Hyponisis for Weight Loss

Over the weekend my friend and I attended a hypnosis session geared toward weight loss.  I had no idea what to expect going into it and was moderately concerned we may have been scammed.  Turns out, by golly I think it worked!

We arrived at the hotel where the class was held, and there were maybe 50 people there.  That sounds like a lot, but I'm trying to think of a realistic number and I think that would be about right.  The session was held by a man who said he was a certified hypnosis and stated we would be going through four hypnosis sessions through the course of our day.  My friend and I looked at each other wondering if we heard that right.  How is this one man going to perform hypnosis on all these people?  Are we going to break up into groups?  No, and he just dives right in.

Throughout the series of hypnosis sessions, we are to picture ourselves as lean in our dream body.  One session is to help us vision how we got ourselves into that dream body.  We envision all the fun we had while getting fit and being active.  One (seemingly) common misconception about hypnosis is that you lose control of yourself.  At the level of hypnosis we were doing, we are kept fully aware of ourselves.  We closed our eyes, sure, and went into a comfortably relaxed state, but we were still aware of what was going on.  As a hypnosis virgin I had no idea that you would keep your consciousness.

The second notable session was one where we thought of one of the foods we wish to eliminate from our lives.  For me, I thought of sugary treats.  Since we needed to pick something specific that we could visualize, I picked the treats someone brought in to work during the previous week.  Typically I have a very difficult time resisting goodies in front of my face.  In fact, I think I had three corn flake balls.  Plus a piece of better than sex cake.  So I pictured those goodies.  The session was quite disgusting.  The idea is we go to certain foods because we feel they are comforting to us.  So we are to replace the feelings of comfort with the feelings of disgust.  It was gross.  Horribly, horribly gross.

There were also additional sessions for sale by way of CDs.  My friend picked up a few CDs, and I chose one that is basically hypnosis lap band.  The night after our session I had a Christmas party to go to, so I thought I would try out my new CD and see what happens when faced with alcohol and loads of yummy looking food.

The lap band session was much more palatable.  Instead of imagining rancid food, I was to imagine my physical stomach and partitioning it so that the end result was, of course, a smaller stomach.  Now this, I can definitely say worked for me.  At the party I didn't go straight to the wine.  I had a small cup of hot cider.  After that I did decide to have a small glass of wine.  Usually I fill my glass up.  I also didn't even go near the food for quite a while.  People were like, why don't you go get some food?  I said I just wasn't hungry.  Which was entirely true!  When I finally did get a little rumble in my belly, I had a few small bites of the various appetizers, and wasn't tempted by the desserts.  After a bit more conversation I was still a little hungry, so I went back and there were some gloriously fudgy looking brownies in the shape of trees.  I cut off a tip and had literally one bite of brownie.  That was the only dessert I touched.  Usually at this party (my friend has had this party annually for several years) I gorge myself and feel like a pig.  Helpings of all the appetizers, plenty of wine, and at least one serving of each nut-less dessert.  Needless to say, this change is huge for me.

All in all, I would definitely say that hypnosis has helped me not feel hungry so often.  When I eat, I stop when I'm full even if there is food leftover.  The effects of hypnosis are not permanent however, so I have listened to my CD since Saturday.  I feel like if I check in with myself and my new found imaginary tiny stomach, I might actually feel the need to stuff my face less.  So that's pretty awesome.



*Please note all opinions expressed are entirely my own, and I was neither asked nor compensated for them.