Hypnotic Weight Loss- 12 Things to Support your Treatment
By Susanna Sweeney, MSC, MBACP, CHT
You are probably here because you are considering taking a hypnotic
weight loss program and want to find out all about hypnosis for weight
loss.
This article is part of a series on different aspects on this topic. In another article you can find out what weight loss hypnosis
is and if it is for you. This article is designed to help you prepare
so that you can maximize your success and achieve your weight loss goal.
The very first thing I want bring your attention to is this. Hypnotherapy is a powerful form of therapy. (Check out how hypnosis can help you in other ways, too.) But hypnosis is not a cure-all, and hypnosis is not magic. Your hypnotist is not a magician.
What do I mean exactly?
There is often an unspoken unconscious belief that with hypnosis, you won’t have to do anything at all. That you don’t even have to fully want the changes you are planning to make. That the weight loss hypnotist can, somehow, magically, do all the work for you and ‘make you lose weight’.
The bad news is that they cannot.
The idea that hypnosis works like magic is one of many hypnosis myths which are out there in public consciousness and, if you are considering taking a hypnotherapy program, you are much better off ditching these beliefs from the start. You can do so by reading my article “16 Hypnosis Myths Exploded”.
The good news is there is a lot YOU can do.
There are many things within your power that you can do to support your hypnotic weight loss program. Those things are what this article is devoted to, so let’s get started.
1. Set Your Goals Just Right
Read my article hypnosis for goal
setting so you can avoid the seven most common mistakes people make
when setting goals. Make sure you set your weight loss goals the right
way.
Make sure you set a realistic time frame, and develop realistic ideas about how much weight you can expect to lose in that time without putting your body under stress. Some people prefer not to put any figure on it as such, and instead just develop a vision of which dress size they’d like to drop down to.
Think about what changes you would like to make with regard to exercise and diet, also.
Give this stage of the process some serious thought because your goals are your foundation that everything else will be built upon.
2. Expect to Succeed with Your Weight Loss Plan
Imagine this fictitious scene:
Two athletes are competing. Both have had the same kind and the same amount of training. Both perform much the same physically.
One of them has a strong belief in herself. She believes she can reach any goal she sets herself. The other one has a lot of self doubt. While acknowledging that she has trained well, she is not 100% convinced that she is performing well enough enough to win. The day of both athletes to compete against one another has arrived. Who do you think will win?
You have guessed right.
All other things being equal, the athlete with
the stronger belief in herself will win. If you believe in yourself
100%, you are much more likely to succeed than if, deep down, you are
struggling with believing that you can do this.
So, whatever
doubts you have, put them on the back burner. Realize that you are the
master of your own destiny. Expect your weight loss plan to work. You
achieve what you believe you can do.
Hypnosis will help you further deepen this belief in yourself. But you can help the process along by already building up a belief in yourself and an expectation that you will lose weight as planned and that your body will find the correct weight, size and shape for you.
3. Positive Thinking Helps You Get There Faster
Your subconscious
mind thrives on positive emotions and positive thoughts. Feed it
positive thoughts which produce those lovely positive emotions and it
will pay you back a thousand fold.
Cultivate positive thoughts
about the idea of you losing weight, about your goal, about your
progress and successes along the way. Your subconscious mind will love
you for it.
In turn for keeping positive, it will give you faster and easier progress, especially when supported by weight loss hypnosis treatments which will initiate this process and deepen it even more with each successive session.
4. Practice Positive Self Talk
How you talk to yourself during your weight loss journey will have a big impact on your success. Read my article “Does self hypnosis work?” to learn about the importance of self talk.
Consciously notice when you slip into negative self talk and make a point of turning it around into positive self talk. Keeping a diary can be very helpful with this as often, we don’t even notice when this happens. It can be very habitual and slip by your conscious awareness.
5. Support Your Hypnotic Weight Loss Process With Your Own Affirmation
You can work
with your own weight loss affirmation to support your hypnotic weight loss.
Find out your deepest
motivation to lose weight. For example, this could be being concerned
for your health and initiating a weight loss plan from a place of love
for yourself. If so, you could write an affirmation to that effect: “I
love myself deeply and therefore want my body to be healthy. I will shed
all excess weight to improve my health.”
Recite this affirmation back to yourself a few times a day. It will gently chip away on mental obstacles. You can build in other self hypnosis techniques, too.
6. Visualize Your Goal Clearly
Visualizing your goal is a powerful tool. Develop a mental image of what your weight loss goal means for you.
Sometimes,
clients want to lose weight to prepare for a particular event such as a
wedding. Develop a mental image of this event. Imagine yourself there:
what you will wear, who will be with you, how positive you will feel
having met your weight loss goal coming up to the event.
Visualize this daily. Make it part of your homework and it will enhance the effects of your treatment and the benefits of weight loss by hypnosis.
7. Keep a Diary
Keep a diary, noting down not only what and
how much you eat every time you eat, but also how you feel before,
during and after eating. This will help you gain insight into your
relationship with food.
Keeping a diary of what you eat also has
the potential to alert you to any food intolerance you may have that
may have gone unnoticed until now.
Research (1) tells us that these types of CBT exercises, if used regularly, work very well alongside hypnosis, increasing treatment benefits by some 70%.
8. Be Prepared to Make Some Dietary Changes
It would be
magical thinking to believe that all you have to do in order to lose
weight is attend your hypnotic weight loss program.
Most likely,
you will have to make some dietary changes somewhere.
Hypnosis is
non-prescriptive in the changes you make. Think about what changes feel
right for you. These will depend on how much weight you want to lose,
and what exactly your diet currently consists of.
Some people
simply reduce their portion sizes, eating much smaller meals, eating
slowly and chewing thoroughly. Other people find it a useful strategy to
identify the ‘worst offenders’ and cut them out. These could be sugary
soda drinks, chocolate bars, crisps or similar. You will know what your
worst offenders are. Cross them off your shopping list.
Having
said that, your food intake must be a balanced one that will sustain
your body’s nutritional needs. Never starve yourself. You will defeat
the purpose.
9. Be Prepared to Give it Time
Hypnotic weight loss is a slow and steady path. Slow and steady wins the marathon race in the end.
Take your time, do what you decide to do every day alongside your hypnosis treatment, and change will start to happen as if by itself within a month.
10. How to Deal With Falling off the Wagon
This is a major
stumbling block for clients. They see themselves acting on a craving,
eating something they know is bad for them, and at that moment they feel
they have lost the battle and are often inclined to throw in the towel.
I say, let the feelings of shame and failure pass and realize
they are only feelings, nothing more. Reality is what you will create
with your actions.
Therefore, once the feelings have passed,
re-focus on your goal and continue with your plan exactly as you wanted
to, as if nothing happened at all. You can later reflect on what
happened and make a note in your diary about it so you can derive
learning from the incident for the future. A relapse is an opportunity
to learn something about yourself. And as such, it is a vital part of
your weight loss journey.
11. Celebrate Your Achievements
It’s important to take the time
and to make a point of celebrating your successes as you go along.
Keeping a record of even small changes can be a great tool here that
will help you see that there is some movement. Make yourself notice the
small things.
You have changed from your daily Cappuccino to
green tea? You are now parking the car a few blocks from your work so
you can get a walk in in? You have included regular salads in your menu?
These changes may seem small, but they are all important.
Praise
yourself, and consciously take a few moments to feel good about
yourself. This, in turn, will boost your confidence to continue on with
your weight loss journey.
12. Get Support
Some people find it helpful to find support in a friend, family member or a group while they are losing weight.
You
could exercise together or cook healthy meals together, or go shopping
together while changing your shopping lists to include healthier
choices. You could talk over the phone, point out to each other when you
notice the other person slipping into bad habits- make it whatever
works for you.
Not only can support help you maximize treatment
benefits from hypnotic weight loss, it can also make the weight loss
journey much more fun.
More About Weight Loss Hypnosis
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Weight Loss Hypnotists- How to Find the Right one for You
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Find out what benefits self hypnosis for weight loss has on offer for you compared to conventional weight loss programs and compared to attending weight loss hypnosis.
I hope you have found this article helpful in identifying how you can support yourself alongside your hypnotic weight loss program to get the very best out of it.
Regards,
References
(1) Kirsch, 1996. Hypnotic Enhancement of Cognitive-Behavioral Weight Loss Treatments—Another Meta-Reanalysis.Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology 1996. Vol.64, No. 3, 517-519.
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About Me | Contact | Privacy Policy | Facebook | Pinterest | Instagram | Twitter
Hello Venturer,
Welcome to my Online Hypnotherapy Clinic.
I am Susanna Sweeney, accredited psychotherapist and hypnotherapist.
I have been helping people to overcome their blocks and move forward for 30+ years.
Along the way, I have fallen in love with hypnotherapy.
Please note that any content or advice provided here is not intended as a substitute for medical advice.
Always consult your doctor before starting any health regimen.
Outcomes of hypnotherapy vary between individuals and cannot be guaranteed.
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