Hypnosis for Weight Reduction
As a hypnotherapist and Life & Mindset coach, clients come to me for different challenges, goals, intentions…..
As far as hypnosis is concerned, some of the most common reasons people come to see me are for: decreasing stress and anxiety, increasing confidence, more restful sleep and weight loss.
In this blog post, let’s focus a bit on weight reduction (loss) and weight maintenance.
When it comes to this subject, I want to start with a couple of facts:
-My parents were from Paris, France and eating, for us, was an important, joyful and sensual (using and enjoying the senses) part of life. I was raised with and have inherited this love and art of eating and enjoying and the disdain of diets and dieting, a big part of the culture I was raised in, in the USA.
For me, ‘dieting’ in the everyday sense of the word, equals deprivation. Eating well (a good ‘diet’), keeping healthy, movement/exercise, balance and good habits are not…...
These days, when I am helping someone with weight loss or maintenance as a hypnotist, I combine it with coaching. It’s vital to create new habits, of eating and attitude, so that when you do lose the weight with hypnosis, you’ll know how to keep it off. Losing the weight is great but keeping it off and maintaining it is so important.
When it comes to diets, so many folks lose weight, using certain formulas and foods but, when they stop, the weight often comes right back……..plus some. This is not healthy for your heart nor for your mindset.
Here are some of the FRENCH Facts & Fun that I share with my clients:
-Eating is a ‘sensual’ experience; when you’re eating, be aware of what you’re eating, what it tastes like, smells like, feels like and looks like. In other words, use your 5 senses. When I go to visit my family in France, and when my parents were alive, we sat at the table for quite a while, enjoying an hors d’oeuvre (appetizer), the main meal (usually protein with lots of veggies), then salad, with the real French dressing (mustard vinaigrette), then cheeses (a real French tradition), then coffee and dessert, often fruit. If dessert is something sweet, it’s a small portion. And yes……..often, a small glass of wine with dinner.
-Savor every morsel of your food. This is awareness. When you’re eating, stay at the table and just eat. No TV, no reading; you just eat and converse, if you’d like. Focus on each morsel and use your senses. Notice that after 3 or 4 bites of what you’re eating, you won’t really be enjoying the taste as fully. This is your signal to stop.
The French eat many courses and each portion is small. This could be a reason. You want to taste and enjoy what you’re eating/drinking.
-Eat smaller portions. You may want to try using smaller plates.
-There are no ‘good’ or ‘bad’ foods. It’s all about portions and moderation. Of course, these days, staying away from refined white sugar and unhealthy fats is a good idea.
-Look into the Reasons for your overeating. I go over these with clients, while taking a history, before hypnosis sessions. This is vital!
-Stay non-judgmental, gentle and compassionate with yourself!
Here’s a quote from a comic strip, that I love. Of course, it combines my prior experience as a dentist and my work as a LifeCoachNYC, Mindset Coach and HypnotherapistNYC.
“I have metal fillings in my teeth. My refrigerator magnets keep pulling me into the kitchen. That’s why I can’t lose weight?” 😊
MAJOR CAUSES OF OVEREATING:
-When you need love.
-When you’re fearful.
-To reward or entertain yourself. We learn this when we’re young, getting rewarded for good behavior or good grades with cookies, cake, candy, etc.
-To be noticed, to gain authority. When you’re overweight, you get attention, though it may be negative. You also take up more space. Often, it’s ‘big body, small ego.’
-To lessen or negate an unpleasant experience, ie: sexual abuse, unwanted sexual attention, etc.
HOW It Works:
-The problem with overeating is that food buoys your feelings for a short time (temporarily) as opposed to how long you ‘wear’ food….
-With most overweight overeaters, the problem is not in their metabolic rate. Of course, it’s important to check your medical condition first, ie: thyroid, etc. Many folks, especially women, have hypothyroidism and their metabolic rate is slowed down. If necessary, take the necessary medication.
Most of the time, though, with overweight overeaters, it’s most likely in the mind---the subconscious mind.
-Understand that the subconscious is stronger than the conscious. This is evident if you try to make a New Year’s resolution to lose weight. What happens? You lose weight with conscious effort and when you reach your goal and stop dieting, your subconscious takes over (those underlying reasons, stated above).
How many times have you gone on a diet and followed it rigidly, until you lost weight? You felt deprived, your stomach growling, but you accept this agony as an inevitable part of weight loss. Then, you reach your goal. You stop your diet and resume ‘normal eating.’
Within a few weeks or months, you gain all the weight back and sometimes, even more. This is a familiar, monotonous tale illustrating the most prevalent factor in unsuccessful weight reduction. Loss of pounds is not permanent when you restrict food from your body without considering the causes of overeating.
The not-always-easy truth is that only through permanent changes in the subconscious part of your mind, can you experience permanent changes in your life, changes that are ‘automatic’ and not painful.
-Accept your subconscious as your friend!
-Start to make subconscious and conscious changes in your ‘lifestyle’ and ‘attitude.’ Hypnosis and Life & Mindset Coaching is very helpful with this!
WHERE do you go from here…..?
-Regardless of the cause of your overeating, the process for change will be the same.
-You need to replace the emotional satisfaction of food with an activity that serves the same purpose.
For some of my clients, these have included: movement and exercise, crossword puzzles, writing, and more.
-Whatever activity you choose, it should be positive, enjoyable to you, and calming.
-You want to pinpoint WHEN, WHERE and WHY you eat; awareness is first.
-What you’re doing is REPROGRAMMING your mind for results and creating new options. The combinations of Life & Mindset Coaching and Hypnosis is fabulous for this!
Reach out to me @www.gigiarnaud.com if you have questions or are interested in Hypnosis sessions/packages, Life & Mindset Coaching packages or a combination of both! Sign up for your free Clarity Call.
With smiles and love,
Dr Gigi
PS: There’s nothing like changing your thoughts to change your life…..
Change your Thoughts, Change your Mind, Change your World