On Monday, I picked up the book “I Can Make You Thin” at Barnes and Noble – it was $19 instead of $13 like it is online.  After reading the first 15 pages, I went to bed.  Tuesday morning rolls in and I have to apply the principles of this book.  Eat whatever I want, Only eat when I’m hungry, Stop eating when I’m full.  There are four basic principles but I haven’t gotten there in the book yet.

For breakfast I had a bowl of oatmeal with apples, raisins, and brown sugar.  I’ve eaten this same breakfast many times although I wouldn’t say so often as to call it a habit.  On a normal day, I finish off the entire bowl, think about a buying more but decide better of it and go back to work.  Today, I asked myself after each bite if I was full.  When I felt the answer was yes, I stopped eating.

Maybe it is the novelty of the idea or even a placebo effect but I was less than half way through when I stopped eating.  I grew up with less than wealthy parents and was taught not to throw away food – a principle I have lived by my whole life, evident by my waist line!  This time however I threw away the ‘extra’ food.

To my surprise, lunch was more of the same.  I ordered a chicken salad and only got through a quarter of it.  My wife suggested that I should have asked to take the rest home so that I would have been able to have it for dinner.  I wish I had thought of that at the time, but I was so taken back by the idea that I was ‘full’ after only a small portion of what I normally consume, that I never give it a thought.

I was running late to my evening workout session and so I grabbed fast food on the way (oxymoronic at best, right?).  I ordered the three mini-burger meal from with small fries and a small diet coke.  I ate one mini burger… and was full!  I never touched the fries or the other two sandwiches.

What is going on here?  Am I experiencing some sort of suggestive reaction to the idea that I am ‘full’ after such small portions?  Or am I actually full?  Is this just the novelty of the program or is this a sustainable lifestyle?

I don’t know but if the answer is yes – then my daily eating pattern is obviously one in which I simply inhale mass amounts of food and without a doubt the major contributing factor to my FAT condition.  This is a breathing technique I have used to gain weight for years and its obviously very affective!

Hmm, it sounds good but we’ll see.

After reading for the first time Paul McKenna’s “I can make you thin” I am flooded with thoughts. The book takes a direct shot at the entire weight lose/diet community. He states “many of them (diets and their supporters) are an outright con.”

Considering I’ve tried most diets and I’m still wrestling with lasting results I was not offended by these claims at all but he goes deeper.

In case anyone one may misunderstand what McKenna is saying he sums it up in big bold print:

“Forget about dieting. Forever. Diets are essentially training courses in how to get fat and feel like a failure.”

McKenna blames diets and the diet industry for helping to mess up the natural process of eating and even body metabolism. He boldly believes diets are the “number-one cause of obesity in the world”.

The approach that is taken in the book is from a common sense and mind (thinking) makeover. The claim is all you need to do is follow the 4 Golden Rules:

1. When you are hungry, Eat.
2. EAT WHAT YOU WANT, not what you think you should.
3. Eat CONSCIOUSLY and enjoy every mouthful.
4. When you think you are full, STOP eating.

Sounds simple, right? Then why are so many of us so fat? Be honest too. If you are obese, do you follow those four rules? I think not!

The author does a great job presenting radical thinking to weight management that seems to make sense. He gives practical although sometime seemly bizarre, techniques to eating, dealing with cravings and even the easiest exercise program you have heard of in a weight loss book. I will address all of these areas further in future posts.

As for me I started today having heard about the Four Golden Rules on-line but had not read the book yet. I also watched a video of McKenna (you can see it on my previous post to Dale) and knew a little about how to apply rule Number 3 while eating, which to me is the most important rule because it helps with Number 4.

For breakfast I made two eggs and got some yogurt out to eat (yes I wanted this). I ate slowly, chewing at least 20 times per bite before I swallowed and took another bite. Much to my surprised I felt full after eating about half an egg. I couldn’t believe it!

My first thought was “crap I’m gonna be hungry in 10 minutes with nothing to around to eat”. Yet, I pushed that thought aside, put the yogurt back and threw away the other egg.

I then got the book and read the first 20 pages or so.

At lunch I went to Subway. I normally order some Jared special I don’t want and eat everything within a calorie allotment. Today, I ordered the meatball sub with cheeses and jalapenos, cause that’s what I wanted and ole Paulie said I could.

I made sure there was meat in every bite I took and eat slowly. I ate all the meat but left 25% of the bread in garbage. While leaving I thought to myself “you idiot you’ll be starving any minute”. I was thirsty but clearly not hungry.

Among other things I finished the book before dinner.

I had my favorite local Chinese food for dinner but I only ate 25% of my normal portion followed by chocolate pudding for dessert.

Later in the evening I had a bag of popcorn while watching TV (the eating while watching TV is a no-no) and then that left over yogurt. In hindsight I could have just had the yogurt.

I drank water and iced tea with artificial sweetener. I’ll try to pay more attention to how much I drink starting tomorrow.

Off to bed now and I’m very interested to see how tomorrow goes.

Albert B. Tubbs has issued a 30 day weight loss challenge.  If you read through my recent posts, then you know that I have lived up to the name of this blog and quit… again.  But IQA has once again nudged me in the right direction (this time through Albert B. Tubbs).

I almost ignored Albert’s email when I saw that it involves a commercial product called “I can make you thin” developed by Paul McKenna, but Albert states that he has never used the program and is not affiliated with it.

The loser must refund the program’s price back to the winner.  I’ve never heard of Paul McKenna, but I’m up for a challenge and winning $13 seems like a great way to start 2010.  Then again, spending $26 for a $13 program that did not work sounds like a lousy way to start the new year…

The rules are simple – get the program and follow it for a month.  Blog the experience from the program everyday.  Who ever looses the most weight by the end of the year wins.  Well, Albert B. Tubbs (which I’m sure isn’t your real name) – I accept your challenge… on one condition – we are both committed to daily posts.  Each day we fail to post an entry adds half a pound to our final weight.

And I’m inviting all IQA readers (that’s both of you… lol) to join me (or Albert) in the Tubb challenge.  To be fair, I have not created an affiliate link for Paul McKenna’s product because I do not want a kick back for anyone purchasing it for this challenge.  You can follow Albert’s daily posts (as well as mine) right here on IQA starting December 1st.