talkhealth Blog

I don’t normally begin with a picture, but for the purposes of today’s blog post it just needed to be done!

Last night saw me getting involved in a Twitter ‘discussion’ with a chap who was clearly trying to tout for business in one of the most unethical ways possible. He was using the BBC2 documentary ‘Welcome to the World of Weight Loss’ – which aired last night and which I will blog about tomorrow – in order to find Slimming World followers to target with his product – hypnosis.

First off, let me clarify that I have no issues with hypnosis at all. Similar to the world of weight loss, you get good and bad, and it works for some but not others. When it comes to weight loss hypnosis, success rates can be incredibly hard to prove because there is a lack of solid scientific evidence which addresses weight loss hypnosis alone.

Secondly, let me clarify that I see Slimming World as a tool that sits in a little bag of tricks with other complimentary items that help achieve long-term weight loss and weight maintenance. In my little bag I have Slimming World, I have my home gym, I have the psychologist that I don’t get to see as often as I like, I have my coach, I have my support network, I have the self help therapy books…all sorts of bits and pieces!

So for me, hypnosis could also form part of that tool bag…which it did for a brief period, but I felt no benefit from it – it helped me sleep at night, but so does the meditation app that I use! In fact, some of the messages I heard as part of the two hypnotherapy methods I used were a little questionable – things such as eating what you want, and not worrying if you haven’t eaten all day…not so good for someone who loves junk food and is a diabetic that needs to eat regularly!

On a serious note though, I do believe that hypnosis would be beneficial for some people. It could be the key that unlocks weight loss for them. When you are in a highly focused state, such as that you are in under hypnosis, you are more responsive to suggestions and behaviour changes that could help you lose weight. Most scientific professionals would agree that weight loss is best achieved via a change in dietary intake and through exercise, but I am sure that adding hypnosis into the mix would not do any harm if you chose a reputable and proven practitioner…it may indeed help solidify your efforts.

Last night I was bombarded with messages about how diets don’t work – in fact, the messages were about Slimming World in particular – I think the man in question had a real issue with this plan, despite never having a weight problem nor trying Slimming World or Weight Watchers. This was evidenced by the fact that he kept confusing the two plans!

I would just like to point out that, in terms of weight loss hypnosis, there have been a few studies evaluating success. Most of these have shown only slight weight loss…an average of 6lbs – yet Slimming World has helped me lose over 214lbs. The quality of these studies has been questioned, so it is hard to determine if hypnosis works or not. My guess is that it does for some and it doesn’t for others…sound familiar?!

Whilst I have no problem with hypnosis, I do have a major problem with people using underhand tactics for business. When I worked in recruitment sales, I made it a rule of mine to never criticise other recruitment companies; and if I heard any of my team doing it, they would be told in no uncertain terms that it was unacceptable. When I was a client engaging the services of such companies, if they criticised their counterparts then I would not engage with them. If you cannot conduct business without behaving like this, then your business is not worth knowing as far as I am concerned.

To contact people and tell them that what they have been doing does not work, seems ludicrous to me, especially when they have been having success with it, great success in most cases! Why not contact these people and express some joy over their achievement so far and ask if they have ever considered hypnosis as a complimentary tool? I am sure that this would garner far more business then basically telling people that they are stupid for choosing the method they have chosen. The fact that the proof is in the pudding seemed irrelevant to this chap…he was on a mission of stupidity!

He then also started questioning how exactly Slimming World help people – do they use NLP, or hypnosis or whether they just hammer away at your mind…apparently CBT (cognitive behavioural therapy) isn’t good enough, despite this being one of the most proven methods in coping with and treating eating disorders. In fact CBT is widely used by Christopher G Fairburn, who in my opinion is one of the godfathers of eating disorder treatment – his book about overcoming binge eating has been a huge help to me – along with many other highly qualified, published and respected individuals. And as a person who has experience of NLP from both a practitioner and users perspective, I can vouch that Slimming World do employ these techniques. Maybe this hypnosis chap – who I won’t name and shame for fear of giving him further business leads – should take some time to discover a little more about the plan…as evidenced below…

What I found most amusing was when he decided to criticise a company whilst confusing it with another – a whole new level of stupid. I was told last night that the ex-FD from Slimming World says the plan doesn’t work…actually, he was referring to the Jacques Peretti document with the ex-FD from Weight Watchers. I was also told that Slimming World is a pre-packaged product empire…Slimming World make a cereal bar…again, he is confusing this plan with Weight Watchers. When I pointed his mistakes out, his response was “same, same ”…if you are going to chose an underhand and frankly integrity-free method of doing business, at least use information relating to the company that you are criticising!

As for the Slimming World vs Weight Watchers option – both plans work for some and both plans don’t work for others. You have to try them before you criticise them as far as I am concerned. One of my biggest issues with weight loss company critiques is that they seem to find those people who haven’t had success…but do they ever find out if these people actually followed the plan and adopted the principles of it for life? They never say, “Only 2% keep the weight off…but that is because they frequent KFC and the local Chinese all-you-can-eat each week rather than continuing to eat a healthy and balanced diet.” You will maintain your weight loss if you continue to consume energy at the level your body needs, rather than returning to the habits that got you fat in the first place.

We just need to get a little honest with ourselves I think when it comes to the critics…balance their criticism out with a little realism!

Just let people get on with what works for them I say – I might not like all of the weight loss methods out there but if they help to change people’s lives…

Anyway, enough of my rant – if you want to try hypnotherapy then go for it…if not don’t, but don’t criticise those that do or those that don’t!

Today has been a bit ‘meh’ for some reason. I slept well but am a bit tired from all of the hours I am putting in on my other half’s project…50 of the buggers this week…plus the two hours of treadmill, so woke up in the wrong frame of mind. I really had to push myself to be civil today! And had to push myself to get on the treadmill too! As the day progressed, my mood lifted somewhat and I hope to be on fine form tomorrow. So the day kind of went like this – up, dressed, work, horses, shops, breakfast, work, treadmill, work, treadmill, work, treadmill, lunch, work, treadmill, work, treadmill, work, treadmill, shower, work, dinner prep, work, dinner, work, work, work…and I hope to finish the day with the last two episodes of season four of 24 before getting a wonderful night of sleep.

Breakfast: Blueberry porridge (HEB).

Lunch: Chicken, noodle and veggie soup.

Dinner: Pasta bolognese with cheese (HEA and 6 syns).

Snacks: Nakd raisins x 2 (6 syns) and a Yakult light (1.5 syns).

Today’s food has been okay…although I did have a mini tantrum when there were no bananas to go with my breakfast! Lunch was the leftover noodle soup, which was less like soup today and more like runny noodles…but it still tasted good. Dinner was lush! I haven’t had a proper meat bolognese dish for ages as it is one of those meals that I normally write off as ‘boring’…but we had a tin of tomatoes, some tomato purée, garlic, mixed herbs, beef mince – extra lean of course – onions, mushrooms, aubergine, courgette, pepper and spinach – with wholemeal pasta and chilli LowLow on top…delicious! I also tried the lemon Nakd raisins today and mixed them with the orange ones…rather tasty they were too.

Exercise: 6 x 10 minute treadmill sessions.

After yesterday’s two hour session, and a bit of a ‘meh’ mood, I decided just to go for an hour today. I had the incline fairly high for me, so the ten minute sessions left me rather sweaty, but it feels good to know that I can do something that I couldn’t do at the beginning of the year.

Thank you for reading my rambling rant!

Weight Loss Bitch xxx

References
Cherniack EP. Potential applications for alternative medicine to treat obesity in an aging population. Alternative Medicine Review. 2008;13:34.
Facts about hypnosis. American Society of Clinical Hypnosis. http://www.asch.net/Public/GeneralInfoonHypnosis/FAQsAboutHypnosis/tabid/161/Default.aspx. Accessed July 20, 2012.
Shaw KA, et al. Psychological interventions for overweight or obesity. Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews. http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/14651858.CD003818.pub2/abstract. Accessed Aug. 3, 3012.
Pittle MH, et al. Complementary therapies for reducing body weight: A systematic review. International Journal of Obesity. 2005;29:1030.
Steyer T, et al. Complementary and alternative therapies for weight loss. Primary Care: Clinics in Office Practice. 2009;36:395.
Zeratsky KA (expert opinion). Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minn. July 20, 2012.

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WeightLossBitch

On a health and fitness driven journey to lose over 32st / 448lbs / 203kgs – yes, it is a considerable amount – I am committed to losing my excess weight without the aid of weight loss surgery, diet pills, or quick fixes…as there aren’t any! Changing my eating habits and building up my fitness levels, along with addressing the ‘head issues’ will be crucial in order for me to achieve my goal. Living in England as a 31 year old super morbidly obese woman can be challenging to say the least. I have been shouted at in the street and verbally abused far too many times to mention; hence the name ‘Weight Loss Bitch’…the day I am just called a ‘bitch’ instead of a ‘fat bitch’ will be the day that I know I have cracked my weight loss! With many reasons to lose this weight I am documenting my journey for a number of reasons. Firstly, I would like to keep a record of the ups and downs, the highs and lows, and the challenges I face with such an enormous task to tackle. Secondly, I would also like to inspire and encourage other people who are in a similar situation and to show them that significant amounts of weight can be lost naturally…with a bit of motivation, hard work, dedication and will power. Thirdly, all of the blogging, Facebook-ing, Tweet-ing, Pinterest-ing and YouTube-ing keeps me occupied and keeps my fingers out of the fridge!