Dieting
It can feel very confusing for anyone trying to lose weight; being continually bombarded with glossy adverts for various slimming pills, diets, weight loss programmes, Slimmer’s World, Weight Watchers and a whole host of firming creams, lotions and potions. The one thing that all of these methods have in common is that they focus our attention on the things we “don’t” want – being overweight – high cholesterol – cellulite – over eating – obesity, and it’s why in general none of them are effective in the long term.
How many people do you know, maybe even yourself, who’ve spent years on diets? No sooner has the latest fad diet come out than they’re on it, following it religiously, counting the calories or the points, or balancing the carbohydrates against the protein content for each and every meal. Sometimes, after the weeks or months of pain and suffering, tears and hunger we reach our target weight, we feel good (and so we should, we’ve suffered for it), we look good, our confidence increases and people begin to notice the difference and tell us how well we look and then it happens, again…. the pounds start going back on, faster than they did the last time and before we know it we’re right back where we started, eating the same things we were eating before. Our self esteem is shattered, we feel depressed and we wonder why we ever bother (sound familiar?).
As far back as 1985 the Journal of Clinical Psychology published an article entitled “Effectiveness of hypnosis as an adjunct to behavioural weight management” which describes a clinical trial in which 109 people aged between 17-67 years old underwent a behavioural treatment for weight management. They were divided into two groups, one with the addition of hypnosis and the other without.
The programme lasted for nine weeks resulting in both groups showing a significant weight reduction as would be expected from most diet plans. The subjects were then followed up after eight months and again in two years with some pretty startling results. The group that received the addition of hypnosis for weight loss continued to lose a significant amount of weight as opposed to the non-hypnotherapy group who only went on to lose a little more weight. A further benefit to the hypnotherapy group was that significantly more of them went on to achieve and maintain their personal weight goals.
A similar study looking at hypnosis for weight loss, this time of 60 women who were a minimum of 20% overweight, showed that the group given hypnotherapy lost an average of 17 pounds vs the non-hypnosis group who lost an average of only 5 pounds on follow-up.
More recently weight loss programmes such as the Virtual Gastric Band have proven to be extremely effective because they work by permanently changing your relationship with food.
A quick search of the internet will find many similar studies all showing that hypnotherapy not only helps in the initial weight loss but also in maintaining your ideal size. The weight loss industry is worth billions of pounds a year only because unlike hypnosis for weight loss, in the long term, most diets don’t work for most people.
The difference with hypnosis for weight loss programmes such as the Virtual Gastric Band, is that they work by changing our relationship with food, with our self image and our self worth, while allowing us to focus on what we do want such as becoming healthy, increasing confidence and self esteem, feeling good about ourselves and enjoying life.
Hypnotherapy for Weight Loss vs Dieting
Dieting
It can feel very confusing for anyone trying to lose weight; being continually bombarded with glossy adverts for various slimming pills, diets, weight loss programmes, Slimmer’s World, Weight Watchers and a whole host of firming creams, lotions and potions. The one thing that all of these methods have in common is that they focus our attention on the things we “don’t” want – being overweight – high cholesterol – cellulite – over eating – obesity, and it’s why in general none of them are effective in the long term.
How many people do you know, maybe even yourself, who’ve spent years on diets? No sooner has the latest fad diet come out than they’re on it, following it religiously, counting the calories or the points, or balancing the carbohydrates against the protein content for each and every meal. Sometimes, after the weeks or months of pain and suffering, tears and hunger we reach our target weight, we feel good (and so we should, we’ve suffered for it), we look good, our confidence increases and people begin to notice the difference and tell us how well we look and then it happens, again…. the pounds start going back on, faster than they did the last time and before we know it we’re right back where we started, eating the same things we were eating before. Our self esteem is shattered, we feel depressed and we wonder why we ever bother (sound familiar?).
Hypnotherapy
As far back as 1985 the Journal of Clinical Psychology published an article entitled “Effectiveness of hypnosis as an adjunct to behavioural weight management” which describes a clinical trial in which 109 people aged between 17-67 years old underwent a behavioural treatment for weight management. They were divided into two groups, one with the addition of hypnosis and the other without.
The programme lasted for nine weeks resulting in both groups showing a significant weight reduction as would be expected from most diet plans. The subjects were then followed up after eight months and again in two years with some pretty startling results. The group that received the addition of hypnosis for weight loss continued to lose a significant amount of weight as opposed to the non-hypnotherapy group who only went on to lose a little more weight. A further benefit to the hypnotherapy group was that significantly more of them went on to achieve and maintain their personal weight goals.
A similar study looking at hypnosis for weight loss, this time of 60 women who were a minimum of 20% overweight, showed that the group given hypnotherapy lost an average of 17 pounds vs the non-hypnosis group who lost an average of only 5 pounds on follow-up.
More recently weight loss programmes such as the Virtual Gastric Band have proven to be extremely effective because they work by permanently changing your relationship with food.
A quick search of the internet will find many similar studies all showing that hypnotherapy not only helps in the initial weight loss but also in maintaining your ideal size. The weight loss industry is worth billions of pounds a year only because unlike hypnosis for weight loss, in the long term, most diets don’t work for most people.
The difference with hypnosis for weight loss programmes such as the Virtual Gastric Band, is that they work by changing our relationship with food, with our self image and our self worth, while allowing us to focus on what we do want such as becoming healthy, increasing confidence and self esteem, feeling good about ourselves and enjoying life.