madermouse's Diaryland Diary ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2/19/03 I�m thinking of getting hypnotized for weight loss. Does that sound crazy to anyone? I mean, it kind of sounds crazy to me when I say it aloud. So have any of you ever had hypnosis for weight loss or any other reason? I�d appreciate any advice or shared experiences that you might offer. I think part of the reason I haven�t been losing weight this past year is because of my mindset. I often feel tired of being on a �diet� and I think sometimes those feelings of resentment hold me back. Sure, there were many months in the beginning that I did not see these lifestyle changes as a diet. But after years of doing it, its definitely getting harder to think of it as anything but a diet�especially when my stomach is growling and I want that old comfort that food used to provide to me. Hypnosis is just a way to change those tapes you run in your head�you know the ones I�m talking about. The ones that say, �FOR THE LOVE OF GOD If I have to eat another chicken breast/fat-free salad dressing/baby carrots/light cheese I�m going to freak out!!!� Yes � that�s the mindset I�m trying to change; the one that wonders continually if she�ll ever be able to eat chocolate again without being sick. The one who orders the wonton soup and vegetable stir-fry with light oil all the while longing for the greasy dumplings and the general tso�s chicken and the crab puffs. I went to the gastroenterologist yesterday who confirmed that I have GERD. (gastro esophageal reflux disease) He told me for the next six weeks to steer clear from citrus, coffee, chocolate, alcohol, cream, butter, fried or fatty foods, oil, and spicy foods like the plague and faithfully take my medicine and then we�ll see if I feel any better. He doesn�t know what the cause is although he mentioned gallbladder removal can sometimes spark it as well as ulcers or hiatal hernias. He said he�s not sure if it will be a life-long condition that I will just have to learn to control, or if it will eventually heal and go away. He was a wonderful doc who took a lot of time with me and made me feel very comfortable. I was really surprised that GERD can cause so much pain, lethargy and illness. I never knew! But these changes are difficult for me to make even though I generally eat a good diet. It�s hard to give up so much after I feel like I�ve changed my diet so drastically already. I�ve never counted fat grams either. For example, all during my first 100 pounds of weight loss, I ate a piece of chocolate almost every day and nonfat latte�s were a much-deserved treat on the weekends. Spices and peppers made lightened versions of my old standbys tolerable to my palate. And pizza � don�t even get me started on how much I miss pizza! I had a couple of slices of pizza every single Friday and sometimes I had a slice as my after-workout meal on Saturday morning. A single deli chicken strip got me through many-a-fried-food craving, and in the dead of winter there�s nothing to stop a yen for candy than a sweet orange. Using these spices and foods are how I made it this far! They�ve been my little pit stops along the road of dieting. They�ve helped me feel like a real, normal person instead of a Nazi dieter on a mission from hell! And now I�m being told that I cannot eat those things unless I want to suffer for hours and hours afterwards. It�s kind of a bitter pill to swallow. But, bless my therapist who said, �What you�re being asked to do would be hard for anyone Heather, not just you.� I want to believe her, I really do. And her saying so made me feel a little better. But, then again, I am paying the woman. I think I know people who this wouldn�t be difficult for. You know the types�the people who �forget� to eat all day and the people who claim to be �stuffed� after a few bites of salad. I�m sure they would be fine giving up these foods forever. But then she made another good point, which has stuck with me this week. She said, �Its one thing to make positive choices because you want to, and quite another thing to be forced to do it.� She�s right � it does feel different. Making these choices on my own � just because I can � is very empowering. Doing it because I have no other choice just kind of sucks ass!! So I fluctuate between the two, at once knowing its good for me to stay away from all these foods but also being angry that I have to. The following story is a NON-PAID account of my personal experience using a product to stop female hair loss. If you�re interested, please read on: Now, while running the risk of sounding like an infomercial, I simply must advocate a product that I started using 6 months ago that has changed my life. I had been having excessive hair loss off and on for the last 5 years or so. Until I started losing weight, it always seemed to resolve in a couple of months so I never worried about it much. But as many of you know I had fears of becoming bald. The past two years my fallout became remarkable, and very troublesome. I constantly had hairs on my pillow in the morning, coating my shoulders and clothes, and in the shower I could literally pull out a hairy handful each time I ran my hands through my head. Slowly, my scalp became visible and the more concerned I became, the faster I lost my hair. I researched the Internet for solutions and found lots of message boards with woman in the same boat as me. The general theme was fear and frustration. There didn�t seem to be a whole lot of help out there, especially for women. I went to a Dermatologist�.actually, I went to two dermatologist who suggested Rogaine to me. They said it was the most promising option. But I didn�t find it to be promising in the least. It was costly, had harsh side effects, didn�t help everyone, and was not effective unless you used it for the rest of your life. The minute you quit using Rogaine, you lose all the hair it had help you to grow. Needless to say, I became very discouraged. I�m not the type of person to try �natural� products. But in the face of such negative side effects and half-promises, I felt I had no choice but to explore other options. I ran across Kevis�s web site and devoured the information. One thing that intrigued me, was that Kevis offered no guarantee. They were truthful to say that Kevis doesn�t work on every person and a phone consultation was required to even inquire about the cost of the program. I spoke to a representative who questioned me on the extent of my hair loss, how long it had been going on, and the methods I�d used to battle it. She was thorough and asked all sorts of questions about my lifestyle. Because the product was so expensive, she wanted to find out if Kevis products could really help me or not. They seemed very conscientious about not ripping people off. They said they relied mostly on word of mouth advertising, and they wanted those words to be kind and hopeful. So, with much trepidation and apprehension, I spent my entire savings on buying this product. Yes � you heard me � my entire savings. I purchased the year program, which was one of the most expensive. But all the clinical trials had proven that a year was the most effective in stopping the hair loss and eventually growing new hair. Within 6 weeks, the drastic shedding had slowed down. I remember running my hands through my scalp after shampooing and noticing that only about 10 hairs were in my fingers. That was promising considering that before I started using Kevis, I counted losing between 100-150 hairs every time I shampooed! Now, six months later, I lose 1 or 2 hairs in the shower, and maybe 1 or 2 hairs on my shoulders. The fall out has almost completely stopped, and in its place, I see hundreds of tiny hairs growing on my scalp. This has truly been a miracle product for me, with no side effects (except for a drained bank account). Kevis recommends a �maintenance� amount to keep the scalp free of DHT hormone which can cause hair fallout in women. But I will not return to my former state of hair loss when my treatment is over and I will keep the hair that I�ve grown. I can use the �maintenance� amount if I so choose. If the hormone does block my hair follicles again in the future, I know I have a product that I can trust and turn to help me again. There is hope out there, and Kevis is it!! 2:50 p.m. - 2/19/03 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
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