Overeaters Anonymous

Yes, it is a real thing.  The first time I heard about it was several years ago when a friend was struggling with some weight issues (aren't we all?) and googled it.  I've also googled it myself on various occasions, and had other friends talk about it and google it too.  We're all a bunch of googlers.  One of my dear friends approached me about going to a meeting recently.  I had heard about the group before, and even poked around on their website, so what better time to try it out than with a girlfriend?

We were both shaking in our boots on our way into the meeting.  After the meeting we were emotional wrecks and sought comfort in none other but burgers and fries.

The first meeting we went to was a traditional style OA meeting.  We sat around a large table and took turns introducing ourselves, followed by our disease of choice.  (Actually I didn't know there was more than one until I went to the HOW meeting.)  We listened to members take turns reading the program guidelines, 12 steps to recovery, and a speaker reading from one of OA's books.  It was interesting to say the least.  My biggest struggle with OA is that even though they are not affiliated with any religion, you are still required to believe in a higher power and give up control to that higher power.  They do reference God and pray during the meeting.  I've struggled for the last several years with detaching myself from Christianity, so this is a very difficult barrier for me to pass.  Ultimately, I decided it is not one I would be able to pass.  At the end of the meeting they told us that there was another format of meeting, the OA HOW meetings.  HOW meetings are much more structured, but that's about all they said about them.

So, my friend and I attended a HOW meeting to see what the difference was.  It was huge!  Probably also in part to the group itself, but I left the meeting feeling like without a few of the very big requirements, I could keep going back.

The HOW meeting was, as the previous group had told us, very structured.  You are required to call your sponsor daily and go over your food plan for the day.  If you have any swaps in your food you need to call your sponsor.  If your sponsor doesn't answer, you have to call two more people.  This group follows the Big Blue Book of AA very closely.  OA in general is based off of AA's 12 step plan, but the HOW group read directly from the Blue Book.  OA believes that replacing the word "alcohol" with the word "food" makes the 12 step plan an excellent way to recover from overeating.  Many of the members mentioned the weight they've been relieved of by following this plan.  This group was extremely inspiring.  Not just because of the weight loss, but because of their support for each other and their enthusiasm.  They're also super welcoming of new people.  It really was a great experience. 

All in all, I felt like this was a really great organization for the right people.  But I'm going to stick with the plan given to me by the dietitian I met with last week. :)

Hyponisis for Weight Loss

Over the weekend my friend and I attended a hypnosis session geared toward weight loss.  I had no idea what to expect going into it and was moderately concerned we may have been scammed.  Turns out, by golly I think it worked!

We arrived at the hotel where the class was held, and there were maybe 50 people there.  That sounds like a lot, but I'm trying to think of a realistic number and I think that would be about right.  The session was held by a man who said he was a certified hypnosis and stated we would be going through four hypnosis sessions through the course of our day.  My friend and I looked at each other wondering if we heard that right.  How is this one man going to perform hypnosis on all these people?  Are we going to break up into groups?  No, and he just dives right in.

Throughout the series of hypnosis sessions, we are to picture ourselves as lean in our dream body.  One session is to help us vision how we got ourselves into that dream body.  We envision all the fun we had while getting fit and being active.  One (seemingly) common misconception about hypnosis is that you lose control of yourself.  At the level of hypnosis we were doing, we are kept fully aware of ourselves.  We closed our eyes, sure, and went into a comfortably relaxed state, but we were still aware of what was going on.  As a hypnosis virgin I had no idea that you would keep your consciousness.

The second notable session was one where we thought of one of the foods we wish to eliminate from our lives.  For me, I thought of sugary treats.  Since we needed to pick something specific that we could visualize, I picked the treats someone brought in to work during the previous week.  Typically I have a very difficult time resisting goodies in front of my face.  In fact, I think I had three corn flake balls.  Plus a piece of better than sex cake.  So I pictured those goodies.  The session was quite disgusting.  The idea is we go to certain foods because we feel they are comforting to us.  So we are to replace the feelings of comfort with the feelings of disgust.  It was gross.  Horribly, horribly gross.

There were also additional sessions for sale by way of CDs.  My friend picked up a few CDs, and I chose one that is basically hypnosis lap band.  The night after our session I had a Christmas party to go to, so I thought I would try out my new CD and see what happens when faced with alcohol and loads of yummy looking food.

The lap band session was much more palatable.  Instead of imagining rancid food, I was to imagine my physical stomach and partitioning it so that the end result was, of course, a smaller stomach.  Now this, I can definitely say worked for me.  At the party I didn't go straight to the wine.  I had a small cup of hot cider.  After that I did decide to have a small glass of wine.  Usually I fill my glass up.  I also didn't even go near the food for quite a while.  People were like, why don't you go get some food?  I said I just wasn't hungry.  Which was entirely true!  When I finally did get a little rumble in my belly, I had a few small bites of the various appetizers, and wasn't tempted by the desserts.  After a bit more conversation I was still a little hungry, so I went back and there were some gloriously fudgy looking brownies in the shape of trees.  I cut off a tip and had literally one bite of brownie.  That was the only dessert I touched.  Usually at this party (my friend has had this party annually for several years) I gorge myself and feel like a pig.  Helpings of all the appetizers, plenty of wine, and at least one serving of each nut-less dessert.  Needless to say, this change is huge for me.

All in all, I would definitely say that hypnosis has helped me not feel hungry so often.  When I eat, I stop when I'm full even if there is food leftover.  The effects of hypnosis are not permanent however, so I have listened to my CD since Saturday.  I feel like if I check in with myself and my new found imaginary tiny stomach, I might actually feel the need to stuff my face less.  So that's pretty awesome.



*Please note all opinions expressed are entirely my own, and I was neither asked nor compensated for them.

Elf Fail, Overeaters Anonymous, Hypnosis for Weight Loss

I apologize for my absence, it's been an extremely busy week!

First of all, as my first week as an Elf for Health, I've totally failed, except for Monday.

Tuesday - Send a handwritten note to a friend.

I did intend to do this, but I don't have any stamps left and Walgreens didn't have any more cards with the postage already included on the envelope.  Elf fail.

Wednesday - Try a new workout.

I did not mean to try a new workout, but since I'm healed enough to go back to Zumba, I meant to make it to the gym.  However, I had a very difficult day at work and by the time I got home I was super exhausted and had a headache.  Elf fail.

Today - Get up 15 minutes early to meditate.
Eff that.  I have a hard enough time waking up.  Let's just say I meditated in my sleep this morning.  Elf fail.

So, obviously I haven't been great with my daily challenges.  However!  Monday night I had a lovely chat with a friend and we've decided to join together in our weight loss efforts.  Tuesday we went to an Overeaters Anonymous (yes, it's a real thing) meeting to check it out and see what it's all about.  Will blog more on that next week.  

We also discussed a recent Groupon for weight loss hypnosis.  I recently read an article written by one of my favorite bloggers, so my interest was doubly piqued.  We found a class being held this Saturday so we are going!  I've never been hypnotized so I'm interested to see what's going to happen.  Or, maybe they will focus more on self-hypnosis.  I really have no idea what to expect!

~Also~ we are going to meet with a dietitian on Monday evening.  I've wondered if I need to meet with a dietician, so I'm pretty pumped that we're going to meet with her.

Despite being a Bad Elf, there are a lot of exciting things to look forward to right now!

Raspberry Ketones

I'm going to say it, I think Dr. Oz is full of crap.  I think he promotes items that are not actually proven to be effective and gets a slice of the profits once a product's sales have skyrocketed after being on his show.

~HOWEVER~

I also think that there are some more controversial diets and/or products that are judged before a person looks into them for themselves.

Last night I received a bottle of raspberry ketones to try out.  Before I ordered the supplement, I did some online research and a lot of it revolved around the hype that Dr. Oz produced.

~AGAIN, HOWEVER~

Based on my very own thoughts, I decided to try out a raspberry ketones product anyway.  In the past I found a company called Creative Bioscience.  I found this company when I was trying to find HCG*** drops that weren't full of fake crap.  It was their Facebook page that ultimately made me go with their HCG product.  Their Facebook page had a lot of helpful information, but more importantly, had an active following.  Fans posted on the page and Creative Bioscience would actually respond!  They didn't delete that hard questions, they didn't avoid them, they answered anything.  I really, really liked that.  To me that shows that they back up their product, they're not just in it to sell a false product and reap the benefits.  So, back to raspberry ketones, I was looking for a product that wasn't from a company only looking to make profits off people who are lead to believe that raspberry ketones are a miracle pill.  What do I expect out of them?  I expect that they boost my existing diet and exercise plan.  Not that they will magically make my weight drop off.  Since I had already used a product by Creative Bioscience, I thought I would see if they had a raspberry ketone product available.  And they do!  Their product also contains green tea extract, african mango extract, and acai berry.  All of these ingredients have at least been rumored to promote weight loss, so it seems like a good mix to me.  I started taking them last night because I wanted a diet boost ASAP.  We'll see how this goes!

***The HCG diet (at least in this part of the country) is considered a scam.  Most people in this area only think the diet is to eat 500 calories a day, which most people also know is unhealthy.  After doing my own research, I found that an HCG diet is actually supposed to be supplemented by HCG drops which counter the fact that you're not consuming enough calories.  They essentially release extra calories that you're already storing, so you're really not starving yourself.  I did lose weight on this diet but ultimately it was too restrictive for me to follow.


*Please note all opinions expressed are entirely my own, and I was neither asked nor compensated for them.