Hypnosis and Weight Loss

By Donovan Baldwin

The problem with talking about hypnosis and weight loss, or hypnosis and many other things for that matter is that there often are few, if any, studies on whose results you can hang your hat. In this world where it seems everything is studied from every different angle, it seems that the final conclusion is that hypnosis can help you lose weight...or not.

There are plenty of claims of success by the myriad of hypnotherapists of all kinds who have put up websites and gone into the "Hypnosis can cure..." business.

Actually, the problem is not even whether or not hypnosis can or cannot be a tool in a healthy weight loss program. That much, at least, is pretty well agreed upon. The question seems to be how to use it and how much effect it actually has on an individual's weight loss.

That brings us to another factor. We are dealing with individuals, and individuals tend to react differently to the efforts of hypnotherapists in ANY attempt to produce a viable effect.

Most claims found for hypnotherapists on the internet, whether they are claiming that hypnosis is effective for weight loss or not (and most are) is that they ARE successful. Like many other things that can be effective and valuable in weight loss, or almost any other endeavor, the unknown fact is what does "effective" mean to these people and can they define "effective" in terms of so many successful outcomes in so many total attempts. This is the problem. There are no numbers, at least none that I could find.

However, many studies DO exist that show that hypnosis CAN be combined with other standard weight loss efforts to produce a better outcome. For example, it has long been known that changing eating habits and attitudes towards food can help with weight loss. It has been found that hypnosis, combined with behavior modification, tends to meet with greater success than behavior modification or attitude alteration alone. It seems that the hypnosis does what it often does best...it relaxes the subject, allows them to focus and concentrate, and helps them learn their lessons, if you will, more quickly and efficiently.

Bottom line? Hypnosis alone is not very likely to produce profound effects on weight loss. This is particularly true in light of many hypnotherapists' claims that "only one session" will cause a massive, immediate, and continuous weight loss. If anything, for most people, hypnosis is simply one more weapon in an arsenal of weapons in the war against obesity. As always the main weapons will be regular physical activity and sensible eating habits.

Donovan Baldwin is a Texas writer and a University of West Florida alumnus. He is a member of Mensa and is retired from the U. S. Army after 21 years of service. In his career, he has held many managerial and supervisory positions. However, his main pleasures have long been writing, nature, health, and fitness. In the last few years, he has been able to combine these pleasures by writing poetry and articles on subjects such as health, fitness, the environment, happiness, self improvement, and weight loss. He occasionally blogs on subjects related to health at http://nodiet4me.blogspot.com and has a web page at http://nodiet4me.net/weightlossproducts where he offers mini-reviews of, and links to, various weight loss products.

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How Can You Lose Weight With Hypnosis?

By Terry Didcott

A lot of people wonder how you can lose weight with hypnosis. Well, the honest answer is that with hypnosis alone, you are unlikely to! There needs to be something more to affect the change in the body's metabolism combined with a modification in mental state. Sounds complicated? It's not really. I'll do my best to explain in everyday, layman's terms some of the processes that go on when hypnosis is used to lose weight. You will need several ingredients in the mix for that to happen. For instance, first of all, before you enter the hypnotic state, you will mentally set yourself a goal in the amount of weight you want to lose. Then the hypnotic session is commenced and used as the tool needed to prepare you to accept the verbal weight loss suggestions. These suggestions are necessary to subtly alter the way you perceive the important steps that you must take in order to lose that weight. Then you will be placed in the correct frame of mind to accept and action those steps which are necessary to lose the amount of weight needed to reach your goal.

I'll explain these several points in greater length.

First of all, you must make a goal for yourself. That goal is the amount of weight you want to lose, in pounds or kilos, whichever unit of measure you are comfortable with. Make it a realistic goal. Why? Well, if you don't, then like any unobtainable goal, you will not reach it. So with your realistic goal in mind and, for good measure, a realistic time span in which you would feel happy to attain it, you can then prepare for hypnosis.

Hypnosis in itself won't actually do anything for you except to make you relax and feel very calm. That is great if you are under a lot of stress and need to relax. There has to be more. What most people think of as purely hypnosis, is actually a combination of hypnosis and suggestion. The hypnosis enables you to relax sufficiently for you to subconsciously accept the suggestions that are given.

In a nutshell, the suggestions used are along the lines of: You will lose weight by feeling good about eating less of the bad things that make you gain weight - and more of the good things that will boost your metabolism to burn off the excess fat that want to be rid of. That's pretty much how suggestions work, in their simplest terms. There is a bit more to it than that, in the way that those suggestions are delivered by the skilled hypnotherapist. There is a more in-depth explanation of this process posted on my website, below.

Success comes from the combination of setting your goal, then using hypnosis to enable you to accept the powerful weight loss suggestions that will enable you to lose weight without any kind of formal diet.

Still sceptical? Well, you could just carry on with different diets. I suspect that as you are reading this, you are looking for an alternative to diets that may not be working for you, al least not in the long term. You could go and see a hypnotherapist and pay their fee, which is your choice, of course.

A less expensive way of trying out hypnotherapy for weight loss without diet is to use a specially recorded CD which includes instructions on how to set your weight loss goal. You then relax in a comfortable chair or sofa, or even a bed and play the CD. You listen to the hypnotherapist as he takes you through the relaxation process followed by the suggestions for you to lose weight. At the end, you are brought back to full consciousness and you can go about the rest your day as normal.

CDs like these are available online from many sources, each with their various merits. Interestingly, CDs with the attributes as I have described can be found at my website too. The choice is, of course yours. Do you believe you are worth it?

Terry Didcott DHP http://www.hypnosic.com Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Terry_Didcott

Finally Revealed: Losing Weight With Hypnosis

By Brad Varga

You did not expect the word "fat" or "obese" did you?

Having said that - the word round will be used throughout this article and negative words will not - unless it's to make a point. You already get enough negative comments in your life now if you are overly round.

Thin people have no such stigma. People just say they are tall, short, ugly or pretty but no one comments on their size except if they are too thin and that is a whole other book.

So, as an overly round person let's get one thing out of the way. You are overly round for a reason and that is where this article of "thinking yourself thin" will help you.

Frankly, you will have to figure out why. No not the rationalizations you have been giving yourself all these years but the true reason for your roundness.

A subsequent chapter will lead you to finding out what your true reason is and; once you do, you will be on your way to becoming thin and staying that way for the rest of your life.

Round Reasons

A round person has many reasons why they are round - so many; I could probably fill up 10 books with them. All of them would seem to be valid on the surface but therein lies the problem.

If this article started listing this round reason or that round reason as a myth, then you probably would stop reading and where would that get either of us. You would still be round and I would not be able to impart the "age old" method of how you "think yourself thin." All we need to get straight between us is:

Your "reason" is not keeping you round, a belief is keeping you round.

Frankly I do not give a rip what reason(s) you have come up with for being round, they do not matter. In the next few chapters, you are going to feel the power and get really excited about how you can change from round to thin in a fun and easy way.

Thin Beliefs

The difference between round and thin people is the way they think - not what they put in their.

Do not believe this statement; look around the next time you are in a restaurant. The thin people who have never been round in their life are eating just as much as you - maybe more.

So why do they stay thin? They believe they can. How many times have you heard a friend who is truly thin (and always has been) say:

"I can eat whatever I like and never gain a pound!"

Every time you have been around them I'll bet! Yes, I know you have heard them say this, but it went right over your head or you thought to yourself "yeah right, you are just one of the lucky ones with the right metabolism".

Well guess what, you also have the same metabolism. You just do not think you do or to be more exact - you do not believe you do.

For instance if you were kind of pudgy (as most children are), your parents, a favorite aunt or someone you looked up to when you were a child probably made the comment "if you do not watch it, you will gain weight."

Right then and there this "wrong opinion" became your belief because you "believed" what this person was saying had to be true. Heck, you were a kid - what did you know!

So you went merrily on your way with the knowledge, you had to "watch it" or you would gain weight. Well, if you did not watch it as no kid would, you gained weight. Which in turn, just firmed up this stupid belief.

So how did the thin person not develop this same belief? More than likely they always heard, "you can eat anything you want and never gain a pound" and this became their belief. So much so that when anybody asked "how do you stay so thin" they always repeated their belief out loud - something you as a round person never did.

Rethinking

So now we get to the nitty-gritty of "Think Yourself Thin." Taking your round reasons and eradicating them from your brain. But first, you have to dig out of your brain the real reason (belief) which is causing your round yo-yo problem - up, down, up down until the yo-yo breaks under the strain.

For instance, some people's real reason (belief) for being round is the fear they won't be able to say "no" to advances from the opposite sex so they create a body that never has to face this issue.

Having no clue to what your real reason is because it could be anything, you will have to do the next two step process alone.

First step:

Write down all your reasons (rationalizations) you have told yourself or other people for being round. For instance:

I am big boned

I live to eat

I like to cook and nibble at the same time

It's part of my ancestry (genes)

My sweet tooth is uncontrollable, etc.

Second step:

Now take your list of rationalizations and meditate (this means just concentrate) on each one.

More than likely you will find most are just excuses. They are the superficial reasons you have come up with to appease yourself and others for being round.

What you are trying to find here is the underlying belief which is really causing you to stay round.

This means you are going to go back and dig out the "root" belief which makes you stay anchored to roundness.

Like I said earlier, it could be something really simple like your parents or whomever instilling incorrect knowledge into your brain or as complex as a fear you'd have to face if you were thin.

By figuring out what it is, you can look at your belief with "adult" eyes, know it is not true and thus diminish its power over you. Only after the power is gone from this belief will you ever stop the yo-yo affect of lose weight, gain weight.

Do not make the mistake of thinking this step is not really important to "thinking yourself thin" because it is the most important.

You have to know the belief causing your roundness.

Otherwise, the next three chapters will only work short term and then you will be where you started - a round yo-yo.

Body Creation

Now we get to the really fun part of "losing weight with hypnosis" - your body creation. This next suggestion will seem like all the other books you have read but; before you make any snap judgments, read to the end of this page.

If you are going to "think yourself thin" you will need to have a picture of a thin body to look at and it must be placed on your refrigerator, bathroom wall or mirror, closet door and anywhere else that is constantly within your eyesight.

But this thin body is not going to be just any "thin body," it is going to be YOUR thin body!

Before you say "yeah right then you woke up" because you don not have a picture of yourself when you were thin, my answer is great.

You don not want a picture of a slimmer you - especially if it's a "younger" slimmer you. It won't work!

The reason - your mind knows that is not how you look and it would just discount the picture as being impossible to attain. No, you want to have a picture as you are now - fully round.

So you are going to have someone help you take full photo shots of your body from the front, the back and each side view. Make sure you order 8 X 10" prints and one wallet size print. Quit gasping, it's necessary :-)

The fun part is you get to take a black felt permanent marker pen and "create" your own thin body on the 8 X 10" prints and the wallet size print. This does two things:

Starts the process of your mind thinking thin and,

By physically getting rid of the roundness with the black ink, reinforces exactly what you expect as an end result.

Once you are satisfied with your "thin" pictures - put them up on the spots mentioned above in the second paragraph.

Yeah, it might be a little embarrassing to do this especially if your family is less than supporting or if you have friends come to visit.

But, you are going to just slough off their comments because you are not doing it for them, you are doing it for yourself. You can not help it if their heads are up their tushes - you know yours is in the right spot :-)

Now the easy part starts, you are going to "energize" these pictures so you "think yourself thin."

Energizing

So what is energizing? Well, it simply means you are going to focus (pay attention/concentrate) on your picture at least 15 minutes every day. Yup, it's that simple.

You expected it to be hard, but it is not!

The trouble with most diets, programs, etc. - they make it complicated to lose weight.

You have to measure this, only eat so much of that and it's a real "downer" because you are always using the negative approach to lose weight.

In other words, you are always using the "critical" or logical (left) side of your brain. Well, no more!

With the "think yourself thin" program, you also use the creative or right side of your brain.

Science has already proven the right side is the most powerful force if you want something to happen in your life. The right side controls the larger part (subconscious) while the left side controls the (conscious) part of your brain. Which would you rather have working to make you less round? Why, your whole brain of course :-) That is why by focusing (totally concentrating all of your attention) on the picture, your left (conscious) brain is telling your right (subconscious) part it wants a thin body.

Think of it - you are allowing both sides of your brain to work in conjunction with your body to reduce your roundness. Another thing you should know from science - every "thing" in the Universe is energy and the reason I call this step - Energizing.

You are energizing all your attention on one specific happening - - a thin body -

As you are focusing on your picture with the blacked out portion, your mind will go into super "critical" mode and start spewing forth garbage.

You just let the negative thought bubble up and dismiss it by saying "next" and keep on staring at the picture for a full minute or two saying out loud "this is what my body looks like."

Let me repeat this because it's absolutely essential to the "think yourself thin" program working. You pay attention (stare at the picture) and state strongly:

"THIS IS WHAT MY BODY LOOKS LIKE."

What you are doing is letting your conscious mind tell your subconscious mind in no uncertain terms - "this is what you want and you mean to have it." The simple formula is for this is:

Focused attention + Stating Expectation out loud = Result

or FASEOR for all of you who like acronyms to remember things by.

By religiously combining the first two (focusing on what you want and stating what you expect), the third is sure to happen easily without any more work on your part.

Why? Because the energy you are emitting is causing your "whole brain" to start working towards the end result you desire.

For anything thing to become a reality in this world, the thought must be there first.

So throughout the day as you look (focus attention) at the different pictures you have tacked up in strategic eye level spots in your home, then stating your expectation out loud, you will find the energy of your body starts changing to get this (result) accomplished.

Keep this regimen of focusing, stating your expectation out loud faithfully for the first 21 days. Do not make the mistake of only doing your "think yourself thin" program intermittently. You must do it consciously for the full 21 day period for it to become comfortable (a habit) and so your subconscious knows you are serious.

After the 21 days, this new habit will take over effortlessly and easily to make sure you become less round.

The pounds will start to melt away as if by magic. Why? Because now your whole brain and your body cells are working together to create a "less round" you.

You will notice your energy level will increase, your desire for "munchies" will be nil and you will be able to eat what you want without gaining a pound.

Notice I did not say eat "as much" as you want because in the "think yourself thin" program, your brain is not going to let that happen anymore.

And, as your body changes - you must be sure you thank it, both sides of your brain and the energy flowing through you for what they are accomplishing. Constantly reaffirming your "gratitude" is an essential key factor in getting what you want.

Maintaining

Once you have your fabulously "thin/less round" body, you will want to keep it that way. Well it's just as easy and fun to do as when you were losing your roundness.

Again you will need someone to take pictures of the "new and improved" you because you still need to keep energizing your mind and body to remain the same.

This time you do not need 8 X 10" prints made only wallet size. You are going to put one up on your refrigerator, your bathroom mirror, on the visor of your car or magnetically affixed to your dashboard. In fact, anywhere you will see your photo at regular intervals throughout your day.

If you have a scanner or use one of those services on the internet which processes film to disk, have a jpeg made of your photo and place it on your desktop as part of your wallpaper background.

The key to maintaining your "think thin body" is to pay attention to it as it now is every day. Appreciate it, affirm out loud to your body how very thankful you are to its keeping the shape you want and you will be one of those people who says "I can eat whatever I want and never gain a pound." Losing weight with hypnosis is just amazing.

And, guess what - you will actually KNOW it's true because it's become your belief.

Did you know that simply changing the temperature of the water you drink can speed up your metabolism and burn more calories? Drink hot water! Be thin by downloading "Think Yourself Thin" for FREE on Diet Expert.

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