Hypnosis for Weight Loss

Hypnotherapy changes the way you think about food

Very few diets result in weight loss. Even the word “diet” indicates a temporary change to what you eat – even when you are successful in losing weight in the short term, if the change in what you eat is temporary, then the weight loss is also likely to be temporary. Whether you over eat due to habit or for emotional reasons, hypnotherapy can help you lose weight. Hypnosis enables you to change your way of thinking about food and help you to develop a new healthier attitude. Hypnotherapy will help you to eat only when you are hungry, to stop when you are full, and to eat those foods which are beneficial to you, rather than harmful. This doesn’t mean that you will never enjoy chocolate or cake or a huge fry up again – but rather that you can enjoy in moderation those things you have a particular weakness for – food is an important part of celebration and of social and family life, and it really is OK to overdo it from time to time; it is only a problem when your eating habits interfere with your physical and mental well being.

Everyone’s eating patterns are different

For many people it is simply a case of bad habits preventing weight loss. Perhaps you over eat when you are bored, feeling under stress, or worried; perhaps you were taught always to clear your plate and to eat whatever is available, ignoring feelings of being full; maybe you use food as a reward, or are sometimes tempted into binge eating, or eat too quickly; or perhaps you prefer the “wrong” foods – those with little nutritional value but which are high in calories and fat. Many people find it hard to lose weight when they stop smoking and may even gain weight.

Stop the vicious circle of overeating

Many people find themselves overeating when they are feeling sad, lonely or bored, or suffering from stress, in the belief that this will make them feel better – this is however a false belief and is a vicious circle of feeling bad, over eating or even binge eating to “compensate” for this, and then feeling bad because you have eaten too much; you are then back where you started from. It is a false belief because no amount of food will make you feel full when it is your mind which needs satisfying. This is eating for emotional reasons – you ignore the physiological signs which are telling you “STOP! You have eaten enough” because you are not in fact eating for physiological, but for psychological, reasons. Hypnosis for weight loss can incorporate hypnotherapy and counselling to discover the reasons for your overeating and weight gain, if you feel this would be useful to help you achieve your weight loss goals.

Your Own Individual Weight Loss Strategy

It is important for you to understand the reasons for your own eating habits. Once we have established why, when and how you tend to over eat, I can then work with you by making appropriate suggestions to avoid this, and to help weight loss by replacing these unhealthy eating habits with healthier ones which will benefit you both physically and mentally. Additionally, you may have a specific occasion or deadline by which you wish to lose a certain amount of weight and hypnotherapy will enable you to visualise yourself at this future date, having successfully lost the weight you wish to lose, and therefore able to enjoy your special occasion to the full. Hypnotherapy can help you deal with emotional issues, lack of motivation to exercise, not drinking enough water, eating when you’re not hungry, bad habits (snacking, missing meals) – whatever it is which is preventing you from losing weight.

Exercise

Hypnosis can also be used to encourage you to incorporate exercise into your life, although it is understood that for a number of reasons exercise is not possible for everyone. Whilst it is always helpful in any weight loss regime if you are able to exercise, this is not essential as you will no longer be over eating, and so you do not need to worry unduly if exercise does not form part of your routine.

Hypnotherapy may not be appropriate to aid weight loss if you suffer from any of the following conditions, and you should check with your doctor first to ensure she or he agrees that that you may use hypnotherapy in addition to your usual medical treatment:

Group Sessions

It two or more people would like to attend sessions together this is possible provided that their goals are similar and their patterns of over eating and reasons for doing so have certain common factors – usually habit, lack of will-power, snacking, eating large portions. This can be discussed in the free initial consultation. For two people I charge the usual hourly rate plus £20; for three people, the usual hourly rate plus £40; for four people the usual hourly rate plus £55.

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