How To Lose Weight With The Pause Button Technique

How to Lose Weight With The Pause Button Technique

It is often said that hindsight is a wonderful thing. Assuming that we are unable to travel back in time and redo the things that we have come to regret, the best we can hope for is the ability to make wise judgements in the present. For some, this comes quite naturally. However, for others, it is more challenging. On this page we will explain how you can lose weight using the Pause Button Technique.

The Pause Button Technique, or TactileCBT, is a simple but effective way of helping us to make better decisions, around food, for example. It guides us through a series of thinking processes in which we consider and evaluate information from the past, present and future to help us make more informed, more balanced judgements about situations. When we make good judgements, our social, psychological and emotional wellbeing improves significantly.

Pause Button Technique and TactileCBT To Lose Weight

TactileCBT helps us to find new, improved ways of thinking and acting, and then living a new, improved life path. To do this successfully we must learn to identify and evaluate all of the alternative choices and actions that we could make and take. We very rarely have only one option, one choice or one course of action, available to us. We usually have several.

Being aware of our various options is vitally important when we want to make changes to our life. We therefore need to ask ourselves: What else could I have done? What else could I be doing?

Lose Weight with the Pause Button Technique

Choices, Actions and Consequences…

Spend some time reflecting on how and when your weight problem has been present in your life so far. Think about your food choices and actions relating to it. The consequences, good and bad, that you experienced when you made a particular decision or responded in a certain way. Think about the things you did right. And the things that you later regretted.

how to lose weight with the pause button technique

Now ask yourself the following questions….What choices did I make? Which actions did I take? What were the consequences? Ten minutes later? One hour later? A day later? A month, a year later?

Alternative Choices, Actions and Consequences…

Then spend time thinking about the alternative choices and actions available to you at those times. If you could rewind time, knowing then what you know now, what would you do differently? And, once again, ask yourself the following questions…. What choice could I make? Which action could I take? What might the consequences be? Ten minutes later? One hour later? A day later? A month, a year later?

Can you think of any other alternatives? If so, write them down as well. If you are able to, describe three or four potential alternatives, giving as much detail as you can about the likely outcomes and consequences. Try to imagine the impact each one will have across all areas of your life—social, family, mood, health, work, home, intimate relationships, and so on.

Ask For Help

If you find that you are struggling to think of alternatives, then enlist the help of other people. Ask family and/or friends, or work colleagues what they would do if they were faced with the same dilemma or problem with their weight and eating habits. How would they react? What would they choose to do? What do they think the outcome would be if…? The perspective of others is often very useful, and quite enlightening.

Alternatively, you can detach yourself from the problem slightly by imagining that a friend or family member has approached you for help. What alternatives would you suggest they consider? What other choices do they have available? It’s often much easier to solve other people’s problems, because when it’s not your own issue, you can remain emotionally detached from it. Therefore you are more likely to think about the whole situation rationally and objectively. So it’s a very useful technique to use.

Motivation Is The Key To Success

It is difficult to make real and significant changes in your life if you are struggling to stay motivated, or if you don’t feel fully committed to the end goal. Continuing with the same, predictable life path often feels easier. However, the consequences of delaying change are usually negative and they have a nasty habit of growing bigger as time passes.

Addressing your weight problem now will undoubtedly lead to a significantly better quality of life in the longer term. Optimising motivation to succeed and commitment to the outcome is therefore vitally important for therapy, and both are greatly enhanced when we have a strong emotional connection to the outcome that we are trying achieve.

how to lose weight with pause button technique

Developing a strong emotional connection to your new life is a central component of TactileCBT. You have identified a range of alternative choices and actions available to you. And maybe you have selected one or two that are most likely to help you achieve your weight-loss goals and lead to your new, improved life path. The next step is to forge a strong emotional connection to these choices/actions, and to the new life that you could be living.

The following exercise will help you develop and strengthen this connection…

Find a quiet place to sit or lie down where you won’t be disturbed. Take some time to relax. Empty your mind, allowing any new thoughts to float past, and focus on you and on your breathing. You are going to think about the problem that you are overcoming, the changes that you are making. You are going to think about past, present and future events relating to your weight problem.

Imagine that you are an actor in a movie. You are playing the central role, the lead character. You are on set and about to be involved in a series of scenes. Each one is very detailed and you are experiencing everything; the sights, the sounds, the smells, the sensations on your skin, the sensations in your body.

Past, Present and Future Outcomes

The first scenes of the movie go back to your past. They are of memories relating to your weight problem; the choices that you made in the past that made the problem worse. The actions that led to negative outcomes.

Other scenes are of occasions when you made a good decision and took positive action. You, the lead character, experience the benefits of that good choice. The positive outcome, the positive feelings, the positive sensations. You live, breathe, feel the scenes that are unfolding. You are experiencing your past. The good and the bad.

Then think about the present and your life as it is now. Again, draw on the good and the bad. The things you are happy with and the things you want to change. Live, breathe, feel this life. Experience it throughout your body and mind.

And then think about the future. The life that you will have if you continue on the same path, making no changes. The outcome and consequences of living the same lifestyle. And then think about the future that you want, the future that you can have if you take a different path, making positive changes and achieving permanent weight loss.

Throughout this exercise add as much detail to the images that you are creating as you can. Let yourself connect on all levels with the scenes that unfold. The more detailed and realistic the imagined journey, the stronger the emotional connection to the events you create in your mind.

And most importantly, allow yourself to imagine the good feelings that you will experience when you achieve your goal. Allow yourself to truly connect with the positive life that you are working towards.

Understanding Time Perspective

TactileCBT develops, balances and enhances time perspective by taking people through a journey of mental time travel. Using the pause button technique, a person can jump back and forth through time in their minds, navigating the three time partitions. They automatically draw on information from the past, present and future to make judgements and decisions.

TactileCBT helps you make better choices

They learn, often for the first time, to speculate about their future. What might happen? What might be the outcome? How about the consequences? And they learn, almost without realising, to make decisions that are based on thorough evaluations of the available evidence.

Pause Button Technique To Lose Weight

To prepare yourself for using the pause button technique, or to further enhance your time perspective, you can also do the following exercise. It is similar to the exercise that helped you to develop a strong emotional connection your new life path.

As before, find a quiet place to sit or lie down where you won’t be disturbed. Take some time to relax. Empty your mind and focus on you and your breathing. You may find our dedicated page Psychology is Key To weight Loss of interest.

Lose Weight With The Pause Button Technique

Now, just imagine that you have a time machine. The machine has a large screen showing the pause button card. You press REWIND and are taken back to events in the past. Previous times when you made a particular choice around food, or took a certain course of action. A time when you did something that you later regretted.

Live these scenes as they unfold. What can you see, hear, or smell? Which sensations are running through your body? What thoughts are running through your mind? And what emotions are you feeling? Take yourself through the whole scene in detail: the context leading up to the decision; the moment you made the decision; the action you took; the consequences that unfolded.

Pause, Fast Forward And Rewind

Now FAST FORWARD to a minute later… an hour later …a day, a week, a month, a year later. Connect yourself fully to these scenes as they unfold through time. The consequences through time of that one choice. Live it, feel it, experience it.

think about the consequences of your actions

And then FAST FORWARD to the present. Choose one of the alternative, positive paths that you could have taken. A path that leads to the slim, healthy future that you desire, the future that you wish for. Now FAST FORWARD to that future. In the same way that you lived and felt the past, now live and feel the future.

think ahead and stay on the right path to success

Explore the scenes that unfold when you choose this alternative, positive future path. Live it, feel it, experience it. The smells, the colours, the sensations on your skin, on your face. The feelings that engulf you. The lifestyle you are leading. The people around you. The successes, the positive changes. Live the slim, healthy life that you are choosing to make for yourself. Connect to it. Now REWIND back to the present.

pause button technique and TactileCBT to lose weight

This simple exercise will help you to develop the ability to mentally time travel and to imagine past, present and future events, drawing on the information that they contain. The clearer and more detailed the imagery that you create, the deeper the mental processing and the more effective the exercise.

The Bottom Line

Repeat this exercise as often as you can. Try to incorporate the emotional connection exercise as well: the two together form the basis of the pause button technique and repeated practise will therefore greatly enhance the therapeutic benefits that you gain from TactileCBT. And, of course, you can now use the Pause Button Technique to lose weight permanently!

pause button technique for permanent weight loss

FAQ 1: Can I buy a physical Pause Button Device?

ANSWER: The good news is that you can order the Pause Button Device from our Pause Button Therapy website. The pack also includes some Pause Button Technique wristbands. Ideally, you wear the band on the wrist of your dominant hand. This then acts as a prompt to press pause, whenever you need to stop and think about what you’re about to do.

FAQ 2: Is the Pause Button Technique effective in other problem situations, apart from food?

ANSWER: The simple answer to this question is “Absolutely!” Whenever you find yourself in a scenario where you are wondering how best to react, this is the perfect opportunity to “Press Pause” and run through the mental time travel technique, as described on this page.

FAQ 3: Can I use TactileCBT to help with my child’s behaviour issues?

ANSWER: Once again – most definitely! We conducted an interesting study in a primary school with a group of pupils with challenging behaviour. After learning how to use the Pause Button Technique, the children’s behaviour drastically improved within a matter of days!

A few ides to get you started

Below are a few things you need to introduce into your weight loss regime. Further down the page we share with you details of the award winning, medically endorsed ‘My Weigh Less’ program. You can download an MP3 introduction if you wish, no credit card or email details requested we ask just for a few minutes of your time.

Tip No. 1 – Only Eat When You’re Hungry!

This has to be our number one, golden rule, when it comes to achieving successful weight loss. In our experience, most overweight people eat for many different reasons, other than physical hunger. But, if you allow your emotions to control your eating habits, then it is unlikely that you will be able to control your weight as a result. So, before you reach for anything to eat, stop and ask yourself first if you physically NEED to eat, or you just WANT to…

Tip No. 2 – Use a Smaller Plate!

You’ve probably heard this many times before, but it’s a fact that people who use larger plates tend to eat more food than those who eat from smaller plates. No doubt you know about the power of optical illusions. But are you aware of just how much more generous the same size portion of food appears, when presented on a smaller plate, instead of a larger one? Have a look at the image below. It’s known as the Delboeuf optical illusion. If you stick to our mantra, “always go for quality over quantity”, then you will definitely lose weight much more easily.

Tip No. 3 – Drink a Glass or Two of Water Before Your Meal!

Reduce Your Calorie Intake by over 20%, with almost with no effort! Research results, published by Harvard Medical showed that people who drank two large glasses of water, just before eating, consumed, on average, around 20% less food than previously. This is possibly as a result of the stretching and fullness sensation in the stomach.

A Permanent Solution to Weight Loss

Are you tired of trying an endless list of diets that just don’t work? Are you becoming weary of your efforts, always resulting in you regaining all the lost weight? Has your approach to dieting made you fear social events?

Are you looking for a medically endorsed solution; one based on thousands of hours of experience? Do you dream of finding a ‘Permanent Weight Loss’ treatment? Have you searched on Google in the hope of finding a proven programme? Maybe something that doesn’t involve undertaking a restrictive diet, doing lots of exercise, or having invasive surgery… And no need to buy any “Meal Replacement” products!

My Weigh Less Award-Winning Programme

Read on the pages of this website how Oxford Therapeutics Limited – ‘My Weigh Less’ – is successfully delivering what is ‘Utopia’ to dieters. A medically endorsed, proven, weight-loss approach. A programme based on over 15,000 1:1 clinical treatment hours.

Follow this link to listen to a complimentary audio introduction to the course. No email or credit card details required, just a few minutes of your time. Find out how My Weigh Less can help you reach your weight-loss goals and discover long-term weight management!

Martin and Marion Shirran, the developers and joint Clinical Directors, appeared on the Good Morning America TV Show and on the This Morning Breakfast Show. Kay Lindley, photo below, lost over 105 pounds, and reversed her type 2 diabetes, following her treatment with the Shirrans.

Lose Weight Permanently

So go ahead, relax, and take a few minutes to daydream about what it would be like to be slim and healthy. If you were at your target weight? And then imagine if you never had to go on a diet again, or be afraid of food? What if you were able to enjoy every social event? And you also had an abundance of extra energy, and improved self-esteem.

Welcome to the evidence-based My Weigh Less Master Class. A proven, psychology focused downloadable weight loss treatment, that delivers Permanent Results. It’s also based on over 15,000 1:1 clinical hours treating overweight clients. Sarah Hart, below, lost 140 pounds following her treatment.

No Diets, Just Psychology

The My Weigh Less treatment is psychology-focused, built around the experience of treating over a thousand clients. The fully downloadable treatment has also been the subject of extensive real person trials. But, as with your considerations regarding any weight loss approach, do take a look at the verified case studies, and their before and after photos on the My Weigh Less Site. And afterwards, if you require additional comfort, visit the Medical Endorsement page.

The Gold Standard in Non-Surgical Weight Loss

The downloadable My Weigh Less course consists of twelve, one-hour weight loss sessions, with the Shirrans, who have accumulated in excess of 15,000 hours of 1:1 clinical treatment time. In addition to the twelve sessions, clients receive a number of videos, animated presentations, visual aids and hypnosis sessions. You will also learn how to start using the Pause Button Technique to lose weight and keep it off for ever!

Martin Shirran below was one of first trial candidates.

The My Weigh Less Course is new and refreshing, incorporating the latest, science-based, behavioural change techniques. It’s also completely based on an approach that has changed the lives of over a thousand people. And now, you can also experience all the benefits, the changes in your life, and your thinking around food from the comfort of your own home. Martin, above, also went on to lose 84 pounds himself.

Psychologies Magazine featured their work.

Permanent Weight Loss is the Goal

If you want to lose weight permanently, and have looked into different diets, and possibly even surgery, then take a step back, before you decide which approach to adopt. You don’t need to spend any money right now, but just take ten minutes or so, to read some of the pages of the My Weigh Less website. After all, you have nothing to lose. You can also find additional information on Martin and Marion Shirran’s GMB site.

Katie, above, lost 100 pounds in weight using the Pause Button Technique and TactileCBT. You may like to read her success story on the website. She also appeared in the Daily Mail.