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Weight Loss using Hypnosis

By Chris Harrison - Posted June 2009


Weight Loss is one of the most common issues that hypnotherapists are approached for.

There are many reasons why you should use hypnosis to lose weight:

  1. Actually spending the money and seeing a therapist over a series of sessions does focus the mind and show to others (and yourself) that you are serious about losing weight. This is one of the main reasons why groups such as weight watchers are so popular.
  2. Having someone to ‘coach’ you through the process of losing weight gives you someone to not let down. Strangely it is much easier to let down a partner, parent, or child, than a professional who is spending their time trying to help you.
  3. Weight loss, like smoking, is an issue where there may be lots of different temptations and issues that come to light during the process – a reoccurring appointment allows you to work on the new issues as they arise and receive a boast to your motivation. Also with weight loss it is important to get an outside view to ensure that you are keeping healthy while losing weight.
  4. Hypnosis is a good way to uncover whether there are any specific unconscious reasons why you find it hard to lose weight.

How many hypnosis sessions should I need to start to lose weight?

This is a tough one. Unlike smoking for instance, when achieving weight loss using hypnosis it is difficult to measure whether the sessions are specifically helping or not, though you should be aware of changes to your behavior.

If a therapist can’t have a serious effect on your willingness to eat less and exercise after 3 or 4 sessions, they you should probably question whether they will ever help you at all. Some NLP practitioners (see other therapies below) may suggest that you will only need a single session to motivate you and aim you in the right direction, and this may be enough if you only need a kick up the backside, but even in this case, it's wise to have a follow up session to tie up any loose ends.

How regular should the weight loss hypnosis sessions be?

Most people, probably due to convenience more than anything else, would arrange one session a week. You may find that the best approach is to have a couple of sessions to get going, and then as you become more in control of your eating and exercising, spread them out further until you don’t need the help any more.

Should I expect hypnosis to help me lose weight straight away?

As mentioned above, when you try weight loss using hypnosis, unlike smoking, it is difficult to measure whether the sessions are helping or not. The key is to notice whether your behavior has changed. Are you eating less, are you exercising more? Do you refuse food when offered, that you would have accepted before?

What kind of things will a hypnotist do to help me lose weight?

The main aims of a hypnotists when helping your weight loss using hypnosis will be to prevent you from over eating, motivate you to exercise, help you to enjoy exercising, teach you to become comfortable exercising (those gyms can be intimidating places!), and help you make the right choices about the food you eat. They may even train you to eat slower - this can be very effective.

What other therapies could help me lose weight?

Somewhat related to hypnosis, NLP (Neuro-linguistic Programming) provides some very good tools to lose weight. If you want to take control of your own weight loss, then there is an article 'How do I use NLP for weight loss' on PlanetNLP.com that provides several exercises that will help to make the process easier for you. If you can find a therapist with both hypnosis and NLP skills then you can get the best of both worlds.

Can I do anything myself to lose weight?

As mentioned above, if you want to take control of your own weight, then there is an article 'How do I use NLP for weight loss' on PlanetNLP.com that provides some exercises that will help to make the process easier for you. I will be adding information to this article on self hypnosis for weight loss soon.

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