I’m often asked ‘does hypnotherapy work for weight loss?’  In answer to this I am always excited to be able to share some anecdotal stories about the success that clients have had curbing their sugar cravings; changing their night time snacking; finding their ‘mojo’ to get their diet started or reframing their old beliefs about the need to ‘clear your plate’, which have all led to individual weight loss and a healthier lifestyle.  Interestingly each client I’ve seen already knows the basic principles of ‘how’ to lose weight and has over the years, tried many other traditional diet methods and have failed. They usually have trouble sticking to a healthy diet and exercise program because they can’t seem to shake off negative habits for example, eating four chocolate bars in a row when they only intended to have one.  Hypnotherapy is often their last resort.

So how does the ‘solution focused’ approach to weight management work?  Well, it is highly personalised where we identify the main triggers for a person’s overeating, for example  low self esteem or a stressful lifestyle  and the associations that food has for someone e.g. comfort, together with explaining what’s really going on in your body and mind with reference to the latest research in neuroscience. Its success from other diet methods is because clinical hypnotherapy addresses the cause and other contributing factors directly at the subconscious level in a person’s mind, where memories, habits, fears, food associations, negative self talk and self esteem grow and develop.  Through deep relaxation we train the mind to move towards what is healthy and away from what are unhealthy. In trance, a deeply relaxed state, core issues are addressed enabling both the conscious mind and the subconscious to work together to achieve the client’s particular outcome.

The number of sessions leading to a healthy lifestyle is down to the individual’s personal response and desired outcome.  I like to train client’s from the phase of conscious competence, where they have to think first before they make a new behaviour choice, to the phase of unconscious competence where the new behaviours are natural and part of a new normal.  It’s very satisfying when I hear clients say ‘I just don’t even think of eating it anymore!  I feel and look great!’