A Hypnotherapist Publicly Loses Weight

2010-09-01T01:52:00.000-07:00

Pragmatics of Change
DVD Set.

NLP, Neurology and Psychiatry
The now legendary 23NLPeople.com website.

NLP and Hypnotherapy in West Sussex
With Andrew T. Austin

Metaphors of Movement

Anxiety Treatment with Hypnotherapy

Phantom Limb Pain Treatment

Weight Loss Hypnotherapy

Fetish Treatment

Getting More Clients
Brass Bollocks DVD Set

NLP Training DVDs
SmartDreamers productions

23NLPeople Blog

2010-08-13T05:31:00.000-07:00

23NLPeople Blog

Ranting again....

Professional Hypnotherapy and NLP - Chichester, West Sussex

2010-06-03T00:08:00.000-07:00

Professional Hypnotherapy and NLP Blog

In “The Rainbow Machine…” I gave an example in the chapter on Right Man Syndrome of the father who told his son that he had “ruined his life” simply for getting a tattoo. The 19 year son hadn’t really ruined his life; he’d simply got himself tattooed. Now, had he got a swastika tattooed on his forehead, shaved his head and joined the local Nazi cabal, then possibly his father may have had a point. But of course, the fellow Nazi’s may not agree with that at all. Some things are just a matter of perspective.

The level of catastrophisation is undoubtedly proportional to the intensity of the feeling the offended party. The stronger the offended party feels about the issue, the greater the level of catastrophe...

NLP Client Session: Weight Loss, using Metaphors of Movement NLP Books, NLP CDs, NLP DVDs: Real People Press

2010-05-05T03:52:00.000-07:00

NLP Client Session: Weight Loss, using Metaphors of Movement NLP Books, NLP CDs, NLP DVDs: Real People Press

Lori had successfully lost 150 pounds over a period of two years, with an intense program of exercise and food monitoring. However, for the last year she had “hit a plateau,” with no further progress. Exploring her “plateau” metaphor in detail provided her with a range of new behavioral choices. 82-minute session with four-month follow-up.

The Pragmatics of Change DVD Collection

2010-05-05T03:37:00.000-07:00

The Pragmatics of Change DVD Collection

A Masterclass For NLP Practitioners and Hypnotherapists

2010-05-05T03:07:00.000-07:00

A Masterclass For NLP Practitioners and Hypnotherapists

Weight Loss with Hypnotherapy

2010-02-17T05:30:00.000-08:00

Weight Loss with Hypnotherapy and NLP
Now available is the mp3 download version, complete with lecture notes of the workshop, "Weight Loss - A Neurolinguistic Perspective". This is an edited recording totaling just under 3.5 hours and is available by download for £19.99.

Fitness...

2008-08-26T04:55:00.000-07:00

I am back in the UK having spent a wonderful 11 days in Cirali, Turkey on honeymoon. I highly recommend Cirali - it's quiet, the sea is crystal clear with dozens of colourful fish species, turtles, squid and so forth. The food is good and the countryside in and around the mountains is fantastic. As well as snorkeling in the sea, another must-do in Cirali is to take the steep climb up the mountain to see the "Chimaera" - the fire breathing monster of the mountains: http://www.livius.org/a/turkey/chimaera/chimaera.html

Thus, combined with a Mediterranean diet and no alcohol, a result of all this swimming, climbing and mountain biking is that I've returned rather fit, or at least, sizably fitter than before.

A beginning...

2008-08-07T01:04:00.001-07:00

Getting married today. So no posts til we get back from honeymoon....

Boundaries...

2008-08-01T03:55:00.000-07:00

I've noticed a curious phenomena recently - other people really, really like deciding on my behalf what I eat and drink. A case in point: I've recently given up the booze. Nothing major in that really, I've just given up my regular (and slightly excessive) consumption of red wine and all other alcoholic drinks.

The final deciding factor was attending the Alan Carr Easyway centre in London for a workshop about the Easyway for quitting booze. It is a truely excellent workshop and I was a total convert in the first 20 minutes. More on this in a later blog entry.

Now, to the case in point - trying to tell people "no" and getting them to hear it is not always an easy thing.

The scene - a wedding last week.

"Hi, great to see you, want a drink?"
"Lovely thank you - diet coke, please."
"Awww...c'mon, it's a wedding. Have a beer!"
"No, really, just a diet coke is fine."
"What's the matter, you driving tonight? Go on, you can still have just the one!"
"No really, just a diet coke is fine."
"Hey Jim, get him a large beer...well done, man....here you go Andy, get that down your neck!"
"No, really, just a diet coke is fine."

I've had the same situation replicate itself several times in the past two weeks. It's endless. I also find it quite, quite disrespectful.

Picture the scene...

"Hi, great to see you, want a shag?"
"No really, just shaking hands is fine for me, thanks."
"Awww...c'mon, it's a party! Have a shag!"
"No, really, just shaking hands was enough, thank you."
"What's the matter, are you a lesbian or something? Go on, you can still have a quick shag."
"No, really, just shaking hands was quite enough thank you."
"Hey Jim, get her some lube... there you go Sally, put that on your bits!"

And so on.

Here's the simple message. No means no.

A dream....

2008-07-19T09:51:00.000-07:00

I had a strange dream last night; I was back in neurosurgery, having decided to resume my career there. During this dream, I realised several things. Firstly, that from working there I was very fit - a combination of dragging myself several miles each morning and night to get to and from work, combined with a physically demanding and utterly thankless working day.

The other main thing I noticed was how unpleasant it all was - a combination of dragging myself several miles each morning and night to get to and from work, combined with a physically demanding and utterly thankless working day.

Curiously, in this dream I worked out that in order to be fit again I didn't need to go back to my former occupation in which I seemed to always lack a regular supply of prescribed psychotropics enjoyed by so many of my clinical colleagues in order to cope.

I woke up initially quite depressed. However a big mug of tea, a bath and some nice recreational intercourse and my mood was suitably lifted. Thus, once dressed, the first thing I did was to go and buy a mountain bike - something I'd been putting off for weeks now. The second thing was to clear Laura's garage and take stuff to the recycling depot, and the third thing I did today was dig an allotment.

Tomorrow. I'll go for a bike ride tomorrow...

Tapping and Eating Disorders....

2008-07-10T10:35:00.000-07:00

Moving Forward...

2008-07-05T23:38:00.000-07:00

I'm teaching an "Inner Game of Weight Loss" workshop today. Here's a thought, and something I'll be exploring wih the group.

When you put your "best foot forward" and take that first step, which foot is your best foot, and how exactly do you make/take the second step? (Literally, as in using your body). How do you make/take subsequent steps?

As I say, it is just a thought.

EFT, TFT and Tapping...

2008-07-02T03:56:00.000-07:00

I keep getting questions about EFT, TFT and tapping. I'm not able to answer all the emails, sorry, because I get so many from people who want to discuss these things in depth and I really don't have all that much spare time (nor interest).

So, in order to answer all the tapping related questions at once, I made this: http://tappingforcash.com

Video and free downloads will be added in due course.

Ropes...

2008-07-01T04:20:00.001-07:00

I've just returned from an excellent time in Warsaw, Poland, training a group organised by Artur Krol in IEMT. Whilst over there I realised something about how I perceived things as a child. In PE at school, as mentioned previously, I had great difficulty in climbing the ropes. I lacked the strength to pull myself up.

As a child it never occured to me that strength could be increased with exercise. I simply accepted that I wasn't able to climb the ropes and maybe I would be able to as I got bigger. I never made the connection between exercise and body size, shape or strength. Nor did I ever make a connection between what I ate and my body size, etc.

Young anorexics realise this very early. So do the bulimics. And so did the sporty kids who would show off their muscles in the playground.

So, this has led to me wondering about those kids and subsequent adults with weight issues.

Maybe, like myself, they simply don't make the connection.

At one end of the spectrum....

2008-06-25T23:48:00.000-07:00

Law of Threes...

2008-06-25T23:25:00.000-07:00

Kushmir asks: "Can you tell me where the Neurological Law of Three comes from, besides you I have not heard any mention of it?"

The Law of threes is the basis of creatting a generalisation. In NLP, if you swish three times in rapid succession, the thing swished is more likely to stick. I've worked with physiotherapists who also find that if they get patients to repeat each exercise three times, it is more likely to generalise, I know teachers who get students to spell new words three times in a row, also to generalise the learnings.

Reply to a question....

2008-06-23T12:05:00.000-07:00

JPW asks: "How do then make the Movie Making a habit? If before you were in the habit of making still pictures? I've heard Bandler go on about this, but always forget to make movies when making decisions. Any ideas?"

This is a great question and a very important point.

In short: persistance and practice.

NLPers tend to talk about "installing the new behaviour." I try not to poke them hard in the face when I hear such piffle. There are some occasions where "installing a new behaviour" is perfectly possible, and this isn't one of them (as far as I am aware, but I'd love to be shown how).

Thus in weight loss workshops, I'll often get participants to examine three good decisions they have made (/are making), and three bad decisions that they have made (/are making), in order to establish the difference between the two.

Most common is the "movie" vs "slide" difference. Sometimes, both are movies, but the bad decisions are very short and do not include the outcome/consequence.

Another exercise is to get the person to identify three undesired behavioural traits ("bad habits") and to turn the representation of each of these sequentially into a movie...that gets longer, and longer - mapping it out 5, 10, 15, 20, 25 years into the future. Each long movie is then run three times.

It's the neurological learning law of threes.

It becomes quite depressing for the participant to do this. They start to see a different future.

Then, I'll get them to do exactly the same for three positive behaviours they have.

Things become a lot less depressing. They start to see a different future again.

Practice, practice, practice.....

Side Effects....

2008-06-20T01:08:00.000-07:00

A commonly reported phenomena from clients with whom I have worked with weight loss is the side effect of increased income. I was thinking about this whilst in the bath this morning, as my own income has increased quite noticably in the time that I decided to lose weight.

One of the psychological aspects I often work with weight loss clients is decision making. too many people make decisions based on still mental representations. This is not good. When decisions are based on movies, we can see the consequences/outcomes of our decision more readily. Still pictures can be very motivating, but when we act on this motivation, we are unlikely to be thinking things through to the consequence.

Still picture: [see cake] + [feel the hunger] = Eat cake.

Movie: [see cake] + [see consequences of eating cake] + [see how miserable I am as results of all the cakes] + [etc] = a better decision.

Imagine two companies. The CEOs of one company only base their decisions [reactively] on today. The other company's CEOs base all their decisions upon a 25 year projection.

Which company is likely to succeed in the long term?

It's a no-brainer.

That damned E word....

2008-06-13T01:15:00.000-07:00

I've been thinking about exercise and noticing what it is I actually picture when i think about doing exercise. Several pictures pop into my head and few of them are particularly pretty.

The first thing that pops into my head is the trauma of attempting to climbing the ropes in junior school PE lessons. I could get about half way up before I suffered feelings of overwhelming sexual confusion, desperately need to go and pee and lost the strength to climb any higher. I used to get the same thing when pumping a bicycle tire too as a teenager, but that is a different story. Maybe teachers can advise here, but my guess is that boys are spared this prepubescent nightmare these days on the grounds of Health and Safety and human rights violations.

I also remember vividly how when jumping down from the rope, my feet would smart in pain on landing - I lacked the arm strength the lower myself properly. And then of course there was the day I actually managed to get to the top. Brilliant! It was all rather exhilarating until I remembered that I lacked the strength to lower myself down and had to suffer the indignation of being the kid who was stuck at the top of the ropes and could get down again.

Naturally, the other kids were all very supportive and chanted, "Jump! Jump! Jump Jump!" Until I eventually followed the teacher's advise and slid down the rope, suffering third degree burns to my hands and thighs in the process.

And that was just the first thought I got when thinking about exercise. They are all school related of course - images of trudging around the school field in the freezing rain, avoiding changing room buggery and the gym master's stare, the State condoned bullying by the sporty kids and of course all that derogatory shouting that was dressed up encouragement.

It is a good job I am not bitter about these events.

So, looks like there is quite a bit of material to work on there. Once I've finished sorting out the hand-outs for this weekend's IEMT seminar, I've got plenty to work on for an IEMT session myself!

People are noticing...

2008-06-11T08:34:00.000-07:00

I've started getting comments from people I've not seen for a while. They fall into two distinct categories.

Cat #1. "You look pale." (It is true, I do. One of the "things" that tends to go with self employment is a tendency to work silly hours. Over the past few [busy] weeks, the only time I go outside during daylight is to go to the post office to take my place in the seemingly never-ending queue. What I don't understand about the post office - a place I stand waiting for about 3 hours a week - is that out of a possible 11 tills, only 4 are ever staffed and operating.)

Cat #2. "You look like you have lost weight." It is true, I do. My face looks thinner for sure, and I don't feel as bloated as I did before. I can't have lost that much weight though - I bought two pairs of trousers (36" waist) off Ebay last week and I cannot safely fit into them without risking a serious bowel obstruction. Still, a couple of inches to go around the middle and I am back to my preferred baseline.

All I need to do now is start exercising again. I'm going to buy a bicycle, wear 'Mr Bean' Lycra and sport a streamlined helmet without a chinstrap.

Goodbye blubber, hello haemorrhoids, sweaty man-bits and tarmac injuries. I can't wait!

What happened when.....

2008-06-03T10:24:00.000-07:00

Here's a question. I first heard it on an EFT training DVD with Dr Carol Look and I use it in my weight loss workshops regularly. (see: http://www.emofree.com - I'm not an EFT fan at all, at all, but I thought Dr Look spoke a LOT of sense and I have used her work ever since.)

The question is this: "What happened when you were last at your ideal weight?"

When I've asked this at workshops, it is amazing at just how many people will report a trauma i.e. a divorce or separation, a crap time in a crap job, an assault from another person, a death of a loved one and so forth.

I've just asked myself the same question, something I've not done before. What was interesting was that 4 different occasions all popped up for me quite spontaneously - all based in different previous work locations where I was very lean and fit (I worked as a nurse, and without motorised transport I walked or cycled everywhere, and my work was very physically demanding and low paid). I was lean and fit for sure, I was also permanently tired, stressed and far from emotionally content. Actually, when I think about it from this vantage point, life was pretty shit.

Now, these days I am far from miserable - instead I have a job that I love, am about to get married to Laura whom I adore, my income is very good and I have excellent motorised transport.

So, this evening I shall resolve the complex equivilency of "lean and fit" with "stressed and poor."

I shall report back my findings in due course.

New website...

2008-05-31T11:05:00.000-07:00

I've made yet another website: http://weightlosshypnotherapy.co.uk

Future orientated goal...

2008-05-29T05:14:00.000-07:00

A couple of people have emailed me to ask what the previous post could possibly have to do with weight loss. I'm pushed for time this week, so need to be brief, as I have a full week of clients and am also busy organising the forthcoming seminar series in India.

Future orientation is a good thing. It's where all the new stuff is. The past is over and we cannot go back there. I'm reminded about an interview I saw with John Grinder where he was asked something along the lines of, "If you could go back and change anything in your life, what would it be?" He refused to entertain the question since it is something that is clearly not possible in this universe, so why bother with it. Seems like a good attitude to me.

Now, what do the majority of my clients tell me that they want when it comes to their ideal weight?

They say something along the lines of, "I want to weigh what I weighed when I was 30." Or, "I want to look like I did 5 years ago when I was really happy," and so on.

A goal or direction cannot be retrospective, it must always be pro-spective. Unless you are Dr. Who or that mad looking guy from, "Back to the Future."

The future must be compelling - if the past is compelling and the future is bleak, the you will be reminded of the consequences of this each and every time time you find yourself reaching for that comfort cake, or wotnot, that you use to cheer yourself up once more.

I'll leave it to Timbuk 3 to have the last word in this posting:

Having something to look forward to...

2008-05-27T23:21:00.000-07:00

Before I start closing some of the open loops, I thought I'd add one more pattern for people to consider. Always have something to look forward to. Even if it is something small, for example a DVD to watch later, a meal out, taking the dog for a walk.

This is something I use a lot when working with people experiencing depression, especially where their general direction of thought is retrospective (i.e. guilt/shame etc) instead of future orientated.

So, what pleasurable do you have to look forward to later today, tomorrow, next week, next month and next year. You can go further if you are good at decision making and planning. This is one of the patterns of optimism and hope, as opposed to pessimism and hopelessness.

Here's what I used to advise my depressed psychiatric patients: If you genuinely have nothing to look forward to, then you really have got some work to do...and do now!

Today: After this morning's clients, I have an episode of "Lost" to watch and tonight I'm off to the gun club for some target practice.
Tomorrow: After work will be off to see friends and later on playing in a online game tournament (Day of Defeat - any players who wish to join me my player name is, "Hand of Onan")
Next Week: Am taking a couple of days off to go out and about, shopping etc.
Next Month: Am taking a workshop in Leeds for a weekend.
Later This Year: Getting married to Laura.
Next Year: Will be travelling a lot and running workshops in India.
Next 5 years: Continuing towards my goal of being very wealthy.

An Experiment In Shared Eating...

2008-05-24T00:33:00.001-07:00

I used to have a bit of a problem in restaurants. Well, two problems really. Firstly, I used to be able to manage to drop pretty much anything wet and sloppy down my shirt. It wasn't so much a bib that I'd need, a full length apron would have been far better.

Secondly I'd dive into my food and go unconscious only to reawaken moments later having finished my meal, covered in food to observe the subtle looks of horror on my fellow diners who were still eating their starters.

It is this "altered state of consciousness" aspect that I observe in so many of my problem-eating clients.

So here's the experiment, for which you will simply need one meal, one plate and a willing partner - share the meal with your partner, with both of you eating from the same plate. It is quite a strange experience and means your food intake is paced in part by the other person (unless you are totally selfish and want them to starve!) and you are forced to lift out of the eating trance state.

Bouncing back...

2008-05-21T23:33:00.000-07:00

I'm back. Last week, I was attempting to finish off another movie for this blog when a codec I downloaded turned out to be a virus called, "UCleaner" - a nasty bit of work that tries to fool the afflicted into buying a solution for itself by masquerading as a legitimate Windows approved product. Needless to say, the "purchase" requires providing credit card etails and so forth.

Now, whilst I'm silly enough to download the wrong file, I'm not silly enough to pass on my card details.

I must say though that it really bugs me how some humans will try to take advantage of other humans through theft and deception.

For some reason I'm reminded of the chap I met in Calcutta - poor fellow, he had lost his passport, travellers cheques and so forth. He was pretty desperate and had no choice but to resort to begging in order to raise the money to get back to New Delhi. Empathising with his situation and being the charitable guy that I am, I invited him to come with me back to my hotel where I'd use my Indian connections to see him all right and get him sorted out with the minimum of hassle, but he made some trite excuse as to why he couldn't do this and made good his escape.

I smelled a rat immediately.

Back at the hotel, I relayed the story to a couple of colleagues only to find that this chap is a regular and that one of my colleagues had been caught out and had given him some money the week before.

Later still, I learned that this is a regular scam indeed around the Sudar Street district in Calcutta.

So, imagine my horror then, when a week later I find myself in exactly that situation. A long story cut short, with my Indian colleagues already departed for home, alone, I was separated from pretty much everything. All I had was some loose change and the clothes I was wearing.

Really, really not a good situation.

Anyway, more on this later and its relevence later. But I am back, with a shiney new PC (I thought it was probably a good time to upgrade) and a lot of work to catch up on.

Feeders...

2008-05-16T23:48:00.000-07:00

Last week I watched a very strange film called, "Feed" - essentially, it is about a man who has a particular love for very obese women and is what is known as a "feeder." The women he renders super-obese love him dearly, despite them becoming something that resembles Jabba The Hut and dieing horribly. As I say, it is a very strange film.

Here's a preview (It isn't wholesome family entertainment):

I mention this because it follows on from the Lovely Laura's blog entry and some discussions we have had regarding the recent glut of documentaries we have watched on UK TV's Channel 4 about the "super obese." Last night I saw, "The Half Ton Dad" film about this guy who weighed in at around 73 stone. Now, it must be said, that is pretty fucking fat.

Here is another little detail - he hadn't been up off the floor (the bed had collapsed some years before) for about 7 years.

7 years.

Similar stories emerge from the other Channel 4 documentaries too - the tragic stories of people who are so big that when they finally seek help, a wall in the house needs knocking though in order for evacuation to be possible, of people so fat that they are close to death, of people trapped in their rooms for years on end, and so on.

So, who is it that is feeding these people?

For me, this is a much more interesting phenomenum than a mentally or emotionally disturbed person simply getting so fat that they cannot move.

I've yet to see a documentary exploring this and the relationship between the feeder and the eater. Instead all I have found is that awful horror film on the subject.

Who are these feeders, and what motivates them? I'm interested to read people's comments on this.

Lovely Laura writes...

2008-05-15T22:31:00.000-07:00

Although I might privately agree that Andy would benefit from losing weight, I’d never want to admit this to him.

This is simply because in my mind this would be equivalent to saying “if you lose some weight I’ll find you more attractive”. Or in other words, “I don’t find you as attractive as I might if you were thinner”. I know that this absolutely not the case, but I worry that it may be interpreted as such.

Therefore, instead of helping him, I dismiss it completely and tell him “Rubbish you don’t need to lose any weight!” .

It’s not that I am trying to prevent him from achieving his goal of slipping a few pounds; it’s simply that I am in a quandary…if I reduce his portions, then it could be construed that the idea of his thinner self is a far more attractive proposition than the one I love.

Weight Loss Seminar Recording...

2008-05-13T03:37:00.000-07:00

Just wanted to let people know that a couple of extracts from a weight loss seminar and a pdf file on the subject are now available for free on my main website here:

http://23nlpeople.com/NLP/downloads.php

The Problems of Portion Size...

2008-05-11T23:27:00.000-07:00

The problems of portion size arise once again.

A difficulty that I try to avoid is any weight loss evangelism. I've known many smokers who when they quit smoking, make damn sure everyone knows that they are quitting smoking, and once they have quit, take on an evangelical role and I've often wondered about this and now think I have a bit of an insight into the reasons why.

Now, I'd love to be able to silently lose some weight without having to explain to everyone and their dog what I am doing. The problem is that, owing to the social nature of eating, I am not always able to control the selection of the food offered or the portion size.

This leads to conversations such as:

"Would you like sausages for breakfast?"
"No thanks, do you have anything lighter?"
"Sure, let's have toast, and we can have the sausages for lunch."

The sausages were already out of the freezer and would need cooking or throwing out within a day, and we won't let them go to waste, surely?

Another problem is the portion size - again this leads to me needing to request a small portion size ("Really? Are you not hungry?") or to leave food on the plate ("Was that OK, it was OK, wasn't it?")

Thus I am regularly forced into a position of reminding everyone that I am trying to lose weight, despite their seemingly best intentions to fatten me up. Now, each attempt to persuade people that really nothing is wrong, it is just that I am just simply trying to lose a bit of weight invariably elicits a variety of responses such as:

"Don't be silly, what do you want to lose weight for?"
"Well, fine, in that case I won't bother next time."
"Just one more portion won't hurt."

And so on and on...

This is a problem indeed and one that I need to ponder upon.

Andy Austin's Bicycle Theory (part two)....

2008-05-07T22:47:00.000-07:00

Here's something to consider. In terms of weight gain and loss, we tend to think in terms of increasing weight/weight going up, and losing weight/weight going down.

It is metaphorically constructed in a vertical axis on an up and down plane. So, here's an experiment...

For those `in the know` for NLP timelines:

'Through Time' Orientation: I'm curious to know what happens for people when they tilt this axis onto its side, and construct it so that weight gain is over to the left, and weight loss is over to the right? (Obviously if your timeline goes the other way, reverse this.)

'In Time' Orientation: I'm curious to know what happens for people when they tilt this axis so that weight increase is behind them and weight loss in is front of them?

People talk about moving forward with their life, I can't help but notice how easier it is to lose weight when the direction lines up with their own time line orientation.

Here's a the trick - anchor your outcome/direction to your future and build that future in many other ways to be irresistible. Let me know what happens for you.

Andy Austin's "Bicycle Theory"....

2008-05-06T00:38:00.000-07:00

Guilting...

2008-05-05T06:22:00.000-07:00

A recent moment...

"Would you like another piece?"
"No, thanks, that was lovely, really, but I am quite full, thank you."
"Oh go on, just one piece won't hurt."
"No, really I am just fine. And besides, I am on a bit of a diet."
"Oh, don't be so silly, just one more piece won't do you any harm, and besides, I made this 'specially!"
"Nope. I must be firm..."
"So must I, as I will be most disappointed if you don't eat it." (The extra piece gets put onto my plate).
"Hmmm...now, you know me better than this...I really won't eat it..."
"Well, you better had, or I will be very upset."

The tension begins to build and the extra piece sits there angrily on the plate.

Time passed rather slowly as everyone else finished their meal and, much like my host, the extra piece went cold.

Hoodia Experiment Ends...

2008-05-02T03:16:00.000-07:00

11.15am: It's no good. Despite being pretty busy today with follow-up client 'phone calls and preparing the inductions for this weekend's hypnosis seminar, I'm so hungry I cannot concentrate, so I'm going to have an early lunch.

An Experiment With Hoodia...

2008-05-02T01:01:00.000-07:00

I'm experimenting with Hoodia. It's a herbal appetite suppressant thing, that certainly gets some positive reviews on the 'net. There's a little part of me that wonders if it may simply be another guar-gum-pentapeptide-provitamin-microparticle marketing hype, but I'll find out.

The problem is differentiating what is the hoodia from what is the placebo response. I've learned that I am a fantastic placebo (and nocebo) responder. In India, I once got high-as-a-kite on some lime paste dabbed onto a betel leaf. Over in those parts, a popular pastime is chewing paan - a delicious and slightly intexicating concoction made from betel leaf, betel nut and assorted flavorings wrapped up in the leaf, which must be spat out at regular intervals - spitting is compulsory, and preferably onto walls. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paan)

The first time I ever saw a paan waller, I was curious as to what it was he was preparing. Upon enquiry, but without a common language between us, he handed me a leaf painted with white stuff to inspect (it was lime, but I didn't know this - it reacts with the mild intoxiciant in the betel nut to release the0 ingredients) and I stuck in my mouth. Being young, naive and eager for experience I thought it was some drug, like cocaine or something. Fifteen minutes later I was floating around the town saying things like, "Wow, maaan." I was 22, long hair and wearing tie-dye.

The embarrassment of the whole affair lives on.

Luckily those days are far behind me. These days you are more likely to find me in New Delhi wearing a suit, crisply ironed shirt and tie.

So, for today's experiment I have swallowed 3 capsules of "Pure Hoodia" each containing 1500mgs standardised to 20:1 extract. For breakfast today I had a small portion of an Indian pudding/sweet I made last night and an apple. (To make this pudding, try this - it is like a little piece of heaven in a bowl - grind up a handful of cashew nuts as finely as you can and mix into consended milk, adding a pinch of powdered cardoman and saffron. Don't eat straight away, it will be a sticky overly sweet mess. Leave in a shallow bowl at least overnight in the fridge to permit for a separation to occur.)

I'll take another three capsules of hoodia later on and see what appertains.

The "Kids in Africa" Issue...

2008-04-30T05:23:00.000-07:00

Today’s challenge is regarding the issue of how do I know when to stop eating, and how do I know when I have finished eating.

Sometimes as a child, I would be told that I had not finished because I hadn’t eaten everything on my plate. So, here the criteria would be, “I know have finished because my plate is clear.”

All very well and good. But what about the situation where the person/child is not in control of portion size and the portion on the plate is inappropriately too big?

Now, I was lucky as this wasn’t an issue; my mum was a wise mum when it came to such things. But for many adults, they will fill the plate with food and eat until the plate is clear. And I have seen some impressively fat people who own some equally impressively big plates and bowls.

Meanwhile, some kids were told to eat everything because there are “kids in Africa” who are starving.

And of course as adults, some won’t finish eating until not only the plates are clear, but also the excess food in the pots and pans afterwards are clear. So they go for “seconds.”

Throwing away food is a larger emotional concern than being a bloated, unhappy and obese lump.

Meanwhile, other children were told “not to be so greedy”, because there are “kids in Africa” who were starving.

In the weight loss workshops that I run, I have noticed for many problem overeaters that the criteria to “stop eating” is when they are bloated and full. But that doesn’t mean they are “finished” as there are invariably snacks and sweet things to be eaten in a little while once some of that bloating full feeling has subsided somewhat.

So, today’s challenge is.

How do I know when to stop eating.
How do I know when I have finished eating.

Of course, there are time factors involved here too - i.e. I won't stop/finish eating permanently.

So, one question might be, “Stop eating for how long and to start again according to what criteria?” and “Finished eating for how long, and again, restarting being measured against what criteria?”

I’ll report back in due course.

Incompatibility....

2008-04-29T06:52:00.000-07:00

As a therapist and health advisor I have worked with many hundreds of clients.

I’ve noticed a number of patterns in people and their conditions.

Here are just three:

I’ve never met anyone, ever, who had both schizophrenia and asthma.
I’ve never met, or even heard of, anyone who was both anorexic and had a stutter.
I’ve never met anyone who felt hungry whilst they had “butterflies in their stomach.”

Strange that.

Well formedness...

2008-04-26T22:07:00.000-07:00

From Wikipedia: While the exact details may differ among schools or training providers, generally in NLP a well-formed outcome is one that ideally meets the following basic conditions:

Be stated in the positive (that is, what you want, rather than what you don't want)…

To lose weight. Ok, now this is an interesting situation. “To lose weight” is both a negative and an “away from” strategy. I’ll be talking about “away from” strategies and how they apply to weight issues in a later entry.

So: To be slim. Right, now we are getting somewhere. The question of, “How slim, specifically?” is invited along with the criteria of how this is measured. For me, this isn’t actually about weight, the bathroom scales are irrelevent. It is about appearance. I am out of shape with a distended abdomen. So, my measurement is a visual one. I have a clear mental representation of how I will look, and it is future orientated.

This future orientation thing is vital. So many people who are failing to lose weight are trying to achieve a retrospective step. i.e. “I want to look how I did when I was 30” and so on, thus placing the goal in the past rather than the future.

Within the “being slim” outcome is also a health and fitness issue. Since I became fully self employed, I’ve become rather physically lazy and spend too much time sitting down. So, whilst I have no interest in sports and physical exercise (i.e. the gym, running, etc) I intend to improve my level of physical fitness.

Be capable of representation in the sensory systems (tangible rather than theoretical or conceptual: able in principle to be evidenced through the senses when attained. Thus, seen, heard or felt)

What I will see is a slimmer and more toned body.

What I will feel is fitter, more alert, more flexible.

What I will hear…..ummm….

Be possible and achievable.

All goals are realistic and achievable. I have no physical or mental impediments.

Have all the resources (people, psychophysiological states, time, capital, equipment, or material) required or accessible.

As above.

Have a defined time frame.

Reviewed every three months until ideal body shape is achieved. Goal is to be at desired goal within 6 months. Goal will be reviewed monthly after that.

Be ecological in having consideration for costs and consequences for oneself and others affected.

I have issues with this criterion. I’ll discuss this on a later blog entry.

A Meditation...

2008-04-24T21:03:00.000-07:00

The feedback about my little movie has been interesting. Essentially, one of the major themes seems to be, "Whatever message you were trying to put across was negated by your nakedness."

Youtube has the video `flagged` and several correspondants have raised concerns about my professional credibility. A couple of well-meaning colleagues suggested I remove it quickly, quietly and never refer to it again.

Now, I am not naive - I knew the video would generate a reaction (that was, after all, the point) and here is my thinking.

If the subject was not about food and instead the person in the video was someone well toned, say Brad Pitt or Will Smith, or rather was a beautiful buxom woman, then I suspect perceptions would have been quite different. We can see naked beautiful people every day - open pretty much any glossy magazine at random. With all the airbrushing and image manipulation that goes on I am beginning to wonder if the glossy magazines will dispense with human models completely, and opt for artistically created plastic pefections instead. It would be cheaper after all, as they wouldn't need wages. Even the underwear models in the clothing magazines are all well toned and airbrushed to perfection, no matter what their bra-cup or cock size.

So, my little movie featured a naked out-of-shape hypnotherapist with an "everyday" body. Something that culturally should be kept strictly private or reserved for the occasional sunny day on the beach.

Increasingly we are seeing a cultural backlash against the body-beautiful. There seems to be a certain fashion for some overweight people to adopt an attitude of, "let it all hang out and be loud and proud." Given the amount of guilt and secret shame that is reported by so many of my overweight clients, this doesn't seem like an unreasonable attitude to have. But it does seem a little incongruent for a long and happy life.

Type "fat man" and/or "fat woman" into Youtube. Admittedly, they are not all completely starkers, but just see how many videos are there showing the morbidly obese hilariously jumping around and falling over for our amusement, or attempting some aerobics and so forth. Oh, how we bask in the amusement of their grotesqueness! It's funny folks, really it is, just go and see that fat wobble.

Now, type "anorexic" into Youtube and you will see an entirely different story. Lots of home made tragedy clips, all designed to share the emotional pain. Yes, we can see how awful things are and how desperate and dangerous the situation has become.

Very fat has a cultural place. It's "funny" and it has attitude (but why then do so many obese people seem so emotionally pained?)

Ultra-skinny has a cultural place. It's "tragic" and it hurts (but why then do so many anorexics seem to cynically enjoy their condition so much?)

Everyday out-of-shapeness has a place too. It is to be kept private and denied. It is to be airbrushed out of the existance of our collective consciousness, so we can take refuge in knowing that we are not like those fat fools in the TV shows and on Youtube, and at least with the right clothes and accoutrements we can at least look a little like the cosmetic cultural ideal.

Fuel...

2008-04-22T00:04:00.000-07:00

So here is what I learned that fateful day in the operating rooms. Eat a decent breakfast. I know, I know, it’s been said so many times. But then back then two things about breakfast dominated my thinking.

It is hard to eat a big breakfast so early in the morning.
Breakfast typically consists of a lightweight toast and cereals, or the classic heart-attack-on-a-plate of bacon, eggs, sausage, and fried bread and so on.

Here’s what many of the staff did. They ate a proper meal – not some greasy crud, or simple slice of toast. I mean a proper meal – chicken, two vegetables, potatoes and fruit. That kind of thing. They tended not to get hungry during the day and had good levels of concentration.

This might seem a bit obvious but fat people tend to be hungry more often than skinny people. Today’s principal: Avoid hunger.

A simile is that you don’t fuel the car when you arrive at your destination; you put in the fuel before you leave.

And the question of eating such a meal so early in the morning? Well, eat significantly less the night before. It’s amazing how easy it is to get up and moving in the morning when you wake up hungry.

From here on in, this is going to be my pattern. I’ll be reporting back my findings.

Avoiding Hunger Strategy...

2008-04-21T03:22:00.000-07:00

Just a short note on strategy. Years ago, I worked in the operating department at a large teaching hospital. I wasn’t involved in the surgery – I tried that a few times, and found the requisite level of concentration and self discipline for that kind of work really didn’t suit my temperament.

The first time I ever worked in the operating theatre, the shift started around 0730hrs. I had a piece of toast, two cups of tea, scrubbed up and in I went. The operation was a rather complicated affair that was to last around 3 hours. By about 0740hrs the tea had passed through my system, ignored by the single piece of toast in my stomach and began to apply quite a pressure to my bladder. By 0745hrs I was in agony and had no choice but to make my polite excuses and find the nearest toilet. Now, when “scrubbed” for surgery, this isn’t an easy process – you see, one needs to remove the gowns, mask, gloves etc, use the facility, then exit, change and find an “unscrubbed” person to assist getting the sterile gowns etc back on.

OK, so there was the first black mark against my potential career in surgery.

Rather inevitably by 0800hrs, I needed to pee again. I held on as long as I could, trying to concentrate on what the theatre sister and surgeon were attempting to teach me but by 0804hrs, it was no good. I had to go through the entire rigmarole again.

My first day and this wasn’t going at all well.

So, I “degown” and return to the bathroom, did the business and return to the operating theatre where the same staff nurse helped me back into my gown etc. I returned to the scene of the operation where I detected a distinct atmosphere regarding my presence.

Needless to say, it got a lot worse.

By 0845hrs, I began to get the shakes. All this adrenaline and embarrassment had clearly burnt off the fuel supplied to my body by the measly single piece of toast. My blood sugars were dropping rapidly and I also needed another pee.

By 0900hrs the theatre sister was concerned that I was going to faint and sent me out of the operating room, and off we go again. I take off the gowns, go pee, go find something to eat, eat it, have another pee, get changed, re-scrub, get assistance back into yet another clean gown and return to the operating room.

The atmosphere was positively negative.

“Would it be best if I just go now?” I asked.

“That is up to you.” Came back the reply, “but if I were you, yes!”

So, now what does all this have to do with weight loss strategy?

I’ll tell you tomorrow.

The pictures...

2008-04-20T01:57:00.000-07:00

I deliberated about actually posting these pictures. There's just a certain something about exposing one's body to public scrutiny that is a bit unnerving.

One time many years go I submitted my photo to http://www.hotornot.com/ and scored a whopping 4.7 average out of ten. It was pretty disheartening. But still, here are the images of what I see when I look in the mirror. I did contemplate stuffing a sock or something into my shorts, and I deliberated between sucking in my stomach and puffing up my chest to look better, and pushing out my belly to look worse in order to fool viewers.

But no, these photos are a fair indication of my body size and shape. Not great, but really not all that bad. I post these in order to have a comparison later on.

Immediacy...

2008-04-19T00:13:00.000-07:00

So, after a day yesterday of eating consciously smaller portions, using a smaller plate and eating more slowly, I weigh myself today and of course there is no difference. Not a jot.

Now, this is the problem that affects so many overweight people and is a major source of frustration and failure – all that effort and sufferance for so little immediate and tangible reward. The reality is that I could have virtually starved myself yesterday and exercised until I developed tremors and still the result today would have been the exactly the same.

Now, I could have fooled myself by making sure I emptied my bladder (1 litre of wee equals 1 kg of weight) and by taking a monstrous dump first (1kg of crap weighs…errr…exactly 1kg of weight) but still the difference would have been negligible. I’ve known anorexics try to beat the daily “weigh-in” by doing the reverse – i.e. not crapping or peeing for as long as possible before the “weigh-in” in order to try to keep those extra few grams in order to appease the dietary, the nursing and the medical gods.

This “weigh-in” always used to confuse me – why bother weighing anorexics every day? We only need to look at them to see that they are horrifically and dangerously thin, and manage to stay as bitterly cynical as ever over the “normal” people. But still, the charts must be filled in regardless of their actual value. I guess that when there is little the staff can actually do to change the behavior of their devious charges, the very least they can do is fill in those damned charts. It is, after all, the professional and proper thing to do.

Fat people trying to lose weight often tend to do the same. The daily “weigh-in” to see if there is any change. The daily “weigh-in”, the build up, the anticipation, the hope and then the crashing disappointment. It’s a bitch, alright. It is also utterly pointless. A much, much longer term strategy than this is needed. I’ll be covering this later in a video entry. It is not what I will weigh tomorrow that is important.

This is not about outcomes as such.

This is more about building a direction.

The Adventure Begins....

2008-04-17T23:40:00.000-07:00

After 13 years of helping people to lose weight whilst working as a clinical hypnotherapist and NLP practitioner, I find myself in the position of needing to lose weight too.

Before we proceed, I need to put this into a context. Firstly, I am pretty lazy when it comes to exercise. Secondly, I do not have, nor have I ever had, a “weight problem.” In previous years, I rarely weighed more than 11.5 stones, despite what I ate. This was probably due to the fact that I worked as a nurse and tended to be on my feet all day. This combined with an ever present low level of anxiety (the responsibilities that went with working in neurosurgery scared the shit out of me) meant that my weight was always quite low, no matter what I ate.

These days life is good, it is relaxed and my working day is mostly spent sat down. My weight is now about 15 stone (95 kgs) and rising. So, today is the day… Today is the day that I begin to put into practice everything that I have taught to my clients.

Few people find losing weight easy. In theory is should all be easy, but in practice I know that it isn’t. I know too many top level trainers, coaches and therapists who themselves have difficulty losing weight. So, this blog, which will be a combination of video diary and text, will be putting all the theory and practice to the test.

I will be reporting back most days about my findings.