How  Slimpods use the science of unconscious persuasion for weight control

A LITTLE book called Nudge is having a big impact on the way Government policy is being implemented. The principles of the book suggest ways in which research on the way people are influenced can be used to ‘nudge’ people towards decisions which are felt to be in their best interests.

At Thinking Slimmer we’re no stranger to these principles, with our approach to weight management, lifestyle and fitness being based on cognitive hypnotherapy, which uses a model of linguistic persuasion that incorporates the principles of unconscious influence as a key part of its methodology.

Our take is that if the mind creates a situation where it is easy to put weight on despite you not wanting to, it should be just as easy to lose weight when you do want to. It’s the same mind, after all. It just has to be nudged towards one outcome instead of another.

Slimpods are recordings about 10 minutes long, available as internet downloads as part of the 12-week audio/visual Slimpod Gold programme.  They work equally well on men and women and for all age groups.

The way words are used on the unconscious mind means Slimpods can alter the way the brain’s “reward circuit” releases dopamine, a natural substance which creates feelings of pleasure. This change means Slimpod users feel good about losing weight, exercise, healthier eating and their growing self-esteem rather than the way they used to gain comfort from snacking, over-eating and sugary foods and drinks.

Over time this nudge creates a habit which the mind then sees as normal behaviour that it should automatically continue. In this way a lasting new relationship to food and activity is formed.

The WordWeaving technique of unconscious persuasion used in our Slimpod scripts has been used on more than 60,000 Thinking Slimmer customers in the past eleven years. Feedback shows considerable changes to their eating and exercise habits, including important benefits to diabetics and lasting weight loss for obese people.

CLINICALLY PROVEN 95% SUCCESS RATE

Slimpods are the only weight loss method of their kind in the world to have been proven to work in independent clinical trials conducted at City University London. In a six-month trial, 95 per cent of participants lost weight, with an average weight loss of 18lbs per person.

CONSULTANT APPROVES SLIMPOD

Slimpods have been successfully used, studied and endorsed by Mr Gideon Felton, MRCPsych, a consultant psychiatrist at one of London’s leading hospitals. He says: “I have found the effects of it profound and positively life-changing.” You can read his written report in full by clicking here

BEHAVIOURAL CHANGE

Our case histories are reported fully on our website but here is a top-line summary of the different age groups we have been able to help and the  variety of lifestyles we have empowered people to change for the better:

Darin McCloud, 47, who weighed over 20 stone and had applied for gastric surgery, lost more than five stone in a year then successfully ran the 2012 London Marathon. His insulin dose has been reduced by his consultant by 95%.

Jo Hallam, 39, drank 140 cans of fizzy cola a month. Within two days of  starting a Slimpod her longing for sweet drinks had gone. She has lost 34lbs and has kept it off for the past 22 months.

Sasha Manazanero, 18, used a Slimpod to remove the temptation of junk food at university. She dropped a dress size in six weeks and has kept the weight off.

Beryl Turner, 71, has lost 18lbs and has started going to a gym regularly. On a recent cruise she was tempted to scale a 30ft climbing wall but thought better of it.

Dawn Walton, 43, has gone from a size 22 to a size 12 in just over a year, has run the London Marathon and has written an inspirational book about her lifestyle change called Nothing Has To Be The Way It Has Always Been.

Glenn Thompson has lost 70lb in less than a year on a Slimpod. He says: “I’ve cut down what I eat as well as leaving food on my plate. Even though I’m eating less I’m not hungry between meals.”

DIABETES STUDY

We have also experienced positive results in a group of diabetes sufferers who have joined a study group we are running, using a Slimpod specifically designed to alleviate the problems of diabetes. We will be reporting our findings to the NHS.

John’s story

John was diagnosed with type 2 diabetes 17 years ago; and has been overweight all that time – having limited success with diets and weight loss programmes. His daughter suggested to him that he become part of a Slimpod trial for diabetics. John was then 20st 11lb – one thing he noticed very quickly was that he was much more aware of the choices he was making and whether they were good or bad for his insulin levels.

Now he has stopped snacking because he is eating more satisfying meals and is revolted by the thought of overeating or eating unhealthily.

The size and weight loss that John has seen has excited him too. Just over six weeks in and he’s lost 8lbs and has dropped a t-shirt size, despite the fact that he’s not able to exercise much because of a back problem.

Jennie’s story

Diagnosed nine years ago, 63-year-old Jennie has type 2 diabetes.  Jennie says she used to eat whatever she wanted and that her blood sugar levels were always rather high. Since starting the Slimpod study Jennie has had no refined sugar (apart from two ice creams on hot days, which she insists she didn’t enjoy…) Jennie hasn’t craved sweet foods or drinks – she has gone from having to force herself not to buy a cake or a coffee to not even thinking about them She hasn’t bought white bread at all – everything she now eats at home is healthy and low fat.

Jennie says: “My blood glucose readings are low…and go up after a meal to the level I thought was a healthy low before Despite the fact that I haven’t dieted, my weight has dropped by about 10lbs, but I look as though I’ve lost more than that My next goal is to get into a lovely skirt that I have in September. When I first tried it on there was a 4 inch gap at the zip, now I can get it on and done up. I also want my nurse to tell me that there is a significant change in my blood test results.”

Nicky’s story

Nicky has suffered from gestational diabetes with all three of her pregnancies, but things got scarier with the birth of her third child as it affected his blood sugar and he needed special treatment and saline injections. Nicky had been told before that if she changed her eating habits she would delay the onset of type 2 diabetes, but she was unable to stick to any healthier routine.

In 2012 she was diagnosed by her GP with type 2 diabetes and was medicated shortly afterwards – there was still a lot of worry about how high Nicky’s blood sugar levels are at her young age. Nicky’s nurse instructed her to lose weight to lower her overly high levels and managed to lose 7lbs by herself.

After starting her diabetic Slimpod in June, Nicky straight away noticed that she no longer wanted to snack on crisps and biscuits but was instead choosing fruit and salad

Excitingly, at a visit to the diabetic clinic Nicky was told her blood sugar was now in the “normal” range and that she’d lost 6lbs with the help of her Slimpod. Nicky says: “I want to eat healthily to keep my diabetes under control and if I lose weight that’s a bonus.”