Diets Make You Fat

I just caught the end of an interview this morning on GMTV. They were interviewing an American lady who had lost a tremendous amount of weight. I’m pretty sure she said she did weigh over 700 pounds (50 stone) and I didn’t hear what she weighed now but she looked nicely slim.

When she weighed over 700 pounds she was pretty much house bound, and then someone bought her a computer. She found she could talk to people around the world and she enjoyed making new relationships. Because she was enjoying herself and feeling good she found she didn’t want to eat – and that was the start of her tremendous achievement.

It is exactly the way I believe works. Stop feeling bad about yourself and you will find that the food becomes less important. It is absolutely the basis of my programme.

Diets have made far too many of us hate ourselves. We become obsessed about food and everything negative. Shift that way of thinking and the pounds fall away.

I don’t know – people that struggle with their weight just don’t seem to be able to do anything right as far as the media is concerned.

For years Fern Britton has been the subject of cruel articles regarding her size. Now she has lost a lot of weight and there was an article last week suggesting that she must have been kidding when she used to say she was happy how she was! The same happened when Vanessa Feltz lost weight some years ago.

The fact is that it has to be the right time for you to be able to lose the weight successfully, healthily and permanently. If people try to push – it won’t be successful. It’s as simple as that. I think Fern looks great, but then I thought she looked great when she was much bigger too. It’s fantastic that she discovered what worked for her, it seems she discovered a love of cycling and there can be no healthier way of achieving weight loss. Because she was enjoying the cycling it will have helped her to feel good and because she felt good she found she didn’t need to over eat. I am speculating here but I’d be willing to bet that’s how it was.

When people are feeling happy and at peace with the world they won’t want to over eat. Work on helping people to get to that stage is where I come in – and I know it works.

But come on British Newspapers – cut people that have weight problems a bit of slack. We are all on this planet trying our best in life and yes some of us are overweight.

Some people have weight problems; others drink too much, some people smoke. Others have different issues, let’s try to understand and be less judgmental. We all have to live in this world – and not one of us is perfect.

I read an article in yesterday’s Daily Mail, and I have to say I found it really rather patronising:

It was a journalist that was reporting on a Paul Mckenna weight loss event she had attended. There were more than 400 overweight people there and I think the journalist had attended without Paul’s knowledge. She apparently is 1 stone overweight.

What I objected to was her attitude to larger people than herself, she derided, mocked and jeered at how much they must eat, how lazy they are and more. She also mocked everything Paul was doing.

Now I don’t use the same methods as Paul, I use my personal knowledge of weight problems to help people to lose weight in a unique way. People have usually tried his method before they buy my programme or have personal sessions with me. Some of my clients have said that I get to the heart of it more than he does, which really comes from my personal experience of the problem. However I can see that his methods help some people, and I wouldn’t dream of attacking anything that helps people to achieve their dream of weight loss.

People that make assumptions about overweight people, what they eat and how they spend their spare time infuriate me! I know that overweight people are intelligent people that are more frustrated than you could imagine that they haven’t been able to get on top of their weight problem. It isn’t necessary to mock them in such a public way, and it certainly won’t help them to lose weight.

So I say well done to anyone who attended – I really hope it was and is successful for you. However if not – you know where to come!

When I help people with their weight I have noticed that if they are too desperate for it to happen it actually works against success. It seems odd, because you would naturally assume that if someone wants something enough it would help it to happen – but sadly this is not always the case.

I have noticed it myself with another situation in my life which I am absolutely desperate to change. I am someone who if I have a problem in my life I work out the solution and go all out for it. I have found that the majority of the people I help with weight are the same. That makes weight all the more frustrating because they can’t seem to find the solution. So they try to force it, they want it so much they hurt and it becomes all consuming. I can’t tell you why it works against the result we are looking for – but I do know that it does.

I had a sudden blinding flash of the obvious yesterday. I am doing exactly the same in this other situation in my life. It has taken up all my thought, everything that happens to me is related to this, I think about it constantly. I have just known that everything in my life will be fine when this situation is resolved. I have been running at full pelt away from myself and there is no hiding place. And what’s been happening? The problem has been getting worse!

The only way I can describe it is like a pushy salesman. You know the type, they just won’t take no for an answer, they push; they try to trick you, to force you to buy. And what do we do? Even if we’ve been interested to start with we turn right against it, we either walk away or we tell them to leave.

So the answer is to accept. I am now working on accepting this situation – ok it’s a mess, but worse things happen to people, I need to calm down, live with it and then calmly work on changing things, having learned so much from my experience.

It is just the same with weight, once we accept that we have this problem, stop trying to run from it, stop hurting .Accept you are who you are. Being overweight is forgivable. This is how you are now, you do want to change it and you will work on it, but just at this minute, now, today you are overweight. You can’t run away from yourself or you will run forever. Now is the time to face yourself and say “yes, - so what? I am overweight, but just think what I will become.”

It had just never occurred to me before that I was doing the same thing in the different situation. It seems I am a lot better at helping others than I am at helping myself!

Oh dear – when will overweight people stop being patronised? I read a letter to the agony aunt in the Daily Telegraph. The question was how does this person tell her sister that she needs to lose weight. If you want to read the whole thing click here.
Overweight people know they are overweight for heavens sake! They know they can’t wear the clothes they want to wear and they know the health implications. If this person tells her sister what does she think she will do? Say – “really – oh my goodness, I have never noticed, I must get on with a diet straight away”!!! How absolutely, completely ridiculous – only someone that has never had the problem could possibly think it will help.

In fact her sister will know very well that she is overweight, she probably hates herself for it and can’t understand why she can’t seem to do anything about it. If her sister patronises her by stating the obvious her sister will feel even worse about it all. She’ll feel persecuted, misunderstood and very very lonely. Then as soon as her sister has gone I suspect that she will make straight for the food cupboard.

What a difference if instead she said how pretty her sister looked, how what she is wearing brings out the colour of her eyes. Or where did you get those shoes, or would you like to go for a day out somewhere. Anything to make her feel good. Now I know that there will be no quick fix, I understand that her sister won’t think “oh how wonderful my eyes looked pretty” and never eat for comfort again. Of course not, but wouldn’t it have a more positive effect on her sister’s health and well being than criticising her and making her feel stupid?

Overweight people are not stupid; they just have a problem they haven’t yet been able to get over. Everyone has issues and difficulties in their life – the problem with weight being an issue is that it is so visible to everyone. Everyone then thinks they have a right to judge, and what is more the overweight person feels judged by everyone.