Do a Google search, and you will find millions of web pages focused on the subject, especially weight loss hypnosis. Unfortunately, many websites that sell recorded hypnosis programs for weight loss make wild, unsubstantiated affirmations. I've been in professional practice since 1978. So I think that I'm more than competent to set the record straight on weight loss hypnosis.
First of all, hypnotic suggestion is a tool, just like a scalpel is a tool. Just as assorted surgeons have diversified skill levels in the use of a scalpel, varying hypnotists have assorted there are many remarkable forms of hypnosis.
Here are just a couple of the wild suppositions about weight loss hypnosis that I've seen on websites, along with the truth of the matter:
"Hypnosis for weight loss will speed up your metabolism." If you want to know the total truth, the fact of the matter is that weight loss hypnosis can't directly speed up your metabolism. But it can be very functional at helping to program your subconscious with increased motivation to exercise, and exercise can increase your metabolism. Similarly, hypnotherapy to speed up the metabolism for quick weight loss can be effected by programming the subconscious to motivate the intake of increased amounts of protein, because that intake will step up your metabolic rate.
Posthypnotic suggestion will make you shed some weight. This is false. But weight loss hypnosis can be used to help delete your appetite, so that you eat less, and eating less can help you to drop a few pounds.
The average person's appetite and urges are caused by two subconscious programs: A. When you pair eating with any other behavior, the other behavior will trigger cravings for food and a compulsion to eat. This is called a conditioned response. For example, if you eat while you drive, you will automatically get an urge to eat each time you drive your car.
B. When you feel tense, you feel a strong urge to put food into your mouth for relaxation. This is the result of training that you received as an infant. When you got crabby, your mom or dad put a bottle in your mouth. You got distracted, relaxed, and probably fell asleep. Now when you get cranky (anxious or tense), you feel compelled to put something into your mouth for relaxation and pleasure.
C. There is a third unconscious program that is present for some people. It's called emotional eating. Emotional eating takes place when an individual is motivated to make him or herself fat, because by being fat they will protect themselves in some way.
For example, if a subject got their heart broken in a relationship, their unconscious will usually force them into a behavior that would prevent them from getting their heart broken again. Example: They are motivated to become overweight to keep them out of new relationships, because that will clear out the possibility of another broken heart.
D. I have written several articles on hypnosis for weight loss and compulsive overeating that are available on my website. There are some very effective ways to use hypnotic suggestion to reduce or overcome emotional eating.
So just how can weight loss hypnotherapy fix the above problems? Let's cover them one at a time.
In paragraph "A" above: Conditioned responses can be "wiped out" easily using a course that I call the "Flash." The flash trains the unconscious mind to setup a new set of triggers. In the above example, the subject had unconsciously banded together the depiction of food in the hand, with the TV. Each time he / she sat down to watch the TV, the unconscious mind filled in the missing part of the depiction: It "Flashed" the image of the food in the hand, and the subject felt an urge, and a craving to eat.
The Flash is a mode of operation we use to program the subconscious to use the visualization of the TV as a trigger for an impression of yourself watching TV without eating. When we lose the depiction of the food, we lose the cravings.
When we momentarily disassociate (see ourselves from the point of view that another person would), we are not able to sense our feelings (cravings and urges).
When we see ourselves in an activity (watching TV without eating), we feel a strong compulsion to generate that behavior. So the subject loses the cravings, and actually gets a compulsion to reject food.
In paragraph "B" above: The subject is eating and drinking for relaxation and pleasure. We teach the subject self-hypnosis for weight loss, because the very essence of the hypnotic state is deep relaxation.
And we utilize the "Flash" to program the unconscious to use the mental pictures that are triggering feelings of annoyance and aggravation, as triggers for secondary mental images and thoughts that will trigger feelings of relaxation. When the subject feels more relaxed overall, oral urges are greatly diminished.
In paragraph "C" above: We discussed emotional eating which makes the person overweight. The "behavior" of being overweight then provides some sort of emotional protection. So we use a mode of operation called an NLP Six-Step Reframe for weight loss, which programs the unconscious to be responsible for making the subject automatically substitute some other larger acceptable behavior that will provide the same emotional protection, in place of being overweight. And that reframe will delete the craving to eat for emotional purposes.
Self-hypnosis for weight loss can be a very powerful method. I can only uncover the tip of the iceberg in this short characterization. Please see my website for larger comprehensive articles and information.
(c) 2007 by Alan B. Densky, CH. This article may be reproduced on your website as long as you retain all clickable links contained within.
People who have never struggled with excess weight have it all backwards. It's not their fault -- they've just been listening to the standard media misinformation we all hear.
Thin people just love to tell us to simply diet and exercise, further reinforcing feelings of frustration and guilt.
Actually, those of us who have lost large amounts of weight permanently, know better!
Highly restricted diets backfire with hunger, cravings, and feelings of deprivation. Exercising too much depletes the body of its energy, nutrients and often leads to injury.
All the evidence on long-term weight loss says the path to permanent weight loss is a reasonable approach combined with consistency.
But what about the word "consistency"?
Why is it so hard to be consistent with healthy eating and activity?
The answer is the "s" word: "sabotage."
Sabotage is the way we all get in our own way. It's also the route back where we came from -- living with too much fat on our bodies.
Weight loss is complicated and often frustrating. That is because it isn't just physical. It's not just diet and exercise. It's also mental, emotional and spiritual. It's a complicated maze of decision-making, conditioned thought, eating patterns and emotional needs.
On top of it all, we're encouraged to overthink the situation by the proliferation of ill-informed media around the topic, further complicating it!
A lot of food behavior runs very deep in our lives and psyches. If we try to simply change food behaviors without changing the underlying thought processes, it works for a short time only.
Then, our own mind sabotages us and we revert to old behaviors during times of stress, non-mindfulness and emotion.
That's the only thing in between what you want and what you've got in life. That's true, no matter what the goal or dream is. We tend to sabotage ourselves with our limited beliefs and with attitudes we learned at a young age.
For instance, if you believe "food = love" and you've been living that equation for many years, you have no doubt received great comfort from food. Deep down, you won't let go of that "source of love and comfort" without some real, conscious effort.
The sabotage happens when we revert to "food = love" in times of stress or difficulty in our lives, or when we're bored or progress slows.
Although it's understandable to hold onto that source of comfort, real freedom comes with an alternate source of feeling loved, one that doesn't impair your health or self-esteem.
When old thinking patterns have brought excess weight into your life, it will take a new way of thinking to banish it forever. But we all deserve to be free of addictive behaviors with food, and the negative feelings that go along with those behaviors.
Both Alan Densky & Pat Barone are contributors for EditorialToday. The above articles have been edited for relevancy and timeliness. All write-ups, reviews, tips and guides published by EditorialToday.com and its partners or affiliates are for informational purposes only. They should not be used for any legal or any other type of advice. We do not endorse any author, contributor, writer or article posted by our team.
Alan Densky has sinced written about articles on various topics from Hypnotherapy, Alternative Medicine and Hypnotherapy. Alan B. Densky, CH began his professional practice of NLP and hypnosis in Feb. 1978. He is the inventor of the