I am sometimes asked if I can hypnotise people into thinking they’ve had a gastric band operation. My answer to this is that I could but I don’t. Another question may be, can someone be hypnotised into thinking they don’t like cake or chocolate? Again, the answer is yes, suggestion hypnosis can be used to convince someone they don’t like certain foods. However, unless the underlying reasons for a person’s eating habits and weight gain are addressed there is a high possibility that they will relapse and turn back to the old habits which made them overweight in the first place.
There is no getting away from the fact that if we eat more calories than we burn we will put on weight. The question that needs to be asked, therefore, is why does someone overeat or choose the wrong types of foods in the first place, i.e. foods high in sugars and bad fats? More often this is emotional eating – eating when feeling bored, stressed, miserable or guilty, or eating for reward. The reward mentality has usually been instilled in childhood. “If you eat up your greens you can have some pudding… if you’re good you can have an ice-cream.”
When we eat emotionally this is not being driven by the rational, logical part of our brain. These actions are coming from the primitive, irrational and emotional part of the brain, the part that in primitive times would have gone through constant cycles of feast and famine. In today’s first world countries there isn’t much natural famine. People tend to constantly feast and the compulsion to do so is due to the primitive brain being in control and taking precedence over our intellect, that part that gives us a genuine hunger feeling when we need to take on fuel.
So does hypnosis for weight loss work? Well, there is no doubt that for some people being hypnotised into thinking they have had a gastric band operation does help and as mentioned we can use suggestion hypnosis to convince someone that they don’t like chocolate etc, but in order to prevent old habits taking back hold we need to resolve what is causing the primitive brain to take precedence. For a long-term solution we need to learn how to control which part of the brain we are operating from.
I work with Solution Focused Hypnotherapy which teaches you how to stay in the intellectual part of your brain. When you operate from your intellect you are happy, calm and in control and you don’t obsess about food. It’s not a struggle to leave extra food alone, your body simply doesn’t ask you to feed it when it’s not needed. What’s even better is that you will want to eat foods which are good and healthy for you rather than craving bad food. The result is feeling good and the weight comes off gradually, naturally and steadily. Most importantly, the weight loss is sustainable.
Yes, hypnosis helps for weight loss and you have a choice. You can go for the quick fix which removes any responsibility from you, or you can address the underlying reasons for your weight gain and make changes that will transform your whole relationship with food and give you the tools to achieve sustainable weight loss.
If you would like to learn more about hypnotherapy for weight loss please call 07514 931 096 or email me using the contact form to book an initial consultation.