Would you like to be able to eat whenever you are hungry? And eat whatever you want? Sure, who wouldn't.
But if you have a problem with weight, you'll probably think this is an impossible scenario.
All your conditioning is telling you that the way to lose weight is to limit your calories and cut out all the good stuff, in other words...
to go on a diet.
But what if the dieting was part of the problem and not the solution? After all, how many people have really lost weight through dieting? And I mean, lost weight and kept it off for good.
It seems more like the norm that people go on a diet, lose a few kilograms, lose interest, and then regain the kilos - plus a few extra on the side! There are solid reasons why this happens, and the dieting industry certainly isn't going to tell you about them.
Celebrity hypnotist Paul McKenna, in his book I Can Make You Thin, outlines the real effect of dieting on the body and mind.
Here's a quick summary of the main points:

• Dieting seeks to force a solution on the body and inner mind, and this creates a conflict that will be resisted
• By going on a diet you indicate to your body that a period of famine is ahead, and your body reacts by slowing your metabolism and storing every bit of fat it can find.
  
• A slow metabolism leads to feelings of inertia, lethargy, sleepiness and general glumness - no wonder you find it difficult to exercise!
• By skipping meals you tell your body that food is scarce and that it should prepare for the worst by creating cravings that force you to eat fat-rich foods.
  
• By skipping meals you tell your body that you are no longer listening to its signals of hunger, so you lose the ability to tell the difference between real hunger and emotional hunger.
  

The solution is to model exactly what naturally slim people do - they eat whatever they want, whenever they want it.
But when they do this, they also do the following:

• They know when they are physically hungry and not just emotionally hungry.
  
• They eat when they are hungry, and only when they are hungry.
  
• They stop when they are full.
  

When you are listening to what your body really wants, not what your emotions want, you will begin restoring your body's natural responses to hunger and satisfaction.
It will mean doing some inner work on those emotions that drive you to eat when you're not really hungry.
If you ever find yourself eating in order to change your mood, that's emotional eating.
Pay attention to that uncomfortable feeling you're trying to medicate with food.
Then reach into your creative inner mind and find a better solution.
When you do this you'll no longer be driven to eat, you'll recognize when you're full, and you really will be able to eat cake and still lose weight.