Hypnosis for Weight Loss
Hypnosis or Dieting? - Which is Best?
Article by Paul Douglass, MIAPH
When someone wishes to lose weight, it seems simple enough... that person needs to burn off more calories during the average day, than they take in through their food and drink.
It seems a simple enough idea, and often is seems that losing weight should therefore be relatively simple.
However, as anyone who has ever been on a diet will testify, it rarely goes as smoothly as that.
Food is something that we all need to survive, but for many people, food plays a far greater role their lives than just nutrition alone.
Food, eating, and drinking can have an emotional part to play in our lives. Some eat for comfort, some eat to relieve stress, some eat for the physical pleasure.
So if we try to change our eating habits in order to lose weight, we've got to address the emotional part that the food is playing in that persons life.
Dieting - Calorie Counting, Excercise and Motivation
One of the first ways of losing weight that many people try first, is the self-imposed restriction of food and drink.
Along with this, many people will increase their excercise... maybe join a gym, or buy a bike.
This method of consciously making the decision to reduce calorific intake, and increasing excercise, for most people at least, usually seems ok for a while.
Modern research shows however, that for those people who do lose weight in this way, somewhere between 90%-95% of them will be aproximately back to their starting weight, or higher, over the next 5 years or so.
But why?
We Are Conditioned to Overeat.
We first need to understand what part emotions play in the whole thing.
Let's take a hypothetical person, who, let's say, comfort eats.
Perhaps they have never been quite happy in themselves, perhaps they lack confidence or social skills. They may even recognise that they sometimes eat, not because they are hungry, but just to 'feel better'.
Maybe this person has a bad day at work, comes home, and feels bad. Help is round the corner though, or more specifically, in the fridge.
The person eats, and somehow feels better... they might not know how, but they just feel better.
Perhaps it's just like when they were little, when mum or dad gave them sweets or cakes to make them feel better... somehow, life just feels a little bit better when they eat.
What has happened for this person, is they have become 'conditioned'. They have made, albeit unconsciously, a connection between eating, and feeling better... so when they have a bad day at work, and feel stressed, they naturally want to feel better.
So they eat.
It's Like Scratching an Itch
When they eat, they feel that relief... they feel better... it's like having an itch, and being able to scratch it. It feels good.
The problem is of course, is that this relief, is only temporary. They feel better for a while. Before long, they feel stressed about something else, and the whole cycle starts again.
Breaking the Cycle With Motivation
When someone decides that they want to lose some weight, they are often quite motivated to do it... perhaps they've seen a photo of themselves, or seen themselves in the mirror... perhaps they've felt ashamed or embarassed.
Because these are all emotions, they can have a bit effect on our motivations... we are all motivated by what we feel emotional about.
So, quite often, at least in the short term, people find it reasonably easy to lose weight... while the motivation is there, it's easy enough.
But, lets think about the person who comfort eats for a second. They might feel really motivated to lose weight for the first few weeks of their diet... they still do feel stressed from time to time, but their motivation holds firm, and they succeed. They resist the temptation.
Over time, however, when the weight loss is slow, or when they are really stressed about something, or the kids are screaming again, or their spouse keeps on arguing about things, or the dog has been sick on the carpet again... etc, etc, etc... the motiation to resist that food starts to slide.
The weight loss slows, or stops entirely... which knocks the motivation even further, and before long the weight starts to creep back on.
At this moment in time, we need to recognise the emotional side of this whole process, and deal with those emotions. If we don't do something about the emotional side of weight loss and eating issues, then this cycle will just keep repeating... this is where 'yo-yo dieting' comes from.
Dealing with the Emotions of Weight Loss
When it comes to the emotions of weight loss, we need to find either...
1) A way of maintaining the motivation to losing weight
or
2) A way of resolving the stresses and strains that the person is using food as an 'escape' from.
Hypnosis and Weight Loss
Put quite simply... the first one of those options... maintaining the motivation, is an ongoing process... keeping those emotions and motivation 'topped up', perhaps on a daily basis.
Hypnosis Recordings and Downloads
This can be achieved by using something like a weight loss hypnosis recording that targets those emotions.
Listening to a recording like that every day can help to keep the motivation 'topped up'.
It can be very helpful to those people who don't have any underlying anxiety or stress, and just want some additional help in losing weight. |
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Hypnosis to Resolve Underlying Anxiety
If someone does however, find that they are overeating as a way of coping with underlying stresses and anxieties, then they need to consider having some one-to-one hypnotherapy sessions with a therapist trained in 'Pure' Hypnoanalysis.
'Pure' Hypnoanalysis and Weight Loss
Having a course of hypnotherapy with a hypnotherapist trained in 'Pure' Hypnoanalysis is NOT about trying to temporarily control the effects of the emotion of an underlying anxiety, it's all about resolving that anxiety for good.
Where someone has been 'emotionally eating' to deal with stress or anxiety, and has been gaining weight because of that overeating, then once the underlying stress or anxiety is resolved there is no longer any need to 'cope' with that emotion.
Because there is no longer a need to 'cope' with an underlying emotion, the need to overeat diminishes, and the person finds that their eating habits naturally change.
'Pure' Hypnoanalysis is not the same as 'old fashioned' or 'traditional' hypnotherapy, and it requires special training on the part of the therapist.
If you would like us to help you to find a therapist in your area who is trainied in 'Pure' Hypnoanalysis, why not use our find a therapist service. It's completely free for you to use, and we'll gladly help you find a therapist in your area.
Here to Help
Have a think about which you'd like to try... contact me (using the form below) if you have any questions, or if you'd like to see anything else covered here.
Paul
Paul Douglass MIAPH Acc. D.Hyp. Adv.
Avon Hypnotherapy
March 4th, 2008
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