World famous hypnotist Paul McKenna has sold 1.2m copies of his I Can Make You Thin book and now he’s turning it into a live stage show. He’s spoken to sport.co.uk about it, saying

“there are people who have lost mad amounts of weight, like 150 pounds. But it’s not just about the amount of weight that people lose – it’s more the quality of people’s life change. People say things like “thank you for helping me escape from food prison”! People who say that they were always going to be overweight and out of control but now they don’t freak out around food any more. They don’t worry about going to a social function and finding the buffet table a source of tension and angst. They say they’re relaxed around food and are in control of their life again. So clearly it is about losing weight but it’s also about feeling good about yourself, because there’s no freedom in losing weight but still being fixated about food. It’s not just about weight loss, it’s about freedom.

Exercise is really important because the only way to lose weight is to eat less and move your body more. The great thing about exercise is that is speeds up your metabolism. People who have been dieting for years have actually learnt to slow down their metabolism so they put on weight very efficiently and quickly. They always look at people who are naturally thin and say, well, it’s okay for them because they have a fast metabolism, so they can have burger and fries and chocolate and not put on any weight. But the reason they have a fast metabolism is because they haven’t f***ed it up through dieting and these dreadful diet clubs and regimes that are prevalent in our society now.

So exercise is important but it doesn’t mean you have to pump iron at a gym or run on a track. The small but significant difference between somebody who is naturally thin compared to somebody who is overweight is two thousand steps every day – somebody who is naturally thin will walk two thousand more steps so what I say to people is to walk a minute here, two minutes there, and so on until you get your step count up. That’s really the route to beginning exercise. There’s a lady who was overweight who began using my system and she’s lost around six stone and run four marathons now. Running marathons isn’t part of my system, of course, but it just shows that you can start small and then build and build and build.”

More on the live show and more from Paul’s interview HERE