Aspire Therapy Blog

The Benefits Of A Diet-Free Approach To Weight-Loss

Our diet-free approach to weight control offers a realistic and long-lasting solution to the problems of over-eating.

Rather than subjecting you to the ups-and-downs, the temporary highs and frequent disappointments that accompany traditional weight-loss programmes, we help you to change the way you actually think and feel around food.

Losing One Pound A Month Can Be Enough

The conscious eating programme which we use with our clients is an ideal way of ensuring that the ‘mindless margin’ works to our benefit rather than our detriment, helping us to lose that little bit of extra weight month by month rather than to gain it.

As explained in our previous article, Weight Loss Without Deprivation, the ‘mindless margin’ is the margin in which we can either slightly overeat or under-eat without being aware of it.

This margin of 100 to 200 calories more or less than the average daily intake of calories sufficient to maintain us at the same weight, is one we cannot detect.

Weight-Loss Without Deprivation Using ‘The Mindless Margin’

Most of us gain weight gradually over a long period of time and can't really understand how it happened. But what if we could lose weight in the same way - shedding those pounds without feeling any sense of deprivation?

In his book Mindless Eating, Dr Brian Wansink, a passionate researcher into the psychology of modern eating habits, provides further strong evidence in support of a non-diet based approach to losing weight.

Central to Dr Wansink's research findings is what he calls 'the mindless margin'. This is the margin in which we can either slightly overeat or under-eat without being aware of it.

Change Your Attitude To Food From Within

The aim of our weight loss programme is to change your attitude to food from within rather than to impose a set of unsustainable rules about what you can or cannot eat.

It is also about learning to enjoy your food again rather than treating it as a guilty pleasure which has to be got through as quickly as possible – and which therefore ceases to be a pleasure at all

Paul McKenna’s Diet-Free Weight-Loss System Tops Best Seller Chart - Again

Love him or hate him, Paul McKenna’s I Can Make You Thin – now in a glossy new 2010 edition - is once again at the top of the best seller charts. 

The book by the well known hypnotist and television personality outlines his diet-free approach to losing weight.

His system works on the principle that by eating slowly and knowing when you are full you can take control over your eating habits whilst at the same time enjoying your food.

Getting Control Over Our Eating Habits

February and March were very busy months for us with lots of people seeking help for eating problems.

As you would expect a considerable proportion of these clients wanted to lose some weight. However, others have wanted to tackle cravings, obsessive thinking about food, bulimia and unhealthy eating.

Our programme of treatment for weight differs from some more conventional programmes in being diet free and not reliant upon will-power.

The amount of weight people want to lose can vary greatly. Sometimes it is a case of just wanting to get back into last summer’s outfit. Other people are looking to achieve more radical change.

The ultimate goal for most clients is simply to feel better about themselves and just stop thinking so much about food.

Client Case Study: Overcoming A Food Phobia

Jennifer came to us with a long-standing food phobia - she hadn’t eaten vegetables or fruit for nearly 30 years.

Here she explains in her own words, how she overcame her problem through therapy and her inner determination to succeed.

"Before starting therapy, I hadn’t eaten vegetables for approximately 30 years. My diet consisted of potatoes, meat and sandwiches.

I think I had in my mind that I would be hypnotised and be told that I liked vegetables and that would be that. Hey presto!

After a faltering start, I began to have more realistic expectations of what I could achieve through therapy. I was taught various techniques through hypnosis and coaching and these became invaluable to me.