How can hypnosis help you achieve your weight loss goals?

There's a lot of approaches to weight loss and hypnosis is an approach that confuses some people as there's myths and misconceptions about how it works and what you can achieve. This open question hopes to address any of those things to bring clarity.
Asked by BrendaJBentley

10 answers

Top answer
RecoveryCoach
Although there is Gastric Band Hypnotherapy, a smallish number of practtioners are qualified and specialise in that. I can't comment as I'm not experienced in that.
As for more tradtional hypnotherapy, it usually focuses on the client's blockages to losing weight and resolves them unconsciously. So these blockages could include the client's own negative self-image, self-talk, or it could be an issue around linking comfort with food or even with negative beliefs about themselves, self-sabotage etc. It should also uncover any secondary gains from staying overweight - some people do it as an unconscious protection method for example.
I think hypnosis can be a great tool for helping people to take control of their eating habits, although the practitioner should always check that the client also does have some knowledge about nutrition. It is surprising how many people don't know about it or are misinformed.
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HLPandResults
Yes,Hypnosis can can help and prepare the body and mind to loose weight.NLP is also very powerful method that brings excellent results!
Glasgow-Self-Hypnotherapy
Hypnosis for weight control management is a well proven and highly successful mind technique that has helped 1000s of people loose weight and keep it that way.
Anyone who would like to invest in their health and how they will look should seek only the very best top hypnotherapy professionals guaranteeing success.
Thalassa
NLP helps by the practitioner facilitating the client using visualisation techniques to anchor positive experiences over old experiences or beliefs. By recalling past experiences, enables the client to use their own resources from their already installed postivie memories to help with the current difficulties. NLP is similar in ways to hypotherapy although, the clients is in this instance fully communicative throughout the session.
If NLP is something that may interest you then please get in touch.
NLP can help you to change old habits and beliefs such as:
Biting nails
Breaking habits
Relationship issues
Self-confidence
Self-esteem issues
Stop smoking
Weight management
Synergy
Hypnosis works in the opposite way to diets basically. It works to help your unconscious not think about junk food, binging and over eating any more. If I say "don't think of a beach ball" what do you think about? right, a beach ball!. Your unconscious works the same way. Whatever you think about, you want or you become, so if you think about food all the time, you will eventually give in and eat!
So hypnosis literally re trains the brain with new healthy thought patterns and you just don't think about bad foods any more. I hope this helps. Look at: http://www.synhyp.moonfruit.com for further details...
BrendaJBentley
Thank you all for your reply. Some interesting insights. I agree that it is fundamental to look at the underlying reason for the problem. Weight is only a symptom of something else. Whether this is a poor relationship with food (food is a reward, punishment, comfort, distraction) or whether there is a poor relationship with oneself (lack of confidence, self esteem/worth, negative body image). There are also unresourceful beliefs which can get in the way of successful, permanent weight loss such as "losing weight is hard", "I have no motivation", "my health prevents me from losing weight"...
A well trained therapist will look for the driver of the problem and clear this away in order to work with the person to build in new helpful, resourceful and solution-focused strategies to have consistent and progressive fat loss.
I'm always careful about ensuring my clients understand that hypnotherapy or even the virtual gastric band weight loss is not a quick fix. It's about consistent, progressive fat loss. So if a client could expect to lose 1 pound of fat per week until they reach their goal and keep it off forever that would be great right?!
It's a lifestyle change, not a diet. Change the mind and the body will follow.
It's important to remember that hypnosis has nothing at all to do with mind control. This is not Harry Potter and hypnotherapists to not have magic words. They use language, therapeutically to help the client to change unresourceful thoughts, feelings, behaviours and beliefs that are preventing them from living up to their full potential. It's 100% safe, natural and you are always in control.
Your therapist acts like a guide with a good map to help you to your solution, efficiently and effectively.
I specialize in the Virtual Gastric Band Hypnotherapy for Weight Loss and other approaches and can advise on what is the right approach for you. My approach blends Hypnotherapy, Psychotherapy, CBT, NLP and other therapies for an effective approach that is tailored to the client.
My clinics are based in Birmingham, Solihull, Stratford upon Avon and London Harley Street.
I also offer a self coaching program 21 Days to a Slimmer You which provides you with everything I do with my private clients for weight loss, accessible and affordable for everyone!
htttp://http://www.21daystoaslimmeryou.com/dailydealusa
http://www.buildingbelief.com
Let me know if you have any questions!
Best wishes,
Brenda Bentley
Cognitive Hypno-Psychotherapist & Master NLP Practitioner
BrendaJBentley
Thank you all for your reply. Some interesting insights. I agree that it is fundamental to look at the underlying reason for the problem. Weight is only a symptom of something else. Whether this is a poor relationship with food (food is a reward, punishment, comfort, distraction) or whether there is a poor relationship with oneself (lack of confidence, self esteem/worth, negative body image). There are also unresourceful beliefs which can get in the way of successful, permanent weight loss such as "losing weight is hard", "I have no motivation", "my health prevents me from losing weight"...
A well trained therapist will look for the driver of the problem and clear this away in order to work with the person to build in new helpful, resourceful and solution-focused strategies to have consistent and progressive fat loss.
I'm always careful about ensuring my clients understand that hypnotherapy or even the virtual gastric band weight loss is not a quick fix. It's about consistent, progressive fat loss. So if a client could expect to lose 1 pound of fat per week until they reach their goal and keep it off forever that would be great right?!
It's a lifestyle change, not a diet. Change the mind and the body will follow.
It's important to remember that hypnosis has nothing at all to do with mind control. This is not Harry Potter and hypnotherapists to not have magic words. They use language, therapeutically to help the client to change unresourceful thoughts, feelings, behaviours and beliefs that are preventing them from living up to their full potential. It's 100% safe, natural and you are always in control.
Your therapist acts like a guide with a good map to help you to your solution, efficiently and effectively.
I specialize in the Virtual Gastric Band Hypnotherapy for Weight Loss and other approaches and can advise on what is the right approach for you. My approach blends Hypnotherapy, Psychotherapy, CBT, NLP and other therapies for an effective approach that is tailored to the client.
My clinics are based in Birmingham, Solihull, Stratford upon Avon and London Harley Street.
I also offer a self coaching program 21 Days to a Slimmer You which provides you with everything I do with my private clients for weight loss, accessible and affordable for everyone!
htttp://http://www.21daystoaslimmeryou.com/dailydealusa
http://www.buildingbelief.com
Let me know if you have any questions!
Best wishes,
Brenda Bentley
Cognitive Hypno-Psychotherapist & Master NLP Practitioner
Coralanne
Having read the other answers to the question, there is little I can add as they are good answers.
I have been a practicing hypnotherapist for nearly 20 years and find the suggestions given under hypnosis regarding the clients attitude and approach to food, emotional and habitual, work very well for the majority of clients. Also EFT can stop cravings and emotional reasons for overeating quickly and effectively too.
I hope this is helpful, good luck!
Coral
balancedapp
There are a number of approach; I use a combination of hypnosis, NLP and CBT to deal with weight management in a sort of two prong attack! (1) create a clear and positice goal - a realistic outcome that can be visualised, felt and worked in the unconsious. (2) deal with what is the root cause of the disordered eating.
Hypno-banding is being offered by various names and it does work in the short term, as with surgical banding. The issue I have is 'the quick fix' mentality which doesn't change the underlying reasons for eating - lets call them emotional foods - that keep driving people to their pleasure giving drug of choise.
Both NLP & CBT come into their own here; they deal with the underlying causes of eating, drinking, smoking etc. NLP looks to the mapping through sub-modalities and metaphor, CBT looks for triggers and creates coping strategies. A good simple starting point for change is Mindfulness whereby you give your attention to every detail of the one thing you are paying attention to; it stops future pacing fears and guilt; it stops looking back at past events; it focuses you only on the now.
Here at my practice in Birmingham I find combning NLP/CBT with hypnosis builds a strong and lasting change package for both the consious and unconsious mind. Ultimately a diet is whatever you eat and drink, NOT something you have to struggle to live with for your whole life. I remember a patient of my wifes (she's a nurse) suffering with depression as she'd been on a diet for nearly 60 years, fighting with her weight and self-confidence issues.
STOP living a sort of ground-hog day, start living your life by doing something different both consiously and unconsiously!
I hope this helped.....
Maria3000
Yes it can if you are TRULY ready and truly want it. I work with something called Hypnoband. It's like a gastric band hypnosis - allows the body to think the stomach is smaller than it actually is.

Comments

Quays
Hypnosis is just a tool (focused attention) that is used to bypass the conscious critical factor of the analysing part of the mind. When this is achieved the subconscious minds "hard-rive" can be reprogrammed. The subconscious mind can either accept new behaviours, habits or emotions or delete the old ones that are no longer required.
When using hypnotherapy for weight loss in my professional experience its not just as simple as reading a script of suggestions to the client when hypnosis is taking place. The hypnotherapist must discover the initial sensitising event or events which have caused the weight gain and then eliminate them.
In most cases gaining weight is linked to feelings of insecurity, trauma or even boredom. This is why people have trouble with binge eating or comfort eating.
I have been asked many times about "Gastric Band Hypnosis", In my hypnotherapy clinic I don't use it. As far as I am aware of "Gastric Band Hypnosis" has never been clinically tested in a supervised environment by professionally qualified experts.
The question that I get asked very frequently at my clinic is:
"How can I loose weight?" the answer is simply:
Eat a healthy balanced diet and exercise on a regular basis.
Find a professional hypnotherapist where you live to help you to overcome any psychological problems that are associated with your weight gain.
Ian Smith.
Quays Clinic of Hypnotherapy.
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