Benjamin Delahaye is a writer who has documented his thirty day trial journey of weight loss using the Paul McKenna method. He writes about his daily trials and triumphs on becoming healthier from the inside out.
Dieting and I go way back. I was a child of two overweight parents who have constantly been posting lists of meal plans on the fridge, buying scales to measure their food intake, and weighing themselves every morning. I also remember standing on the school doctor’s scale and hearing my friends laugh out loud at my “figures”. So when I heard Paul McKenna say that with his method, you don’t control your quantities, the type of food you eat and you don’t weigh yourself more than twice a month, I was intrigued… I decided to try the method for 30 days and blog about the experience.
I was 102 kilos (224 lbs). Initially, the freedom given by the Paul McKenna method had a negative effect, and I actually started putting on weight. Even though I wasn’t supposed to go back on the scale for 2 weeks, I panicked one morning as I had difficulties getting into a pair of jeans. I had put on 3 kilos (3.5 lbs. )… in 10 days!
However, I still decided to carry on with the experiment and follow the cues given by my body. I made a conscious decision to refuse eating as a compensation mechanism (but rather only when I’m hungry), I sunk into a state of despair and even felt that I wasn’t able to cope with the most simple challenges. Suddenly, all of my anxieties did not find the comfort of being numbed with food and it was scary. I faced adversity and questioned everything: “what is the point of loosing weight? What is the point of being healthy? What is the point of life?”
I began to wonder: do I really need to find answers to these questions? And I thought that I was sure of one thing: I want to be happy, and good health would contribute to my happiness. That was a starting point. I began to build ways to cope with life challenges. For example, when I’m bored, how could I occupy my mind ? I started to read books about chess, and play logical games. When a problem is causing me stress, how can I best solve it? If I’m having a meal with somebody and I’m struggling to communicate, how can I find common interests to converse, rather than hide by eating?
After 30 days, the verdict is that I will continue to not diet and follow the Paul McKenna principles. As far as tangible results are concerned, I weigh 99 kilos (218 lbs.) today, so the “net” result of the experience is that I lost 3 kilos in a month. I’ve seen more rapid ways to loose weight, but to me the real result of this experience is the transformation of the mind. I am progressively adopting the mindset of a healthy person. Coincidentally, I am more and more compelled towards eating more fresh, healthy food – and it happens by choice, not by rule.
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