I know, you’re probably looking at the title and going, “Lies!” Well, you’re wrong. I’m not bullshitting you.
You’re probably also marvelling at my cute feet. In that case, thank you. I get a lot of compliments about them.
This story began around Father’s Day, 2016, when I went into the bookstore to get my dad a present. While perusing the shelves, I happened upon a small book. It was called I Can Make You Thin: 90 Day Success Journal by Paul McKenna. I was instantly intrigued.
A weight loss journal, huh?
I picked it off the shelf and scanned through the introductory pages explaining his philosophy about weight loss. As I flipped through the journal, I noticed that every day contained a checklist of items you had to check off if completed. Below the checklist, there was a section to write one positive thing that happened that day, and one thing that you look forward to the next day. Somehow seeing that checklist sparked something in me, and I instantly knew that it would work. So needless to say, I bought it. And something for my dad too, of course 🙂
About the journal
Paul McKenna’s weight loss journal was actually an accompaniment to his book I Can Make You Thin, a book I eventually downloaded to my Kindle app. The book also comes with a meditation CD/ download if you buy the Kindle version (more on that later). The journal transforms his advice from the book into a 90-day action plan, making it easier to put his teachings into practise. Every day of the checklist is accompanied by a motivational message from Paul, inspired by his book. Now while I essentially didn’t need the original book, I still decided to get it for greater depth into his philosophy. You honestly don’t have to, because his method is so simple. All you have to do is follow the ‘Four Golden Rules’ and weight loss success will be yours.
A sample journal entry from the weight loss journal.
What are the ‘Four Golden Rules’?
Paul McKenna’s simple four golden rules to achieving your weight loss goals are as follows:
1. Eat when you’re hungry
2. Eat what you really want to eat, and not what you think you should eat
3. Eat consciously
4. Stop when you’re full.
Obviously no. 2 was my favourite rule! Does anyone want to know that they have to give up fries or creamy cheesy pasta just to lose a couple pounds? Hell no! Now when you read the book, he goes more in depth into why it doesn’t matter what you eat, and why restricting what you eat is actually counterproductive to your weight loss efforts. When he gave examples of research that reiterated this point, I was blown away. It then made perfect sense why only few people have successfully kept off weight by dieting, and why the majority of people have put back on the weight they lost and more!
All four rules really complement each other. Only eating when you’re hungry is very important for people like me. I’m sometimes a greedy eater and eat everything on the plate. I eat when I have cravings. I eat when I’m feeling down. I never actually question myself if I’m hungry. When you eat when you’re not hungry, you end up overeating, which to Paul is really the reason why people gain so much weight. So his system is supposed to help you train to recognise your body’s cues to hunger as well as the point of satiation, so you avoid overeating.
Eating consciously is also another really good point. I think this is something lots of nutritionists or weight loss experts can all agree on. We need to remember to eat mindfully and slowly. Take a sip of water between each bite, or remember to put your fork or spoon down between each mouthful. Chew slowly and properly. And taste. For the love of God, taste your food! Savour the flavours! A helpful point to note is that if you wait when you’re hungry to the point of starving, you have a higher chance of eating much faster, which means you might end up eating everything on your plate and missing your body’s cue that you’re full.
So to reiterate, all of these rules are interdependent. They’re all important to avoiding overeating, which then helps you to lose weight.
The other four rules
So, as you saw in the picture of the sample entry, there were four other rules mentioned. These are important as well, but not as important or as necessary as following the first four rules. In his book, however, he mentioned how moving your body, especially for at least twenty minutes every day such that your heart rate goes up, can boost your metabolism. And if you didn’t know, if your metabolism goes up, you can lose even more weight even when you’re not working out!
The other rule I didn’t really follow during the 90 days was listening to the meditation/ hypnosis track, as well as the mirror exercise. In retrospect, I wish I did the mirror exercise more during that time. Nowadays, I see value in doing ‘mirror work’, which means standing in front of a mirror and giving myself a pep talk, so to speak. What I do is remind myself about what’s great about me. Last year, I had trouble doing this because I didn’t like the person I saw in the mirror. I clearly had low self-esteem. But now, it’s totally different. You have no idea how happy I am to see myself in the mirror now.
And with respect to the meditation track, it was interesting! Paul McKenna actually has a background in hypnosis and NLP (Neuro-Linguistic Programming). Before, I found hypnosis to be a bit heebie-jeebie-ish and didn’t believe it worked. However, the first time I tried it, I decided to have an open mind about it, and it was actually nice! It was just basically 20-25 minutes of him saying things to make you visualise yourself thin, and how you would feel when you have the thin body you desire, and how to love yourself and your body while you’re on your weight loss journey. The only thing is that because it’s meant to be a hypnotic session, you have to be prepared to let go. Every time I tried it, I had a hard time of letting go and letting my mind be influenced by his suggestions. That said, I just lay down quietly on my bed as I listened and tried to absorb what he was saying. I will say that I think the meditation track did start to change my mindset a bit on the days that I tried it. Perhaps if I kept up with it regularly, my mindset on my body and weight loss journey would have completely shifted.
My 90-Day Weight Loss Journey
So the way the program is designed, you get six chances to weigh yourself, one every fifteen days/ two weeks. Or seven if you count Day 1. On Day 1 I had to log my ‘before’ weight at the back of the book, along with the date that I started the program. I started at 231.4 lbs. As the first two weeks progressed, I religiously followed the rules, and even did yoga every other day to move my body. I also tried to drink more water. Even though I was convinced that his philosophy about weight loss through avoiding overeating made sense, I was still skeptical. But honestly, I wanted him to be right. I was tired of trying things to lose weight, only for life to happen and end back up at the original weight I was, or worse, several pounds heavier. I wanted a weight loss plan that I could actually commit to that I knew worked.
While I followed the plan for those first two weeks, I was so surprised to see how much food I was starting to leave behind in my meals just by stopping when I was full! Some times it was virtually half of my meal that I was leaving behind! This was in a way great because then I started spending less money on snacks and instead ate the rest of my meal once I felt hungry again.
On day fifteen I nervously stepped up on the scale, praying that I would see some weight loss. Sure enough, I was 229.1 lbs! I’d successfully lost 5 lbs y’all! I was so happy! I’d proven that his system worked!
With that small but significant success, I carried on, determined to lose more weight. Some weeks I did see small changes in weight, like only a fraction of a pound, but the positive side was that my weight was going down. The times when I wasn’t losing as much weight was when I was having trouble slowing down my eating. Needless to say, I continued with the 90 day plan. On September 19th, the last day of the plan (and coincidentally, my father’s birthday), my final weight was 215. 7 lbs. That was an 18.4 lb total weight loss, guys! Hoorah!
So, the 90 day plan was over, but I felt like I was committed to those golden rules. By January 6th, I weighed 206.7 lbs, a collective 27.4 lb weight loss since I started following the rules. Beautiful!
Did it last?
Sadly, no. I ended up going to Curaçao and Aruba in February, and somehow I just returned to my overeating ways. What can I say; the food was too good! I’m currently back up to 216.6 lbs, which really bugs me, because I was so proud of my downward trend that I maintained for six, seven months!
Honestly, I think what’s missing from my life is that journal. I think the reason why the plan worked was because I had Paul McKenna in my head every day for 90 days cheering me on. The simple act of journaling helped me to be mindful about my weight loss goals, and made committing to the golden rules much easier. So I’m planning on buying another journal to see if it works again, although I wish there was an app version.
But funny thing: today I decided to Google him to see if I could find an email address to contact him and beg him to turn it into an app. I then discovered that he now has app versions for his books, including I Can Make You Thin! It’s not the same as the journal though, but I’m going to give it a try and see if it works. If it doesn’t, it’s back to the journal, and I probably will send him that email after all.
My final thoughts
I really do believe that Paul’s weight loss method worked for me, because it’s made for people like me. I love good food, and lack the discipline to ever commit to eating healthy or restricting certain food groups from my diet. I also lack the time to cook for myself, so there’s that too. Paul’s method is simple, effective, and once you stick to the rules, it’s absolutely guaranteed to work!
But on that note, if you have your own method that helps you to lose weight, you don’t need to try this one. There are honestly so many routes that you can take to losing weight. Just pick one that you enjoy and that you can stick to, and you’re guaranteed to lose weight. It’s akin to that child molester Jared who ate the Subway sandwiches to allegedly lose weight. It’s akin to the celebrities who endorse Weight Watchers, or people who use Dr. Siegel’s ‘cookie diet’ to lose weight (bizarre but true). There is no right way. Choose your ‘weapon’, stick to it, and sip on a congratulatory kale-enriched smoothie/ vanilla milkshake as your pounds melt away!
