Last night, I watched the last episode of Paul McKenna's "I'll Make You Thin" and I was wondering, how the heck is it possible that people are losing weight with his "eat when you are hungry, eat what you want" principles? There was this one large guy who lost 33 pounds, and he still eats ice cream and then some (I would bet he eats burgers, pizza etc. because that was his lifestyle before he ran into McKenna). While I, even though I am not exactly sticking to 1200 cals a day, but I exercise (albeit sparingly in the last two weeks due to a problem with me shin) and I definitely eat very healthy, lost ..... TA DA ..... ONE WHOPPING POUND in the last weeks.

So what is it that makes the other folks lose weight? I know they control (with McKenna's program) their cravings and perhaps are able to conquer emotional eating, but how can you lose if you continue to eat bacon, potato chips and what not?

And speaking of bacon, I did not start this week on the right foot. I had my usual breakfast, then in the middle of the morning I carefully counted myself 25 almonds (I had 28 but I put 3 back into the bag), then I nibbled on some fruit salad at lunch time and I had to go to a store. Then, suddenly the circuitry in my brain shorted out and I headed straight to the nearest McD's and I had a bacon cheeseburger and fries. Ate it to the last crumb.
I returned to work to find out we were having some presentation at 1 pm ... lunch served. So on top of the McMeal I had a slice of pizza and two tiny desserts. Tell me, where is this coming from? For 6 weeks, I ate very well and without any major mishaps. I usually don't tend to binge so what went wrong???

Sometimes, I just don't get it. I am getting on the treadmill to reverse some of the damage (shin or not) - I have this theory that if I burn the calories the same day, the stuff won't turn into lard (hahaha .... a very scientific theory, isn't it?)

Anyway, thanks for letting me rant. Tomorrow will be a better day and I will be a better person.

First let me say that I'm not defending Paul McKenna.... I think he has some good points about changing one's mentality to overcoming emotional eating, but I'm definitely very skeptical. After all, emotional eating isn't the only cause of obesity. I gained weight, and I am not an emotional eater at ALL. Of all of those overweight people in his studio audience, I seriously doubt many of them will lose a significant amount of weight, much less sustain that weight loss over time. (Almost) everybody returns to bad habits.

But to put your post into perspective, I don't think he ever said anything about losing the weight "fast." I think in reality it probably comes off slowly (1-2 lbs per week, or less). And to compare yourself to a very tall, large man who lost 33 lbs in 6 weeks or whatever it is, isn't exactly coming apples to apples!

You know, I haven't even watched that program. All I know about it is what's been posted here. Same with the guy who touts "intuitive eating" (or is it the same guy? ) Anyhoo - I think this program is exactly the same as every other diet on the market: It's going to work great for some people and not at all for others. IMHO some of us just can't process certain foods - end of story. Doesn't matter how small the portion is or if we've waited until we are having "real" hunger, if we have it every day we are going to stall our efforts to lose. Possibly, with that extra careful portion control, we could have that small slice of pizza or scoop of ice cream when we get to maintenance but, me? I'm not even close to maintenance yet and I'm already suffering panic attacks at the thought of gaining anything back so I'm thinking I'm going to pass.

tomato..i think one of your problems s you may not be eating enough. If you are 200 lbs...and only eating 1200 cals a day...that may not be enough for your body. I eat around 1600 cal a day at 167 and can loose 1-2 lbs a week (when i'm religious with my eating..which doesn't always happen). if you aren't eating enough your body may "hold" to the weight.

As for the show..i think its getting people to get use to certain eating habit and break bad ones...and i think that's the big thing for people. If you say you can't ever have something..then at some point, you break down and purge. I have lost weight while allowing myself a cookie or ice cream on occasion...but i don't sit down and eat a whole bag of chips any more...but i still have chips and salsa 5-6 times a week...but i weight and measure everything and its calcuated into my daily allowance. I think its a show to help take control of their eating.

I've been watching that show, and following it, and a pound has come off. The guy who lost 33 pounds, if I remember correctly, weighed over 400 when he started. And he lost that weight over the course of several months. He lost (for the sake of argument) 10% of his body weight over the course of 16 weeks - or just over 2 pounds per week.

The principles work for emotional eaters (present!). We log everything we eat...consciously. I've had my husband be my conscience, and he'll say things like "Remember to include those fries you stole off my plate". I don't even remember eating them. So his program breaks that habit of unconscious eating by training your mind to be in sync with your stomach.

He posted on his website that once you've gotten that sync going, you'll begin to become more in tune with what your body wants. You'll realize that you aren't really craving chocolate when your sweet tooth hits, your craving an orange, because your body wants the vitamin C. Emotional eaters take those cues as to what their body NEEDS and turn them into something that their emotions WANT. Cause we all know that a Hershey's bar is way more emotionally comforting than a tangerine.

The final part is that emotional eaters eat because they're jittery to do something. Our brains take that cue from our bodies to get up and move and turn it into an oral fixation. So instead of getting up for a walk, we get up and walk to the pantry. Again, once we start to focus on what our body is actually asking us for, we start to move. And then the pounds come off naturally.

I agree with GatorgalstuckinGA, 1200 calories per day seems really low for someone that is 5' 9". I think you are just not eating enough. Not only would it explain why you are having trouble losing weight--your body thinks it is fasting and is storing everything you eat as fat--but it would also explain your binge. Most people can only maintain surviving on too little food for so long and then they end up binging.

You'd probably find it easier to stick to your plan if you allowed yourself some more calories and you might see the weight come off faster. Try raising your calories by 100 per day per week (so this week eat 1300 calories per day, next week eat 1400 calories per day, 1500 calories per day the next week) and see if that helps.

As for the show, I think most of the people on that show are much more overweight that you are. When you are that overweight, small changes in how you eat can make a big difference in your weight. But eventually they'll get down to where you are now and they'll have to make bigger changes.

Thanks for your feedback.
I just wanted to clarity that I should have worded it differently, when I said "I am not exactly sticking to 1200 cals a day" it was a big euphemism. I eat a lot more than that, probably 1600 at least. I am not counting calories and I want to see if I can continue that way. If need be, I may have to, but my thinking it is that I don't want to be on a diet and I don't want to count calories because I don't want to have to do it for the rest of my life (again, time will show if it is doable or not).
I actually did count my calories on Sunday and I got rather depressed because I was already on 1600 or so and I did not even have dinner. However, I do eat very healthy (aside from the blip yesterday) and I eat a LOT less than I used to (I am sure I was probably on a minimum of 3000 calories a day before I started my weight loss journey).

I think counting your calories would be wise, I think you would be VERY suprised at what you are putting in your body. After counting calories for two months I have eased up and I do guesstimate a little more, but I will measure things like cereal. It is second nature to me now, and at the end of the day I write it all in a journal. I've lost 16lbs so far, my weigh in is Thursday and I think I a have lost at least another pound but I won't know until then. I lost almost ten pounds in the first 4 weeks, then about a pound a week since then. If I didn't count my calories I know I would skyrocket without even knowing it. It may be a good way for you to give yourself a better idea of what you should be eating.

If I ate what I wanted when I was hungry. My diet would not be healthy enough content wise, and I most definately would not lose weight. That mentality is how I GOT overweight. I'm sure it works for some people but intuitive eating doesn't work when your intuition is out of wack.

I agree with yoyodieter. I can't eat more than 1200-1400 calories per day, and I work out a LOT (at least an hour six days a week), but if I eat the wrong foods, or if I eat too late at night, I don't lose. I've been losing pretty steadily lately, but for over a year I lost NOTHING. Not one pound, despite eating well and moderate exercise. And all because I wasn't willing to cut back on carbs or work out as hard asd I need to.

Now that I have cut back the carbs (and I was eating complex carbs, not junk) and added weight training and running to my routine, I have started to lose again. My body just doesn't process carbs the same way other people's do. So I'm resigned to the fact that it's harder for me to lose weight than for most, and I'm just going to have to swallow that bitter pill if I ever want to reach my goal.

Which is why what's-his-name would do me no good. I've only seen his show once, but to me it seemed pretty ridiculous. If it works for people, great, but for me the only thing that works is controlling my calories (key word 'control; I don't count calories anymore) and sweating a lot.

I do measure my morning cereal but the rest I sort of guesstimate. But thanks for the link, Hat Trick, that looks like a pretty good site!

I think that Intuitive Eating can work well for SOME. For instance, some people are overweight because they eat emotionally-when stressed, bored, at parties as a social thing, etc. and not when they are actually hungry.

This is a big problem for some people-myself included. I am a calorie counter-I don't follow the intuitive eating plan-but if you are eating for reasons OTHER than hunger, I think that it can help. There are many times where I want to munch on something and it has nothing to do with actual hunger.

It depends on the person. Everyone is overweight because of taking more calories than they burn each day...but everyone's situation can be different:

~One person might be a binge eater

~One person might be too sedentary

~One person might be an emotional overeater

~One person might simply be making bad food choices-not eating too MUCH, but choosing foods that are high calorie

~One person might simply eat a little bit too large of a portion at each meal


It all boils down to calories in vs. calories out, but our personal tactics might be a little bit different. Intuitive eating and getting in tune with your actual hunger cues can help someone who eats when they are not hungry...but it might not work well for someone who has one of the other issues instead.