Success Stories

My name is Yvonne Dugan and I live in Farmington, WA. I'm 63 years old and I'm a homemaker. I had lost weight 15 years ago and then regained it. It's been like that for the last 40 years. I've tried several other methods to try to lose weight. I tried the South Beach diet, the cabbage soup diet and Phen Phen. I lost some weight but never met my goal weight and after I stopped the diet, I quickly regained the weight plus more.

To date I have lost 40 pounds since coming to Positive Changes. I've gone from a size 8-10 to a size 2-4. I wear an extra small. It took me about 5 months to lose this weight.

I was never in control of my eating habits before I came to Positive Changes. I never thought about what I put in my mouth. I ate out of boredom and out of stress. I also ate lots of carbs and sweets. If I was out of chocolate, I would franticly go through the pantry and grab a bag of chocolate chips and eat them with peanut butter. I ate when I was not hungry. If there was a sweet in the house, it would be on my mind until I gave in and ate it. I once ate a whole cake little by little until it was gone. Now they can sit and I do not think of food.

I felt really badly about myself because I knew what I should do. I knew what foods were good for me, but I not only craved and wanted the bad foods, I ate them. I always pledged to do better tomorrow, but tomorrow never came and each day was a reminder of how I had failed to control my sweet tooth; that is until I came to Positive Changes. I felt that if I could change the thoughts in my head using hypnosis that I would be able to lose weight. Positive Changes gave me the power to not eat the bad foods. I never even think about sweets now. I'm not out of control anymore, and the cravings are gone. The really cool thing for me is that I eat everything I want, I just eat smaller amounts. I have not given up any foods, nor do I crave any foods.

Before Positive Changes, I was not happy with myself and I felt like a big fat failure. I did not have any health problems, but I did not have energy and I was unhappy with my weight that kept going up.

Before coming to Positive Changes, my daily routine was not much of anything. I read, watched TV, quilted, and ate. In the past, I gardened in the spring and summer because I love to work in my yard. But as I gained more weight over the last couple of years, that was getting to be harder and I did not feel as energetic.

My husband would tell me, you need to be disciplined, you need to eat less and you need to exercise. That just upset me and I would eat more. I would do what I had to in order to keep my house clean. I have a 4,600 sq ft Victorian farmhouse and two acres of yard, so I had to keep up with things, but it was all I could do and with the weight gain, it was getting harder. I was feeling really bad. I was not sleeping, I was stressed, and I knew I needed to do something. It was just a chore to get through the week of caring for my chickens and pets. Then I would eat and watch TV in the evenings. I felt like I was married to this house and was a prisoner. NOW I have more energy and can keep up the house plus exercise.

Before, I hated the word exercise. I would try to exercise for a few days, I even bought a treadmill thinking maybe I would walk on it, but I would just try not to look at it. I really HATED to exercise!!!!!!!!!

I saw a TV ad for Positive Changes. There was a woman my age on the ad who lost a lot of weight. I had read things that it was hard for people my age to lose weight, but there was this lady, riding her bike, and telling about the weight she lost. Then there was an ad where this lady was baking and one who was bowling and I thought if they can do it, so can I!

My husband gave me a hard time about it and really did not want me to come. He thought it was crazy, but he came around. I told him I was going to go in and see what it cost and get information, and he told me I was paying for it because it was a dumb idea. However, he did come around and he paid for some of it and he is very happy he did.

Before Positive Changes, I ate lots of sweets. I always ate fruits and veggies, and not a lot of meat. I do eat more protein now. I think I was a healthy eater; I just ate a lot more then. I was never a water drinker before but I am drinking much more water now. I still eat most of the same things, just not as much.

The hypnosis program here eliminated the cravings, binges and poor eating habits. I do not feel frantic if I do not have sweets in the house. I do not binge anymore. I used to crave sweets, pudding, pie, chocolate, ice cream, and mashed potatoes with gravy and I do not crave anything now.

Now I am exercising. I take a 6.6 mile walk every other day weather permitting. I do Tae Bo every day and I also bought a Bowflex. It took about a month for me to start exercising, but after that it was a breeze. I started with listening to my CDs and then I added walking. I was listening to my hypnosis processes two to three times a day. I was exercising 1½ hours a day, and when the weather was not as good I would go for an hour. My husband is amazed and he said he cannot believe it's me. In the 19 years we have been married, I have never wanted to exercise.

I eat much less than I used to. I also think about what I put into my mouth. I ask myself, is this going toward fat or energy? I think about how much I am eating and it is not a struggle, it just comes naturally now. I would say that I eat less and enjoy it more. Positive Changes made it easy to lose the weight. I was able to lose the weight without it weighing on my mind.

My self-esteem used to be very low and I used to have sleepless nights. Now I have more self-confidence and I look better in my skin and my clothes. I am happy with the new me. I could not have done this without Positive Changes.

I feel good about myself now. One day we were walking and our shadows were on the ground and I saw mine, and at first I was like...Who is that? Oh my goodness, it's ME! That was a funny moment, it really struck me then that Yes, I am thin. It was so, so cool!!!!!