Many people striving to lose weight tend to struggle. They may start a program and then fail. One of the biggest things I’ve noticed is that they’re not in the right frame of mind before they started. When I used to work with fitness clients, one of the first things I did was to help them with their mindset.
Hypnosis has been a part of the strategies that I use and with success in many of my clients. Whether it’s in health, confidence or otherwise – I believe in the power of what hypnosis offers. Having said that, it’s only a part of the overall package that I believe works with people. The arena of weight loss is no different.
Hypnosis alone won’t work with the majority of people regarding losing weight. While a few do respond, it takes a multi-pronged approach to lose weight. The most successful diet programs enlist this attitude. In my opinion, it starts with the mindset of the person. How we think and believe leads to the actions and behavior we take.
The majority of hypnotherapists are well-meaning when it comes to their weight loss clients. Yet, the suggestions they give won’t do any good if the hypnotherapist doesn’t have a grasp on the full arena of successful weight loss.
What I mean is that in order to give the necessary suggestions, like in eating healthy, the suggestions should be given as what type of foods are the right ones for weight loss. Don’t just say eat less and workout more. That’s not going to do any good. Also, simply saying that you’re going to crave less sugary foods won’t work either. What I found that works is a combination of hypnosis, a good plan of action regarding the right diets and eating, exercise and even sleep.
My suggestions include what my clients need to do beyond each sessions. If I suggest that they need to associate with people who are living a healthy and fit life, then that is what I will in the suggestions and coaching. I do have to formulate what each clients believes about themselves and what they will look like when they have lose enough weight to look their best. That way they can take the additional tools I give them (diet and exercise) to help chisel away their fat to reveal and fitter version of themselves.
The power of hypnosis does work. Additionally, when hypnosis is combined with other therapies, such as cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT), it increases the effectiveness of said therapy (Kirsch, 1996). Furthermore, the effectiveness of hypnosis as a therapeutic tool is probably higher than stated in many studies (Flammer and Bongartz, 2003). Hypnosis is very effective and has been for as long as mankind has existed. It just wasn’t referred as hypnosis in ancient days.
In using hypnosis to lose weight, one the primary areas (besides suggestions) is to help reduce stress. Doing this will help in reducing cortisol levels. Johansson & Uneståhl (2006) did a study which showed using self-hypnosis (and other mental training) helped reduce cortisol (by 12.3%) and increase DHEA-S (the sulfated version of DHEA) levels (by a significant 27.8%). People who have low levels of DHEA-S tend to suffer from a whole host of health conditions, including heart disease, and is a sign of aging. The focus on reducing one’s cortisol levels while increasing DHEA helps to reduce fat and increase muscle. DHEA-S is a precursor to the hormone testosterone (and estrogen). It’s also the most abundant steroid hormone in our body.
Hypnosis and self-hypnosis can be an important part of one’s overall weight loss and fitness program. It’s already proven to work in various studies as long as it’s part of an integrated process. There are very good hypnotherapist who are able to bring together this. I won’t suggest any here. My suggestion to you is find one to help you to lose weight and get fit, okay? Also, you can learn self-hypnosis to help as well.
Cheers,
Bob Choat, “Transformational Master Black Belt” 
America’s #1 Mind-Body Transformation Expert and author of Mind Your Own Fitness
References:
Erich Flammer and Walter Bongartz. “ON THE EFFICACY OF HYPNOSIS: A META-ANALYTIC STUDY.” Erschienen in Contemporary Hypnosis (2003), 179 – 197.
Benny Johansson and Lars-Eric Uneståhl. “Stress reducing regulative effects of integrated mental training with self-hypnosis on the secretion of dehydroepiandrosterone sulfate (DHEA-S) and cortisol in plasma: a pilot study.” Contemporary Hypnosis 23 (2006) 101-110. DOI: 10.1002/ch.314
Irving Kirsch. “Hypnotic Enhancement of Cognitive-Behavioral Weight Loss Treatments—Another Meta-Reanalysis.” Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology 64 (1996) 517-519.
