Man sheds 265 pounds by exercising, changing eating habits

The title of this article just puts a huge smile on my face. It's so simple, yet right to the point.

"Man sheds 265 pounds by exercising, changing eating habits"

Love it. You just couldn't say it any better.

When was the last time you saw a headline that read:

"Man loses 265 pounds by taking miracle drug, blaming genetics"

"Woman drops 150 pounds by watching reruns, eating fat-free snack foods"

Okay, I'm not laughing, either. But since I know how repetition helps us to remember things, I'll type it one more time... in nice, big letters:

"Man sheds 265 pounds by exercising, changing eating habits"



This excellent article demonstrates a characteristic of nearly every person who becomes successful making a profound change in his or her life -- the Moment of Truth Experience.

Here's a man who allowed his weight to reach nearly 500 pounds by the ripe young age of 27, but only took action when he was awakened to the potential consequences of continuing his destructive eating habits. First, by stepping on an industrial-sized scale... then, by witnessing the effects of a friend's death.



Then, without the aid of drugs, pills, surgery or hypnosis, he proceeded to lose over 250 pounds -- more than half his previous body weight -- in less than three years. He did this by changing his eating habits and exercising regularly. Notice there's no mention of a restrictive diet or counting calories...

If he can do it, so can you. Read the full story and take it to heart.

http://www.htrnews.com/article/20081029/MAN0101/810290646/1984

I'd also like to call special attention to what it says about his interaction with the doctor who helped him get on the right track. Here's an excerpt:

All of the other doctors Blahnik had seen through the years had told him he needed to lose weight, but to no avail. It was different with Samundson. "He didn't scold me," Blahnik said.

"He had a different way of saying it. He said the same thing all the other doctors said, he just … said it differently. He talked to me like I was equal to him, like I was an actual person."

This is crucial. Treat people with caring and respect, and they will respond to you. This is one of the best lessons I have learned since I've been in the business of motivating people.

Great lessons in this one.

Read it.

Then read it again.

Take notes.

You can do it.

10 Tips for Losing 100 Pounds

I found this article on WebMD, and it's very insightful. I'm placing the bare-bones list here below, but I highly recommend you click the headline above and read the full story, which features comments not only from doctors, but also from people who've lost more than 100 pounds themselves.

As for my personal opinions on the tips, I strongly recommend #8. Talking to people who are a healthy weight and asking them questions can be a big help.

Here's the list:

1. Shrink Yourself: Analyze the Payoff You Get from Excess Weight
2. Assess Your Readiness
3. Consider the Options
4. Build in Accountability
5. Adjust Your Expectations
6. Develop a Healthy Selfishness
7. Fat Proof Your Environment
8. Pick the Brains of Healthy-Weight People
9. Find Your Secret Weapons
10. Reward your Success -- in the Right Way

© 2008 WebMD, LLC. All rights reserved.

Take Responsibility, Not Pills

It seems that barely a week can go by without news of another weight loss drug and its dangerous side-effects. This time it's something called Acomplia, manufactured by the French pharmaceutical group Sanofi-Aventis. It was rejected in the U.S. last year, and now it's been rejected in Europe as well.

"After reviewing data that suggests obese and overweight patients had twice the risk of developing psychiatric disorders such as depression, anxiety and aggression, than those on a placebo, The European Medicines Agency (EMEA) determined the benefits no longer outweighed the risks for the drug – generically known as rimonabant."





Scroll down a bit further in the article and you'll find this:

"Between June and August of this year, five patients taking Acomplia as part of a clinical trial committed suicide. One person that was taking the placebo committed suicide."

That should stop you in your tracks. It means you're five times as likely to commit suicide while using this drug. This is all done out of the belief that chemicals should be mixed together to solve problems caused largely by behavior, not biology.

This was yet another drug meant to work by blocking hunger signals in the brain and suppressing the appetite, and I hate to hammer the same point over and over again (well, actually I don't... because that's how we remember things), but this is again a short-term solution to a long-term problem.

Even if the drug didn't cause depression, anxiety and aggression, there is still no plan in place for what you're supposed to do after you've lost the weight. Do you continue taking the drug forever? Do you stop taking it, and if so, what happens when your appetite is no longer suppressed?

[Hint: if your answer to that final question was "You gain back all the weight," you are correct.]

The article linked above also mentions that Big Pharma giant Merck said its newest appetite-suppressant won't make it to market, because it too causes depression and irritability.

The idea that the solution to your problems is taking a pill is in itself fraudulent. Behavior, not biology, causes the majority of people to become overweight and obese. In taking responsibility for your situation, you empower yourself to change it. By succumbing to the belief that it's not your fault, you surrender that power and become dependent on someone or something (i.e. a drug) outside of yourself to change it for you.

I'm glad these drugs will never make it to the market, and I credit those individuals responsible for blocking them. However, there are still many approved drugs that are also dangerous, and often the dangers are discovered too late, after people have been harmed from taking them.

Five people died in just a few months during the trials for this drug. There are thousands of people who've committed suicide after taking drugs that have been approved, and in fact are still on the market.

Take responsibility, not pills.

The only side-effects are that you feel more confident and empowered to change your life on your own.

You can live with that.

New Drug Doubles Weight Loss Rate

There's a brand new article today about a powerful new drug that doubles the rate of weight loss compared to previously-approved drugs in Europe. Click the headline above for the direct link to the story.



Here's an excerpt:

"Findings showed that the lowest dose of the drug contributed to 6.7 kg weight loss, whereas the medium and highest doses produced 11.3kg and 12.8kg weight reduction, respectively, suggesting that middle doses result in almost the same weight loss as the highest dose but with less side-effect."

Side-effects? Well, that should come as no surprise to anyone who's seen countless prescription drug ads on TV. These are pretty typical...

"The side effects of tesofensine include dryness of the mouth, insomnia, nausea and diarrhea; it also may contribute to increased blood pressure levels when used in high doses. As a result, the drug should be used with great care in obese individuals with possible heart problems or diabetes."

Since "obese individuals with possible heart problems or diabetes" includes nearly all obese people, this means that it should always be used with great care. Also note that since this is a new drug, there are no studies available to demonstrate possible long-term side-effects.

Most importantly, even though the drug may contribute to some noticeable weight loss while the subjects are taking it (in whatever doses), what their studies cannot demonstrate is what happens to these people once they stop taking the drug, or whether they're supposed to continue taking it indefinitely.

When obese people (typically individuals who have been overweight their entire lives) take a drug that causes them to lose weight, their habits and attitude do not change. Rather, physiological changes in their body's functioning triggered by the drug do all the heavy lifting for them. When the drug is removed from their system, their old habits will return with fervor, and so will the weight.

This is not to dampen the spirits of those people who are desperate to lose weight, it is to make a fundamental point about the nature of eating and weight loss: human beings are creatures of habit. We learn to do things automatically, through repetition, and the more those behaviors take place, the more embedded they become.

Temporary changes in behavior (like diets) will normally produce temporary results. Changes in attitude, thought and subconscious programming can produce long-term results because once the goal is attained, no further adjustment is required.

With a drug, even if all the weight is lost, the individual has to then make a decision of whether to continue taking the drug, or to go back to the old way of doing things... which is what led to the problem in the first place.

There are no shortcuts. Hypnosis isn't a shortcut. Hypnosis is a tool that can be used to train (willing & cooperative) people to use their thoughts more effectively, thereby producing changes in behavior that remain entrenched long after the therapy has concluded.

What Do You Deserve this Holiday Season?

Look, if you're like most people... you've resigned yourself to putting on some weight during the final two months of the year. Or maybe you're one of the brave few who plans only to "not gain" any additional weight during that time.

Maybe you're like my Dad... who for years would regale us with tales of how he was going to start exercising 5 days a week "as soon as we get back" from whatever vacation we were on at the time. Love him as we do, after 30+ years of hearing the same promises (and watching them go unfulfilled), we don't take his words too seriously anymore.

I remember the years when I'd go through this same ritual during the holidays:

• Grazing on candy dishes, snack trays & cookies until I was sick
  
• Eating HUGE portions of rich foods at parties & family gatherings
  
• Going back for seconds (thirds?)
  
• Passing out on the couch
  
• Feeling simultaneously bloated and empty/unsatisfied
  
• Watching the numbers go up on the scale
  
• Feeling sluggish, tired and guilty
  
• Rinse
  
• Repeat
  

Boy, do I miss those days! (Uh, not really)

Seriously, though... most people can identify with at least portions of this ritual. And the worst part is that's it's all supposed to be so much FUN. How many times have you justified these insane behaviors, either in your own mind or out loud to friends, by saying something like:

• "So what? It's the Holidays!"
  
• "I'll go on a diet after New Year's!"
  
• "But Mom only makes this once a year!"
  
• "I've been good all year... I deserve this!"
  

Right, as though you deserve to put on another 10 pounds. You deserve to hate the way you look in the mirror. You deserve to have trouble fitting into your clothes. You deserve less confidence and self-esteem.

These attitudes and behaviors are based on some false assumptions. Namely:

Being Good = Eating Healthy Foods

Being Bad = Eating Foods You Like

Food = Reward

More = Better

Pay special attention to that last one. Yes, we in America, after decades of relentless, repetitive advertising, mainly delivered via a medium (TV) that studies have shown induces a hypnotic state, have come to believe that more actually does mean better.

• Super-Sized
  
• XL
  
• Double-Decker
  
• Quarter Pounder
• Big Gulp
• Super Big Gulp
• Big Montana

When you can't sell quality... sell quantity.

This, in spite of the fact that with respect to food, more is often completely useless. Once your stomach is full, trying to stuff more food into it makes no more sense than trying to pump more gasoline into a full tank.

However nonsensical and irrational this belief may be, it functions as reality for many, many people... causing them to feel deprived if they don't indulge in an over-sized portion of whatever it is they're having.

Why?

Let's go back to the TV for a minute. Yeah, you know you want to...

It just feels so nice to crash on the couch in front of the tube and tune out, right? Did you ever wonder why it feels so nice to crash in front of the TV and turn off your brain for a while?

Could it be... hypnosis?!?

"Oh, come now," you say. "I've never been hypnotized. What nonsense."

Let's ask Herbert E. Krugman, who was the manager of corporate public opinion research at General Electric. He produced a landmark paper entitled "The Impact of Television Advertising: Learning Without Involvement" in 1965.

He found that "Repeated exposure to advertising can lead to changes in the perceptions of what is important about a brand without the conscious or verbal recognition on the consumer's part." [my emphasis]

Take another look at that statement. "Without conscious recognition" means that the recognition is unconscious. Therefore, while watching TV, including (and especially) advertisements, you are receiving messages that are being accepted without your direct, conscious awareness.

You know that thing that happens when you're watching TV... when your husband/wife/mate calls your name repeatedly to get your attention, but you're so involved in the show that you don't even hear them until they practically shout it into your ear?

Thought you were the only one, huh?

So many of my new clients express frustration at knowing their eating behaviors are irrational, while feeling increasingly incapable of changing them. "It just doesn't make sense," they say. "I know which foods are good for me. I know I should be eating less. I just can't seem to change it."

It's time to face facts. We are being marketed to on a daily basis by advertisers whose job is to create wants and needs... who need us to consume more in order for their businesses to grow. Whether you like it or not, you're being bombarded with messages that are completely counter to your health, happiness and well-being.

So who's going to be responsible for delivering messages to your subconscious? A bunch of marketing execs who want more of your cash, or you?

It's time to start filling up that brain of yours with messages that will produce the results you're looking for. Hypnosis is one way of doing that. There are others as well.

You don't have to wait until you've buried yourself under more weight during the holiday season. You can turn things around now.

Unless, of course, you decide that you deserve more of the same.

Person Herbert E. Krugman

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How to Eliminate Cravings... Very Quickly

Would you like to erase a craving for a specific food? Would you like to stop reaching into that candy dish in the break room at work, or get that cheeseburger to stop “calling your name” so often? Maybe you’d like to stop drinking six cups of coffee every day (or cut back to one or two).

Whatever your experience, you should find this podcast very interesting. Today, I discuss how I help my clients to erase cravings -- from Moose Tracks ice cream to Mountain Dew and many others -- using some very simple, very effective NLP techniques.



For more information about my Weight Loss programs, and how you can get rid of YOUR cravings, please visit www.purehypnosis.com/weight.html.