My friend, Martin is a great example.

Martin was one of the first people to come across our sister site,  our Quit smoking site, www.quitsmokingonline.com  in 1997.

And by following our approach, successfully quit smoking. In fact, this year is his ten anniversary of being a non-smoker!

Even though Martin did very well, when he started to apply this principle of ‘you are really not giving up anything – but gaining EVERYTHING’ - to losing weight, he still found it difficult.

In Martin’s case, he loved having a few cans of beer at night, watching the football. 

Now the idea: you’re not GIVING UP up anything was to him ‘pure nonsense’.

As he said to me: 

“Look, I said to Martin, most of us are robots.

We do the same things everyday, because we are convinced we enjoy them.

Or more accurately: We are convinced that if we are deprived of them, we’ll feel terrible and won’t be able to enjoy ourselves’.

We are all absolutely convinced of this.

And -- as an ex-smoker, Martin you KNOW this. 

Before you stopped smoking, I remember you telling me that you believed that  THERE WASN’T A CHANCE IN THE WORLD that you could survive and be HAPPY if you couldn’t smoke.

You were absolutely convinced of that. 

Isn’t that true?”

”Yes – you’re right’.

‘And today – 10 years later you now know you were COMPLETELY wrong. 

You can be just as happy – along with the other millions and millions of people worldwide without NEEDING to smoke.’

‘And, Martin, remember the survey we did last year with the 1,000 smokers who took part in our last survey.

Remember how amazing the consistency of all the replies were.

Virtually all of the ex-smokers agreed on one thing. 

They all BLINDLY thought that without smoking, their lives would somehow be less.

That without this ‘pleasure’, there would be a huge, gaping hole of emptiness and blackness in their lives.

But they all discovered that the truth was different.

They discovered that after a while, they didn’t EVEN MISS it. 

That it was not a real need – only a ‘habit’, a way of life that they had fooled themselves in to believing they needed, to be happy, to survive, to get by.

They all agreed:


 ‘I couldn’t believe I could be happy – or get by without smoking. Yet the simple truth is: I can! I can! I can! ( If you’re reading this and are a smoker and want to quit try our free 10 online course again at www.quitsmokingonline.com )

But back to Martin – and his beer-belly!

So I ended by saying this to Martin: 

You see, because you have been doing it for so long, you’re convinced that if you can't have your comfort food or drink  – you won’t be able to enjoy your evening of football.

It is the same illusion. 

The same false belief

Yes, for the first few days, you’ll feel a temporary discomfort; a feeling that something is missing, something is not normal.....

But once you don’t make a big deal out of this feeling, once you allow yourself to expect it and get comfortable with it – it will soon disappear and like smoking, you’ll soon realize you are not missing or really giving up anything – but ONLY THE belief you MUST drink a few cans of beer to enjoy watching the game.

In fact, not only are you not giving up anything – but as you sit there, beer-less, the pounds will be melting off you; your belly will be shrinking; and your health will be soaring!

You are giving up nothing – but gaining everything!