Paul McKenna's I Can Make You Thin

I became aware Paul McKenna in the most backward way. First, I caught the last 10 minutes of him on a QVC commercial. I liked him- he had a lot of charisma, but I missed the beginning of the show and therefore didn't really catch what his 'diet' was all about. I thought about him for a few days and then simply put him out of my mind. One day in the library, his 90 Day Success Journal was upfront and center and so I checked it out. It was good, but again, I really needed the accompanying book- I Can Make You Thin to go with it, but alas, the library didn't have that. This time I didn't forget about it, I simply filed it away for future reference. During my trip home to the US at Christmas 2008, I made another heady trip to my local bookstore- Barnes and Noble and there was his book, I Can Make You Thin on the display table as soon as I walked into the door. Now I don't need to be whacked on the head to get the hint, so I bought the book, of course.


He states right from the beginning that the book can be read in about 2 hours. It can be. And it is full of information. It all sounds simple- and it probably is- it's just that the application is the thing that proves to be the most difficult.


I tried it last year for 3 days- but the timing was wrong. At the same exact time, I had just started my dark journey into hell. However, 14 months later and although still living the nightmare, I'm getting 'used' to it, so to speak. Plus, I've got a year of counselling under my belt and some fabulous insight and self discovery courtesy of said counselling.

Anyways, here I am with a 10 pound weight gain since last month. The last two weeks have been atrocious, to say the least. Since last January, I have put on 50 lbs.! Yikes. A couple of people have mentioned that perhaps now isn't the best time to confront my weight problem with all that is going on in my home life. The reason being that comfort eating is my coping mechanism among other things. But as my sister pointed out, when will it ever be a good time? We all have 'stuff' going on at any given time in our lives.

So anyways, since Friday, I've picked his book back up and instead of zipping through it in 2 hours and jumping right in, I've decided to take it slow.


This is not a diet by the way. Here are the 4 Golden Rules:


-when you're hungry, EAT
-eat what you want, not what you think you should
-eat consciously and enjoy every mouthful
-when you think you are full, STOP eating


These are very straightforward, simple rules. However, I have a false appetite. I eat to comfort myself and to push down feelings that I don't want to deal with. It would never occur to me to eat when I was actually hungry. I can't remember the last time my stomach growled. And although I'm full and sometimes sick, there is something there that is not sated and it is not my hunger.

I've decided to focus for the time being on listening to my body to see what true hunger feels like. I'll get to the rest of the steps, but first, I need to find out what it feels like to be hungry. For the past thirty years, I've listened to my head and my heart instead of my stomach.

I started this on Friday, the 26th and I caught myself on the first day eating 'unconsciously' not noticing if I was hungry or not and not even paying any attention to what I was putting into my mouth.

McKenna does give a hunger scale from 1-10 and suggests in the beginning to check every hour where you are on the scale.

All I can do is give it my college girl try.

The Week in Review

Earlier this week, I had a pivotal 24 hour day.

As I had mentioned previously, I had an appointment to see the bariatric surgeon in Cork City about the gastric bypass surgery. In a chat with his receptionist Monday morning about one thing, I learned that my 'private' health insurance doesn't cover the 17k surgery. Let me clarify, it does but the plan I'm on does not. So after 2 months of mentally psyching myself up, it won't be done. At least not anytime soon. I could switch to one of the other plans but then I'd have to wait the 2 years for a 'pre existing' condition. To say that I was disappointed is an understatement. I was well aware of the risks with the surgery, namely death and complications as well as gaining all the weight back however I had felt that I had reached the breaking point.


By Monday evening however, I had a different slant on things. I felt that there was a reason for this- that it was not going to happen. I was still disappointed but I had come to accept it.


Continuing on this arc of all things happen for a reason, Tuesday morning I received an email from my good friend, Barb Z. to check out That's Fit website and the testimonial of Larissa and how well she did on Gwen Shamblin's Weigh Down diet, a faith based diet.


The funny thing is, I had been on this diet back in the late 1980's or early 90's. Within the last year I wanted to try it again but I couldn't think of the name of the diet or the woman who wrote it. I had liked the premise of it. Basically, exchange your relationship with food for a relationship with God. It teaches you to listen to your body and cut your portions and always eat the best parts first. I always eat the parts I don't like first and save the best parts for last. Also you could eat what you want. I do remember that I lost 8 pounds the first week ( and at that point, I had only weighed 190 lbs, oy vey!) But she distinctly said to wait until you are truly, truly stomach growling hungry and at the beginning this might take 24-48 hours. It took me 24 hours at the time. Probably take me about a week now.


I like the old saying that I'm a spiritual being having a human experience and not a human being having a spiritual experience. So, I had no problems with some of her premises. I agree with her premise that God wants us to be happy and that all this food was created for us to enjoy but in moderation. I agree that we should be turning to God instead of food in times of trouble. My only discomfort with the book was the Southern Belt bible thumping Praise Jesus stuff. I'm whole heartedly for a better relationship with God or the Christ consciousness or whatever you want to call it but I don't want it in an in your face way.


I looked it up on Amazon and I had planned on ordering it but I can only get it from the Amazon- US site- so the book only costs $10 but they'll charge about $50 to ship and handle it (as my dad always says, 'Don't handle it so much, just ship it!') Anyways, I looked on my bookshelf for something similar and found that I have acquired 9 books on dieting alone since I've moved to Ireland 4 years ago. I went back to Paul McKenna's I Can Make You Thin which I had bought 18 months ago and really liked. Similar premise except no God part. And a CD comes with it.


So this week has been an eye opener for me, proving once again, that sometimes, the answer was right there all along.


Anyways, yesterday was the 26th and here are my stats:

23.3 stone

326 pounds

148.2 kg

It's embarassing to be writing a blog about losing weight and then end up gaining. I'm determined to apply the principles in Paul McKenna's book. That will be the next post. Watch for it here.

Also, note the BMI (Body Mass Index) calculator on the left of the blog. See what your BMI is- for free and privately, of course.

Forget about dieting. Forever. Diets are essentially training course in how to get fat and feel like a failure.



Paul McKenna

This Is My Life

Just wanted to share this with everyone today.

I normally don't fawn over tv commercials, in fact, I rarely watch tv, but when this ad comes on, I stop what I'm doing just to watch and listen.

I'm curious to find out if it has ever been shown Stateside.

Enjoy.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T_gBpo5s-OA

It's All Relative

Today, I thought about how women worry about their weight and some obsess about it- namely myself. After my boys, I worry most about my weight.

I began to wonder if men obsess about their weight and I mean really obsess about it. I highly doubt it. Men are pretty simple, straightforward creatures and I mean that as a compliment. Women tend to analyze things too much. We think way too much for our own good sometimes. We look for every nuance, angle and hidden meaning in any given situation. And then we like to keep going over and over it in our heads. It's what I like to call being a dead horse beater.

For example, try to picture a man saying any of the following:


Does this make my butt look big?'

'I hate my arms.'

'I'm a chocoholic.'

'Even my fat pants don't fit.'

'I just hate myself for eating that!'

It's only lunch and I've already eaten my points for the day.'

'I'll take my glasses off when I weigh myself.'

'I feel so bloated.'

'My hormones are all out of whack.'

'There's no way I'm putting on a bathing suit.'

'I'm going back to Weight Watchers.'

'Oh try these, they only have 1 point.'


And if they are worrying about their weight, what do they do? Switch to lite beer and head to the gym. Simple.

The Happy Medium

I am fully aware that I've missed the post on the 26th of February. And there is a reason for this. Not a good one, but one nonetheless. There is no change in anything: my weight, my pattern of thinking and most of all, my relationship with food.

The stats remain the same.

Two things have occurred.

First, I was all geared up to join Unislim last week. Similar to Weight Watchers, they use units instead of points. At the last minute, I abandoned ship. I just couldn't do it. And I didn't want to. It would have been my third time joining not to mention the two times that I joined Weight Watchers here in Ireland. So, not only am I a veteran of all sorts of American diets but now Irish ones as well. Around the world's diets in 80 years.


But I did make an appointment to see a bariatric surgeon in Cork for April about the gastric bypass surgery. I must check it out. The insurance companies require that you see a dietician for six months prior to the surgery. Initially, I was upset because, being a Zimmer girl and liking everything done yesterday, I'd been hoping that the surgery might be able to be done right away. Like this week. However, the more I turn it over in my mind, this is a good thing, both the dietician and the waiting.


I travel between two ends of the spectrum. At one end is total lack of self control and disregard for what is being put into my mouth. At the other end is deprivation (or dieting). I don't like either ends. What I'm looking for is the happy medium. It is my Holy Grail. It sounds easy but I find it elusive.


I'm reminded of the movie, The Maltese Falcon. In it, Sidney Greenstreet plays Mr. Gutman, a man who has spent his whole life travelling the world in search of the fabulous bejeweled bird. When this particular bird turns out to be a phony, initially he is gutted but he soon recovers and is off again to some foreign port in search of that elusive bird.


I am him. And my quest continues.