I Tried It: Hypnosis for Weight Loss
Can mind control really help you lose weight?
By Charlotte Andersen
From Shape Magazine
From Shape Magazine
Weight Loss Strategies - Nov. 28, 2011
Hypnosis may be best known as the party trick used to make people do the chicken dance on stage, but more and more people are turning to the mind-control technique to help them make healthier choices and lose weight. Case in point: When Georgia, 28, decided she needed to lose the 30 or so pounds she put on after foot surgery in 2009, the dieting veteran turned to hypnosis. The mind-control technique had helped her overcome a fear of flying in the past, and she hoped it would help her make "fundamental changes" to her habits.
At first the self-proclaimed foodie was surprised by her hypnotherapist's recommendations. "[She had] four simple agreements to which I would need to adhere: Eat when you're hungry, listen to your body and eat what you crave, stop when you're full, eat slowly and enjoy every mouthful. As such, no foods were off limits and I was encouraged to eat everything in moderation —music to my ears!"
As the treatments progressed—Georgia saw her hypnotherapist about 8 times over a 1-year period—she saw measureable improvement. "The weight dropped off slowly and surely, without huge changes to my lifestyle. I was still eating out numerous times a week, but often sending plates back with food on them! For the first time ever, I was really tasting my food, spending time to take in flavours and textures. Almost ironically, it was as if I had recommenced my love affair with food… only I was able to lose weight doing so ." In between appointments she adds that she did her best to maintain her new healthy habits.
Dispelling the myth that hypnosis feels "weird" or out of control, she says, "Under hypnosis, I always feel very lucid and still in control." But there were funny moments like when was told to visualize stepping on the scale and seeing her goal weight. "My overly creative mind had to first imagine myself removing all clothes, every bit of jewelry/watch/hair clip and jumping on in the nude (anyone else do that, or is it just me?!)." (Side note: No, it's not just you Georgia!)
Two years later she has happily maintained her weight loss , occasionally checking back in with her hypnotherapist when she needs a refresher. "Overall, I found hypnotherapy to be a great way of readjusting my habits and really enjoyed the flexibility and inherent 'sensibleness' of the whole approach."
Hypnosis may be best known as the party trick used to make people do the chicken dance on stage, but more and more people are turning to the mind-control technique to help them make healthier choices and lose weight. Case in point: When Georgia, 28, decided she needed to lose the 30 or so pounds she put on after foot surgery in 2009, the dieting veteran turned to hypnosis. The mind-control technique had helped her overcome a fear of flying in the past, and she hoped it would help her make "fundamental changes" to her habits.
At first the self-proclaimed foodie was surprised by her hypnotherapist's recommendations. "[She had] four simple agreements to which I would need to adhere: Eat when you're hungry, listen to your body and eat what you crave, stop when you're full, eat slowly and enjoy every mouthful. As such, no foods were off limits and I was encouraged to eat everything in moderation —music to my ears!"
As the treatments progressed—Georgia saw her hypnotherapist about 8 times over a 1-year period—she saw measureable improvement. "The weight dropped off slowly and surely, without huge changes to my lifestyle. I was still eating out numerous times a week, but often sending plates back with food on them! For the first time ever, I was really tasting my food, spending time to take in flavours and textures. Almost ironically, it was as if I had recommenced my love affair with food… only I was able to lose weight doing so ." In between appointments she adds that she did her best to maintain her new healthy habits.
Dispelling the myth that hypnosis feels "weird" or out of control, she says, "Under hypnosis, I always feel very lucid and still in control." But there were funny moments like when was told to visualize stepping on the scale and seeing her goal weight. "My overly creative mind had to first imagine myself removing all clothes, every bit of jewelry/watch/hair clip and jumping on in the nude (anyone else do that, or is it just me?!)." (Side note: No, it's not just you Georgia!)
Two years later she has happily maintained her weight loss , occasionally checking back in with her hypnotherapist when she needs a refresher. "Overall, I found hypnotherapy to be a great way of readjusting my habits and really enjoyed the flexibility and inherent 'sensibleness' of the whole approach."
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Hypnosis Can Help You Lose Weight—For Good
Close your eyes. Imagine your food cravings floating away. Imagine a day of eating only what's good for you. Imagine hypnosis actually helping you lose weight—because the news is: It does. Harvard Medical School psychotherapist Jean Fain gives you ten hypnotic suggestions to try right now.
By Jean Fain
From the August 2004 issue of O, The Oprah Magazine
When I tell people how I make much of my living—as a psychotherapist hypnotizing people slim—they inevitably ask: Does it work? My answer usually brightens their eyes with something between excitement and incredulity.
Most people, including my colleagues at Harvard Medical School, where I teach hypnosis, don't realize that adding trance to your weight loss efforts can help you lose more weight and keep it off longer.
Hypnosis predates carb and calorie counting by a few centuries, but this age-old attention-focusing technique has yet to be embraced wholeheartedly as an effective weight loss strategy.
Until recently, there has been scant scientific evidence to support the legitimate claims of respected hypnotherapists, and a glut of pie-in-the-sky promises from their problem cousins, stage hypnotists, hasn't helped.
Even after a persuasive mid-nineties reanalysis of 18 hypnotic studies showed that psychotherapy clients who learned self-hypnosis lost twice as much weight as those who didn't (and, in one study, kept it off two years after treatment ended), hypnotherapy has remained a well-kept weight loss secret.
Unless hypnosis has happily compelled you or someone you know to buy a new, smaller wardrobe, it may be hard to believe that this mind-over-body approach could help you get a handle on eating.
Most people, including my colleagues at Harvard Medical School, where I teach hypnosis, don't realize that adding trance to your weight loss efforts can help you lose more weight and keep it off longer.
Hypnosis predates carb and calorie counting by a few centuries, but this age-old attention-focusing technique has yet to be embraced wholeheartedly as an effective weight loss strategy.
Until recently, there has been scant scientific evidence to support the legitimate claims of respected hypnotherapists, and a glut of pie-in-the-sky promises from their problem cousins, stage hypnotists, hasn't helped.
Even after a persuasive mid-nineties reanalysis of 18 hypnotic studies showed that psychotherapy clients who learned self-hypnosis lost twice as much weight as those who didn't (and, in one study, kept it off two years after treatment ended), hypnotherapy has remained a well-kept weight loss secret.
Unless hypnosis has happily compelled you or someone you know to buy a new, smaller wardrobe, it may be hard to believe that this mind-over-body approach could help you get a handle on eating.