Hypnotherapy and Weight Loss
By Jorg Thonnissen (2010) Psychologist
Food is often used as a substitute for things that are missing in our lives. For this reason, we will need to first and foremost, identify what triggers the kind of eating pattern/s you wish to change.
Many people come to realise that these triggers, and their eating, are closely linked to the way they feel. In other words, individuals may come to discover that they eat because they feel stressed, sad, depressed, unloved, bored, etc. Then, based on these triggers and the associated feelings, clients may unknowingly develop a certain behavioural pattern which they keep reinforcing throughout their day.
For instance, think of how easy or automatic a habit or ritual it is to come home from a day at work, walk through the door, take off your jacket, look at the mail while turning on the kettle and grab something out of the fridge or cupboard to eat or, snacking on a bag of chips or some cheese and wine while watching your favourite TV show or a movie, so as to make yourself comfortable and give yourself that feeling of being ‘nurtured’.
For these and other instances, food can give us the impression of feeling ‘full’ inside, especially when we are emotionally drained. In fact, certain foods have a definite physiological effect on how we feel. For instance, there is evidence that eating chocolate increases the levels of endorphins released into the brain, giving credence to the claim that chocolate is a comfort food. Another common neurotransmitter affected by chocolate is serotonin – a brain chemical that when low, is linked to depression. Either way, the more often the daily food ritual is repeated, the more we tend to have the desire to eat when the triggers are evident.
With such seemingly harmless habits or rituals as those mentioned above, you can see why for most of us, starting and maintaining a strict exercise or healthy food routine seems extremely difficult if not nearly impossible for a lot of people. This is particularly so when we are so busy trying to balance work life and home life that we often have very little time left for anything else.
By using hypnosis, a person can be trained at a subconscious level to achieve the goals that they set for themselves. Hypnosis can help you feel more relaxed and to deal with stress in a different, more productive manner. It can induce positive thinking, and a needed change in attitude to get you where you want to go.
As with any diet or exercise program, to make weight loss effective through using hypnosis, the person who is being hypnotised has to make the commitment to achieving the goals that are set.
The first and most important stage is to identify when you eat, and what the underlying beliefs and issues are that lead to excessive eating. Following this, we will aim to instil specific commands at a conscious and subconscious level to help achieve the goals you have set out to accomplish, and to deal with the beliefs and behaviours associated with your weight.
There is little doubt that a change in belief and behaviour will ultimately lead to a more desired outcome. Hypnotherapy, therefore, is a form of Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT), with the difference from other forms of CBT being that hypnotherapy seems to overcome our somewhat subconscious resistance to changing behaviours much faster.
Using hypnosis can be an effective tool towards losing weight. Simple commands can assist in shedding habits that most overweight people share, such as eating too fast, dealing with stress by eating, and using food as a substitute to addressing emotional issues. To tailor hypnotic commands to your specific needs, such commands are derived from the list of commands that you will have nominated to be incorporated into your hypnosis session.
By tailoring a program to your specific needs, you are helping to ensure success towards your chosen goals.
