It’s that time of the year. Christmas and New Year have taken their leave and the new working year has already begun for most of us. And if you’ve lost count of the amount of times someone has said ‘What day is it today?’ ‘I found it hard to get up this morning’ or ‘I keep putting 2016’ then, be re-assured, you won’t be alone. But the most frequently heard saying will be ‘I’ve eaten too much at Christmas – but the diet starts tomorrow!’
If you’ve ever tried and failed to lose weight before then you probably know just how frustrating it can be – especially when feelings like stress, low self-esteem and boredom are also issues and can act as an all-too convenient excuse.
There’s a cycle people can fall into e.g. overeating, feeling guilty and dieting again. Then celebrating a small weight loss by ‘treating’ oneself to a cake or chocolate bar and the whole process is triggered again. Does this sound familiar? Known as ‘yo-yo dieting’ this cycle can make weight loss difficult to sustain.
There is, however, a holistic method to lose weight that doesn’t mean sticking to a strict diet or counting the calorie intake of every single thing you eat. What’s more, it’s a method that has worked for many of my clients, one of whom has lost two stones in just four months. The method I’m referring to is hypnotherapy.
So, I hear you ask, how can hypnotherapy succeed where all other methods have failed? A good question, I grant you. However, part of the answer is simple really. While diets, nutrition plans and targets focus on what you eat and how often, hypnotherapy changes how you feel about what you eat. Oh yeah, I hear you ask, perhaps cynically? Well, I can understand your cynicism but read on…
In your calorie-controlled diet you have a piece of fruit as part of your lunch. You might eat this piece of fruit and think ‘this isn’t going to sustain me, I really could do with a chocolate biscuit’. Hypnotherapy can teach you to enjoy the piece of fruit and not give any consideration to the chocolate biscuit. Hypnotherapy can change your thinking patterns and gain you control over thoughts about other foods in a way that doesn’t get you down or frustrate you.
Any hypnotherapist worth their salt will tell you everyone is different. People will have different reasons for wanting to lose weight. Depending on their reason for wishing to lose weight and information provided during the initial consultation session, suggestions for weight loss may include:
- Visualising the body you want
- Imagining how you will feel with your new look and, as a consequence, new health.
- Imagining yourself reaching that goal effortlessly. No pills, just mental thoughts.
- Seeing how much you will have improved from when you begin hypnotherapy.
- Imagining how energised and confident you will feel.
- Realising, through hypnotherapy, that the more you exercise, the endorphins physical activity release means the more you will want to exercise, the easier it will become to do so.
- Whenever you get the urge to eat something unhealthy, or eat when you’re not hungry, imagine not reaching your goal and think about how that will make you feel.
Visualisations like these – and there are many possibilities – are designed to empower you so that you can take control of your choices. With weight loss hypnosis, you will learn to enjoy the taste of healthy food and stop craving sugary, fatty foods which you already know are unhealthy for you but you fall to temptation anyway.
Hypnotherapy will help you earn to enjoy your body and not see it as a source of anxiety. By this, I mean not have feelings of guilt. By tackling those deep feelings that form the foundations of your eating habits, hypnosis for weight loss can help you adopt a healthier lifestyle. And the satisfaction this brings can establish a happier mind set for you – and who doesn’t want to be happier?!
Hypnotherapy can work in weight loss by targeting the unconscious mind with powerful suggestion techniques. This begins with the hypnotherapist inducing you in a wholly relaxed state. You’re fully conscious throughout but your relaxed state will be conducive to suggestions made by your hypnotherapist.
These suggestions will help you develop a positive relationship with food and exercise. The aim of hypnotherapy for weight loss is to make you feel confident about your body, change any negative thoughts about eating and help you lose weight responsibly without impacting your emotional well-being.
Do I need to lose weight?
Some people are adamant they need to lose weight – whether they’re overweight or not. The truth is, a lot of people are unhappy with the shape and size of their bodies, regardless of whether or not they need to lose weight. Signs you are overeating include:
- You think you are so hungry you eat too quickly and don’t really taste the flavours in the food or notice your body signalling that it is full.
- You always eat everything on your plate even if you are full. How many times have you said during a meal ‘I’ll never manage this’ – but do, so as not to waste food. This feeling may be traced back to your childhood when parents said you had to eat what was on your plate.
- You eat when you are bored or lonely.
- You eat when you are upset, feeling down, or had a bad day.
- You eat to reward yourself (i.e. I’ve done so well at the gym, I deserve this chocolate bar).
Body confidence
Clearly, if you are overweight, it’s important to lose weight for health reasons. But there’s also the confidence factor. Body shape and size is linked with the idea of beauty and people are constantly looking for ‘quick fixes’ to cut corners. Diet pills, rapid weight loss diets and gruelling (and potentially harmful) exercise regimes are some of the methods people use to try to lose weight. Have you tried any of these? Did they work? If so, did the effects last? I’m thinking probably not as you wouldn’t be reading this if they had!
Hypnotherapy for weight loss can help. I’m not saying it’s a miracle cure – you need to want to lose weight in order for hypnotherapy to have a chance of working. If you’re unhappy with the way your body looks, you need to first change your mind. You must ask yourself – why am I unhappy with my body, and why can’t I lose weight?
Why can’t I lose weight?
Many people try and fail to lose weight for a number of reasons. These reasons are often unconscious, making it hard for us to overcome them. Hypnotherapy for weight loss aims to expose these reasons, allowing you to finally break through barriers that may have been preventing them from losing weight for many years.
Okay, I want to know more. How does hypnosis for weight loss work?
In a world where there are drugs for almost anything, hypnotherapy for weight loss is a completely natural technique. The beauty of it is you are in charge. Your mind, your efforts, your willpower. With the guidance of your hypnotherapist, you can achieve your wish to lose weight, maintain the weight loss and thereby become fitter, healthier – and happier.
Hypnotherapy is becoming increasingly accepted by health professionals and people all over the world are finding it a beneficial means of maintaining a healthy weight in the long-term. Now, I’m not saying there aren’t cynics. Of course, there are, as there are in any walk of life. Many people are still unsure about what hypnotherapy involves and how it works. What you should know is:You are in control throughout the process
- You won’t be asleep
- You won’t be told to do anything you don’t want to do
- You won’t have your memory erased
- You won’t be forced to reveal your deepest darkest secrets.
- And, rest assured, despite what you may have seen in television shows such as ‘Back in the Room’ you definitely won’t be doing anything you’re not aware of. So, no prancing across the room thinking you’re a chicken…
What happens during hypnosis for weight loss?
Think about a football player. He/she wants to achieve much in the game but how they do depends on how they are coached. Think of me as your coach. The process starts when I guide you into a state of deep relaxation.
Once your body and mind are in relaxation mode I will be able to access your unconscious mind (the part of us that works all the time but that we’re not necessarily aware)
Carefully worded scripts, tailored to your needs, are used to explore your reasons for overeating and suggest new ways of thinking through visualisations. Rest assured, at all times, you have the control to reject any suggestions you don’t feel happy with.
Over a period of time – and a series of weight loss hypnotherapy sessions – you will learn how to replace your negative habits and eating patterns with positive ones suggested by me.
Will hypnotherapy for weight loss work for me?
Well, that’s the $64,000 question (that’s not my fee, by the way!) The answer is – we won’t know until you try it! I’m not saying hypnotherapy is a miracle cure. It doesn’t work for everyone. That’s not much of a sales pitch, I hear you cry. But I’m not going to mislead you. What I will say is the process of talking about developing good habits and getting rid of bad habits should help plant a new level of awareness when it comes to food and exercise – and, if everything else has failed, it’s worth considering.
Interested? Why not contact me for a free consultation? After this, we can decide together the best way to enable you to achieve your goals. Click on the website link below for more about what hypnotherapy can do for you.
Mike Smith Cert Hyp CS
14-18 Hill Street
Edinburgh
EH2 3JZ
tel: 0752 135 3787 (24 hours)
email: mike.smith@mgs-hypnotherapy-services.co.uk
twitter: @smith_mgs
Home visits available
Author of The Team for Me - 50 Years of Following Hearts. Runs Mind Generating Success, a successful therapy practice in Edinburgh. Contact me if you want rid of any unwanted habits. Twitter @Mike1874
