Weight Loss Archives

From the Mail Bag – Does hypnosis really work for weight loss?

Dear Dani,

What’s up with Hypnosis for weight loss? Is that the real deal? Can’t you just tell my body to let go of excess fat or just make me obsessed with working out? How much can I expect to lose in how much time? How long will it last?

Signed,

Stuck With Extra Pounds

_______________________________

Dear Stuck,

Thanks for writing and for giving me an opportunity to provide you more information about Hypnosis for weight loss. The short answer is yes. It absolutely works. I am living proof having lost nearly 80 pounds about 10 years ago using these techniques. Not only did I lose weight, I gained something I sought for years – choice and control around food. A lifelong obsession with sugar and carb and impulsive eating behavior was resolved using Hypnosis and NLP.

The weight issue is comprised of many variables including body image, portion control, food choices, emotional eating, exercise motivation, and even fear of the end result (who would you be and what changes if you are at your ideal weight). Everyone is different, and their reasons for holding on to weight or not changing behavior is unique and often a function of limiting beliefs and negative emotions. Through Coaching, Hypnosis, NLP, Tapping and related techniques, we target those issues, transform them and clearing them at the root — helping you create new habits, and positive behaviors so that your body can get back to it’s ideal weight.

The resolution of the weight issue is as individual as it’s cause. I can never estimate how long it will take for your body to reflect the positive changes nor can I guarantee any particular result. Yet, I do know that when we clear the issues in the way of eating a healthy diet, moving more, decreasing your stress and improving body image and self talk, the body will get back to it’s ideal weight. Client results vary from just a few pounds in the four weeks to 8 – 10 pounds or more after 4 weeks. I also have clients who lose very little in 4 weeks but experience significant shift in their habits (eating, exercise, self talk and stress reduction) that adds up to weight loss weeks and months later.

It is also common that people will do this work with me over 4 sessions and then write me 6 – 8 weeks after their last session to let me know how much they have lost. I even had one client who wrote me 6 months after just 3 sessions, and reported a 30 lb loss. I also had one women recently write me and tell me she lost nothing but she resolved her lifelong issue with emotional binge eating – that she was no longer tormented by food. She finally felt like she had choice and control around food and this was worth so much more than losing a few pounds. Another gentleman reported finally liking himself and his body. He didn’t care that he had only lost a few pounds. Liking himself after 40 years of hating his body was gold to him.

Folks who keep it off, keep working at it. They know that maintaining their ideal weight is a lifelong activity comprised of a healthy diet, regular activity, mindful eating, relaxation and stress management. Hypnosis can certainly help remove the barriers to performing those healthy habits so your body can get back to doing what it knows how to do – thrive!

Hope that helps and hope to see you in my chair soon!

If You’re Happy And You Know It. . . . Eat A Snack!”

December 5, 2014

I just caught my first glimpse of the Weight Watcher’s commercial that aired last night during the Live Peter Pan event. I recorded the show because I wanted to savor Christopher Walken as Hook. He’s so brilliant. LOL Anyway, when the commercial started, I heard the familiar tune “If You’re Happy and You Know It Clap Your Hands” but my mind was having a disconnect with the lyrics. I turned to look at the screen and spent the next 30 seconds chuckling. “Brilliant, Weight Watchers.” “Well done!” I was instantly jealous of such a brilliant reverse psychology approach to bring attention to their mission. Setting our dysfunctional relationship with food against a backdrop of the illusion and melody of happiness. I wanted MY logo at the end of that commercial. LOL

I have always been a fan of Weight Watchers, having used the program in concert with Hypnosis for years with myself and others. The eating plan works because it operates on one’s ability to manage to an expectation – or in Weight Watcher’s terms, a points budget. The program expertly educates participants in areas that, as a hypnotherapist, are outside my scope of practice – nutrition, portion control, and an understanding of healthy, sensible food choices. And it’s always refreshing to see real people in their marketing. Real people with real issues. This new campaign echos that beautifully.

I have been to enough Weight Watcher’s meetings to know that where they excel at the education and the tracking tools, they can only do so much to keep people motivated. They can never really get at the underlying causes for a participant’s bad week, or disappointing weigh-ins because group sessions serve groups. . . . not individuals. It’s that buckshot approach to transforming the feelings and subconscious behavior driving the eating, that’s ultimate reason for why engagement fizzles. No disrespect to Weight Watchers. They are not subconscious behaviorists. That would be outside the scope of their mission. So that’s where I come in.

When client’s come to me for Weight Loss Hypnosis, I remind them that issues such as “Weight Loss,” are like a bouquet of balloons – each balloon representing a different aspect contributing to the issue. Aspects likes portion control, emotional eating, anxiety, safety, body image, negative self-talk, abuse, control, empowerment etc. Clearing those aspects, or even better, getting at the root of the bouquet, results in one very happy by-product. . . weight loss. That’s because baring diagnosed disease or disorder, medication or true metabolic dysfunction, client’s really do not have a Weight Loss problem. Our bodies know exactly how to come back into balance and harmony, to our ideal body weight, when we give it the tools and the chance. Weight Watchers provides a framework for how much to eat and a system to track metrics. Hypnosis helps clear the why, when, how and to what extent you feel compelled to eat. This lets your body get back to what it’s designed to do, thrive.

When I help a client process negative emotions, limiting believes, old memory. . . .when I help them resolve their relationship with their body and their relationship with food, programs like Weight Watchers work wonders. I have seen this first hand. Of course, I never guide a client to any particular program or method, I always work within their framework and model of the world. But when they ask me to create a programming recording that helps them stay on their Weight Watcher’s plan, to have commitment and consistency with the tools they have been given. . . I smile and clap my hands. Because I am Happy. Because I KNOW Hypnosis coupled with a smart sensible eating program works EVERY TIME.

If you haven’t seen the commercial, you can find it on YouTube.

If you want to really drive your weight loss success, partner your effort with hypnosis and let’s clap together. You can read more about hypnosis for weight loss here:

http://www.danifoxhypnosis.com/wp1/services/lose-weight/

Happy Holidays!