would normally have because we had totally overeaten. In the past we would have probably had a sandwich and a cake each at lunch time and then gone on to have our dinner in the evening, possibly also having sneaked down a biscuit at 10:30am with our coffee.

The big demon I have been wrestling with today though is the urge to jump on the scales and see if I have lost any weight. Although I started this diary on Saturday and I know I shouldn’t be weighing myself until next Saturday part of me wants to see how I am doing which could really keep me motivated. I also have a sneaky wee voice in my head saying “Well although you started this diary/plan for real on Saturday, you had been listening to the tapes and kind of following the rules from the previous Monday so go on jump on and see what you have done as it’s almost 14 day”’. Okay so Paul’s weight loss programme may be addressing my eating habits but what strange voices is he putting in my head at night!:rotfl:

Only joking it’s just because I am so used to the dreaded ‘weekly weigh in’ that I am fighting urges to weigh myself and that almost seems a harder habit to break than my obsessive relationship with food. But I have resolved not to give in and I will wait until 21st November before I get the scales out.

So I am off to chill now and to listen to Paul on my MP3 player, my nightly ritual.

Flossie glad your books came through and great to see your diary too. :T

Looking forward to hearing from everyone else, just hope I am not scaring everyone else away with my ramblings.

mintymoneysaver

Nice to hear from you two newbies! I'm on day 54 now, 6 days to my next weigh in! The craving to weigh in does get less as you go on. I know my clothes are looser and I know I'm eating what I need so it soesn't matter too much whether the scales say I have lost 2lbs or 4 ( obviously I'm secretely hoping for the latter though!) Still sticking to it most of the time....I've only had 1 day where I deliberately set out to 'break' the rules, other days I probably just haven't stopped when I should. Will let you know how I get on....

Maisie_M

Day 6

Bit of an off day today. I didn’t really do any eating when I was hungry apart from around 11:30am when I had a packet of crisps. The rest of the day I ate when I ‘should’ eat i.e. breakfast. Lunch and dinner time but I wasn’t really hungry then. I ate consciously and until I was full but then I didn’t manage to leave anything on my plate either. I don’t know if it was because I made myself smaller portions and therefore I had made just enough for me to eat or if I was just taking more to fill me.

I still haven’t eaten a huge amount today, and definitely less than I would have done before I started this, but I am concerned that when I eat the things that I fancy they are not always the most healthy of choices. I know in the book it says that this may happen and by listening to your body you will start to eat more healthily but I am wondering how long it will take and am I going to loose any weight in this first fortnight if I am eating less healthy food.

On the plus side I felt full of energy today and gutted my bedroom which took me two hours, then I did the shopping and then some ironing so I feel good for doing all that. I’m feeling a bit tired now so I am off to bed with my CD and then that’s me for today.

Mintysaver – great news on your clothes getting looser, and good luck for your weigh in in 6 days. Just a quick question as you have been doing this for 54 days, I was wondering whether when you started did you find that you made ‘bad’ choices in the food that you were having?

mintymoneysaver

Maisie,
I still don't think I make very good choices! I'm a fussy eater with a terrible sweet tooth and I will very rarely choose a piece of fruit over a biscuit! I keep hoping it will happen but it hasn't yet....the only thing I will say is that I very rarely have apudding after a meal now as I don't need it.

flossiepops

Evening Maisie and Mintymoneysaver, sounds like you are both doing well and its good to know there are others out there trying the same method. Well done on the exercise Maisie, walking round the shops is definately still walking - and think of all the weights you did too carrying your Christmas shopping! Mintymoneysaver, I'm impressed that you are on day 54 - are you finding it reasonably easy to follow? I must say that I have lost that feeling of deprivation that I usually feel when I try to lose weight, and as a result I have lost some interest in food which is great if truth be known! Well actually, not lost interest as such just lost obsession which has to be real positive! I found myself in asda at lunchtime wondering what to have for my lunch as although i was hungry I wasn't having to choose from a mental list of syns or points, I wasn't being 'bad' and therefore buying everything in sight, I was simply looking for something tasty to satisfy me for lunch - for me this is a revelation!
I've had a terrible day in some respects - work are trying to force us to take paycuts and its all getting very fraught so I popped out for lunch and was so busy thinking about work that i reversed into some poor woman's car - arghhh! She was really sweet and we swapped details fine but I was feeling shaky, not to mention v embarrassed for being so stupid! Normally my reaction would have been to comfort myself with a cake but I could hear Paul's voice telling me to listen to my body and I knew that cake wasn't really the answer so I settled for a chicken sarnie instead! Figured that if I really wanted cake then I could have some for dinner instead but the thought has passed by then!:j
Leaving food on my plate was easier today than previously and I think I've started to serve myself smaller portions without feeling any less satisfied - the dogs are loving all the leftovers too!!!
Eating consciously is probably my hardest one - dinner at home is easy but anything eaten in work tends to be at my desk which is a really bad habit and one I need to work on.
First real challenge tomorrow as I have visitors in work complete with the obligatory buffet and I am a terrible picker!! Will have to concentrate on the things I really like and be aware of that very short little signal that indicates its time to stop!

Goodluck to everyone for a positive day tomorrow,

Flossie xxx

Maisie_M

Hi

had a really busy weekend so haven't had a chance to update my diary. However I have been sticking to most of the rules so feel good about that.

Day 10

Had a day off today as the schools were on holiday and I had taken some leave to look after my son. Didn’t wake until 9am so we decided just to get showered, dressed and head of to a soft play area and have breakfast there. I had a roll and bacon with a latte. Thoroughly enjoyed it and later we went into town as I had a few things to do. DS was hungry and had a cake and some water but I just had some water. Later at home DS was hungry and had some lunch but I didn’t fancy much so just had a mini bounty, which was a nice change. I didn’t feel hungry until tea time and had a chicken Kiev, mashed potatoes and peas. I left some chicken kiev as I felt that I was full and I know I didn’t put as much mash on my plate as I would normally have done.

However I can honestly say that I didn’t eat as consciously as I should have as I was scanning photos into my computer whilst eating. Note to self that I need to make sure that I am not doing anything but eating when I have my meals in order for me to slow down my eating and to be conscious of the food I am enjoying. In saying that I was still able to tell when I was full and to stop eating instead of just wolfing it down.

I have been making an effort to drink a lot more water and less coffee today which I note has had me running to the loo more regularly but hoping this will help with my weight loss.

My journal focussed on rule 1 over the weekend and is going on rule 2 today. I did feel as though my clothes felt a wee bit looser today but not sure if that is my imagination or not as I haven’t weighed myself. I also felt that I had missed listening to my CD’s on Friday and Saturday night as I definitely felt more focussed and determined to follow the rules today, although in saying that I didn’t do badly over the weekend but felt I wasn’t quite as committed.

Hope everyone else is doing okay. Flossie hope you are finding it okay. Minty is it your weigh in tomorrow?

flossiepops

Day 6
I haven’t posted for 4 days as its been busy busy busy but been doing OK I think. I’m definitely eating less by only eating when I’m hungry and I’m really enjoying having what I want rather than what a particular plan says that I should have. Food shopping was odd this weekend though as I really didn’t know what I wanted – given the choice of everything I bought very little indeed! Some of my favourite soda bread, real butter and mature cheddar but not much else! Mind you, what else do you need?! I did have a very non-nutritional meal yesterday though – a pint of cider and 2 custard slices – my first alcohol and first cake this week! However, I did thoroughly enjoy my bizarre lunch and savoured every nibble and sip even if it did feel very naughty! They were eaten on a very cold seaside pier as a romantic Sunday afternoon picnic lunch!

I’m happy with eating when hungry but like you Maisie M I need to continue to work on eating slowly and consciously. With some foods and times its easy but with softer food or when there are distractions I find that I can eat more without even thinking. My real test will come now tomorrow and Wednesday as I am away with work for a couple of days facing dinner and breakfast alone in a hotel and meetings with buffet lunches and biscuits! At least I can use the time in the evenings to listen to the CD a few times though.

I’m looking forward to my day 15 weigh in now as I’d like to know how I’m getting on. Going to try and hold out for the full 15 days though. Good luck Minty and Maisie for yours!
Hope everyone else is doing OK?
Take Care, Flossie xxx