Hypnotherapy for weight loss works

We are all desperate to lose weight but globally we seem to be getting fatter and fatter, at the same time the diet industry is getting richer. We look for the next amazing diet to come out of Hollywood or wherever only to give up on it because it’s impossible to stick to, then another one comes along and we try that with exactly the same result. Somebody once said…the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result. It must be time to find another way.

If you are trying to lose weight whether it be a few pounds or a few stone the absolutely worst, most disastrous thing you can do is go on a diet. Why? You may well ask. There are numerous reasons why dieting doesn’t work. Dieting causes bingeing so any weight loss will be gained back plus more, dieting causes us be feel miserable, dieting slows down the metabolism so the more you do it the harder it gets to lose any weight, dieting ruins our natural ability to judge when we are really hungry. Fad dieting causes us to miss out on essential nutrients and can damage health, dieting makes us feel deprived so we crave the food we can’t have even more than usual. Dieting is an unnatural way of eating and is therefore unsustainable. Dieting makes us feel guilty and can seriously damage self-esteem. Dieting is making you fat!

From anecdotal as well as scientific evidence we know that diets don’t work, the proof is overwhelming. 90% of people who go on a diet don’t manage to lose any significant weight, of the 10% who do lose some weight 30% of them put it all back on and more besides within a few months. There are no effective miracle weight loss products out there either – but you knew that already didn’t you. Patches, fat magnets, appetite suppressants, fat melting injections! they won’t help. Any weight loss achieved by these extreme methods is likely to return rapidly because the real weight problem is not a physical one but an emotional one.

Because we are intelligent people, we know that if we continue to eat loads of chips, and crisps and chocolate and unhealthy extra large portions of food we will get fat, we don’t need diet gurus to tell us to eat salad and healthy fish and vegetables and drink lots of water. We already know this, but somehow we can’t seem to just do it, as they say at NIKE. If we could ‘just do it’ then we certainly would, but there is definitely something getting in the way of us achieving our weight loss goals. That something is within your subconscious mind.

Consider this if you were not running a ‘program’ that caused you to eat when you were not hungry then you would probably be effortlessly slim. Naturally slim people tend to eat whatever they want to eat, but in a balanced way. In other words, if they feel like a piece of chocolate, they simply have a piece of chocolate – there is no guilt attached to this action and they don’t feel compelled to finish the whole bar. They eat food when they are hungry and stop eating when they are full, they do not pay any attention to the calorie count, the fat content or carbohydrate count, they do not consider whether they are allowed to have a particular food or not. They are free to eat whatever they want whenever they want and never get fat. That’s not to say these people are perfect, they are simply acting from different conditioning, they don’t have any issues with food.

One of the main reasons people eat when they are not hungry is for emotional comfort. They are literally swallowing their emotions with the food they eat. Many of us have been conditioned to use food as a distraction from boredom, frustration, unhappiness, stress, fear, tiredness, loneliness, even happiness. It works like a drug and has the effect of instantly changing our state for us. The only problem is the relief from whatever emotion or situation we are dodging only lasts momentarily while the food is in the mouth and so it becomes necessary to keep on eating. So where exactly does this behaviour originate.

Let me give you a very simple example of how we can become conditioned to use food as a distraction from something we would prefer not to deal with. At a young age a boy falls over and hurts his knee, he is crying from the pain and the shock of falling over. A natural response of his mother is to comfort him which she does and then she gives him a biscuit to make him feel better, this distracts him from his hurt knee and he is comforted by the combination of a hug from his mother and a biscuit. This behaviour is reinforced throughout his childhood so that the boy becomes conditioned to see food as a useful strategy to avoid pain and derive comfort. So, in later life, reaching for food when things aren’t going too well is simply a natural subconscious response and no amount of willpower or dieting is going to break the cycle. What is required is a change in attitude towards food at a subconscious level and this is where hypnotherapy comes in.

You are probably aware of the accepted theory that the mind contains two parts, the subconscious and the conscious – this is very similar to the left-brain right brain concept. The subconscious mind is responsible for all our automatic functions, it is highly organized and unlimited – think of it like a huge super computer. Within the subconscious mind all our experiences are neatly filed away. These experiences have created our habits and beliefs which are also filed away neatly on this super hard drive. These habits and beliefs cause us to behave the way we do, in other words our experiences ‘programme’ us to think and act the way we do.

So, if you eat for emotional reasons, you are simply acting on a “program” which was “installed” at an earlier time in your life. Consciously you have no way of knowing what the program is, all you know is that it fixes your problem/emotional state instantly. The reason hypnotherapy is so successful at dealing with unwanted habits and behaviour is because we are dealing directly with the subconscious mind, which is where the unwanted habit or problem is.

To access the subconscious we use hypnosis, which is a natural state of mind that can be easily achieved, hypnosis simply allows you to get into the subconscious and find the information that represents the root of the weight problem.

People in hypnosis are always in complete control, they are fully aware of everything going on around them at all times, any one can be hypnotized but only if they want to be. Hypnosis is actually a pleasurable and enlightening experience.

So the big question is can hypnotherapy really help with weight loss. And the simple answer to this is yes.

With hypnotherapy we are looking at the problem as a whole, being overweight is generally a symptom of another problem, which could be anything from simple habit to deep seated self esteem issues everyone is different. Simply treating the physical symptom, which is what dieting does, can only ever have short-term success. To effect permanent change it is essential to deal with the origin of the problem or programme as well as taking into account any possible secondary gain issues. With advanced structured hypnotherapy we can do this very effectively within only 3 to 5 sessions.

Essentially, after following a weight loss hypnotherapy program you should have a real understanding of the underlying causes of your weight problem and have noticed a permanent change in your attitude towards food. So that you no longer have to struggle with dieting and willpower, eating healthily will simply be natural to you and as a consequence you will lose weight steadily and permanently. You will also find that you are free to enjoy food in a guilt free way, you will simply be able to eat what you want when you want and no longer suffer from cravings for excess food. In effect you will have become a naturally slim person. A course of advanced hypnotherapy will give you much more than simply losing weight, having dealt with core issues that may have been with you for a long time you may find yourself with much more confidence, better self esteem, a sense of achievement, better able to cope with emotions and a new outlook on life.

I believe that every one has the ability to fix any problem they may have with the resources already available within themselves, with the help of hypnotherapy it is possible to harness the considerable power of your subconscious mind to change within anything you want to change.

So if you want to lose weight it’s up to you, you can continue to do it the old way, go on a diet, starve yourself, deprive yourself, and probably never achieve your goal. Or you can try a course of hypnotherapy or self hypnosis, change your behaviour and attitude towards food and steadily lose weight and stabilize at the weight you feel comfortable – without the pain of dieting.

by Dianne R Maurer
Weight Loss Success Coach