Anyone who has tried to lose weight (and I am one of them) will tell you that it isn't easy. There are so many different diets out there covering just about every type of food group you can think of. There are high-carb, low-carb, no-carb, meal replacement, cabbage soup, vegetarian, vegan, the Subway diet, Atkins et al. There are support groups throughout the world serving the great weight losing public including, Weight Watchers, Slimming World and Lighter Life amongst others.
Typical Treatment Plan
Weight loss and weight management are notoriously difficult, and it is one of the few conditions where I have found that follow up sessions can be a more effective approach than trying to do everything in a single session. Weight gain and eating problems usually stem from something else going on within a person, and often it takes one or two sessions to deal with this before we can deal directly with the weight itself.
A typical treatment plan consists of three phases, these are Identification, Re-processing, Weight Management. Sometimes these three phases will take place within a single session, however sometimes this can extend across a number of sessions, and often in these situations the weight issues resolve themselves once the underlying cause has been dealt with.
Identification Phase
Some people just have a hard time taking weight off, it is just a process thing, however the majority of people that I see for weight loss have an underlying belief, either about themselves or about food that acts as a barrier for losing weight. It may be that being overweight is a defence mechanism, or that food is a comforter or reward system, there may be a history of abuse or bullying, or there may be other psychological factors. The Identification phase of the process allows us to look at the reasons behind the weight gain and what course of action needs to be taken, if any.
Re-processing Phase
Sometimes we need to deal with the issues behind weight as a session in its own right. This is not uncommon for people who have been overweight for a long time, or have been 'self-medicating' with food. Re-processing the way the person thinks is an important step in managing weight, and often leads to a 'lightbulb moment' of self-realisation where the client understands their relationship with food and how to deal with it. Sometimes this is enough for a client to move on themselves.
Weight Management Phase
This is where the real Clinical Hypnosis weight loss suggestions come in. Here I will use a series of positive suggestions about the person, their eating habits, their self-esteem and any positive reinforcements that assist in the task of weight management. Once people get into this phase of the process they have already dealt with their issues surrounding food and this is about developing new habits and making new lifestyle choices.
Beyond Clinical Hypnosis
Weight Loss and Food Relationships are often difficult to untangle and in these situations I find that other tools can be very useful in getting to the bottom of the situation before resolving the problem. Often I will use other therapeutic tools that I have experience in, and I have found that an EMDR session, or some Psychotherapy is useful especially for those individuals where some traumatic event is involved.
The exact extent of the therapeutic interventions required will be discussed with you during the Identification phase of the weight loss session.
