6 months on..Paul McKenna...

  • Its getting on for 6 months since Paul McKenna had those I can make you thin shows on Sky.

    Just wondering if any of you are still doing it? Any success with it? Was it a disaster? Did you give up?

    I did try it briefly in February, was thinking of giving it another go, but want to hear if it actually works before I do
  • Well I gave this some thought yesterday and decided I'll give it a try for two weeks starting from tomorrow. I'll be keeping a journal and will try to listen to the CD every day. You're supposed to wait for two weeks in between getting weighed, so I'll update on the 29 June if anyone's interested.

    (BTW just got on the scales this morning and I'm my heaviest ever weight so I definitely have to do SOMETHING!)
  • The problem with his idea of 'eating what you want, when you want' is that I've always done that - which is why I weigh too much.

    I think the Paul McKenna hypnosis CDs can really help but I'm not at all sure that the 'I can make you thin' concept is really good on a long term basis for chronically overweight people. IMHO if someone is marginally or temporarily overweight - i.e. post child birth, post operation or post holiday - then it might help them re-learn normal eating habits but, for those of us that have a difficult relationship with food or exercise, something a bit more structured is essential.
  • I did it (alongside a conventional diet which is against everything Paul believes!) But because I have PCOS which in effect means I have pre-diabetes, I had to rein in what I was eating. If I hadn't a medical condition, I'd just have done Paul's thing.

    And it has worked for me although I've stalled horribly for months I haven't regained weight, either. For me, it worked more on the exercise front. After first doing the CD I had this incredible urge to exercise, come what may - and that's what made a big difference at the start, although I now think diet's really 90% of it, exercise, however manic you can get - only 10%. But Paul did kickstart me into what became a pattern of healthy eating and exercise.

    If you read it carefully, it goes beyond 'eat what you want' - and as it's a form of autohypnosis, you find yourself moderating yourself - which is the only way you could ever keep weight off longterm anyway. So it doesn't offer the miracle solution of say, low carbing - with fast, unhealthy water weight loss - but it's slow and steady because you find yourself not fancying that cake, or whatever. If you use the CD he does put the idea in your head to eat 'light, healthy' meals - and he gives you solid techniques for dealing with cravings (energy tapping) so the power is in your hands. If you want a cream cake, you can always do one of the cravings buster techniques. It's up to you to do that though and I guess the way we all got overweight in the first place was losing control. Autohypnosis puts you firmly back in control - it's not just less calories, more exercise but also modifies your mind. And the mind is probably the biggest factor in this.

    It's also easy when you're being good at the start and the weight is falling off - but as you reach goal and plateau, not for days but months maybe on end - I've found I can keep going because Paul's stuff is behaviour modification. On a straight diet/exercise regime I'd have long given in, and decided it didn't work and gone back to the cakes and biscuits!

    So it has worked for me - although I'm still wavering 3-6lb off target weight, and maybe will never get there, but I find I no longer want to eat like I did.

    It's also about being kind to your body - not punishing it with gruelling exercise that a year from now, you won't have sustained - but having fun. A year on, I'm still at it, so I suspect there's something in his approach. It's also about liking who you are NOW - you have to accept what you see in the mirror today, before you can move on and lose the weight. So it's very good for the self esteem. Recommended! But, in my case, I did follow a 'diet' too!