hypnosis for weight loss?

  • i was curious to find out if anyone has tried hypnosis for loosing weight. If so, did it work and how much did it cost?
  • I tried it four years ago for giving up soda and sweets but I was warned that if I truly did not want to and have the willpower at that time it would be useless and it didn't help me at all.
  • We've had a few members use hypnosis with moderate success, and others that were not successful with it. I get the impression that hypnosis is not for everyone. Either you are receptive to it or you aren't. I think kimmy is right, you have to really want it for it to work. It's certainly worth a try, though
  • I am glad you brought this up, I have a few cds ..self hypnosis ones , I have never used them enuff times in a row to be able to say if they work or not, but I have been really wanting to cheat and binge recently and this might help with that!

    I will let you know if it does any wonders for me!
  • I have been going to see a hypno therapist for the last 6 weeks (4 sessions) and have lost 9lbs so far. She is a life coach as well and is sorting out certain other aspects of my life too. As others have said i think you have to be in the right frame of mind for this style of weight control - or any other for that matter - to work and as has been said in so many other posts there are no quick fixes, however I do feel as though my attitude towards food, my eating patterns and my body are changing and she has shown me how to believe that "I" can do it if "I" want to. I certainly haven't eaten a whole packet of biscuits in one go since seeing her although I can't say that i haven't wanted to, but the voice inside tells me it's not a good idea whereas before I wouldn't listen to the voice inside. Anyway enough of my ramblings. Just wanted to let you know of my experience, oh and by the way it cost me 250 english pounds for 5 hour and a half long sessions (I have one left) quite expensive I know but i equated it to a years worth of weight watchers. I am also using a diet plate and exercising (which i didn't do before) and enjoying it too!!!
    Love Rach
  • I think hypnosis has something to do with how gullable you are. You really have to want to believe in it or it won't work. It didn't work for my mother or for a friend who used it to try to quit smoking.
  • My Mom went to a session to give up sugar - it worked fine for her. I believe she paid about $50 for the session.
  • Hi,
    I have known people who have had great success with hypnosis. However, I know that you have to be in your right state of mind... you really have to be ready and want to lose the weight. Hypnosis will not mess up your head you will not do anything that you do not want to. It is to help you with changes thought patterns.... kind of like self talk. Good Luck with your decision.
  • I went six times at $50 per visit and the only thing that got lighter was my wallet!
  • Quote: I think hypnosis has something to do with how gullable you are.

    Wow, I kinda resent that statement.
    My personal counselor also does hypnotherapy. Hypnotherapy is an effective tool for many things in a person's life. I have tried it... the first time, she did a small like 5 minute mini-hypnotherapy thing called "collapsing anchors" Basically, you pick something that you want to get rid of (works well with binge foods) - I picked Ice cream as at that time I was eating over a gallon a week. Then you go into a meditative state and YOU think of the most disgusting thing you can and visualize it in one hand. Then YOU think of the food or whatever you want to get rid of and everything about that thing that you love and enjoy and visualize it in the other hand. Then you smash the two things together so that what you want to get rid of is completely associated with the most disgusting thing you can think of.
    I was skeptical... and I didn't want to get rid of ice cream. That evening, my husband and I went to the grocery store and I could not walk down the frozen foods section because of the ice cream - it made me physically ill to even see the ice cream containers. That was last October, and from then until mid-May I had no ice cream and it wasn't that I still had a physical reaction to it, it was that I had been away from it long enough that I just didn't care if I had it. Then I decided that before I started Optifast that a cherry-dipped cone from dairy queen would be good - and it was, and it didn't trigger a binge like it once would have.
    The thing with this that my counselor warned was that people will switch what they are trying to get rid of in their mind without telling her, or they don't really visualize what they need to because they don't want it to work - so then it doesn't work.
    I have also had a 2hour long hypnotherapy session to help me with some emotional issues that started in childhood, it was effective but would have been more effective if I had multiple sessions.

    Its just like anything else though... it works as a TOOL not as a FIX-ALL.
  • Quote: I have to disagree. If someone is altering how you "think" about something (food, smoking etc), by entering your subconscious to do it, then to me that classifies as "messing with my head". No thanks. I've heard too many bad stories of people having to have long term counseling to "fix" what hypnosis did to them. If its working for you, keep it up, thats fantastic. But hypnosis has a dark side, and I think people should be aware of that. We can "self-talk" ourselves without giving over our subconscious to some one else.
    This is where ETHICS comes in... this is why people shouldn't trust someone advertising hypnosis for a high fee and promise it to work wonders... but people do.
    I have NEVER given my subconscious over to anyone. In my hypnotherapy sessions, I have been in complete control, I could have ended it if I felt uncomfortable. I remember everything, but it was very dreamlike.
    I think you may have a mis-interpretation about what can work, what is ethical, and what hypnosis/hypnotherapy is all about.
    You can practice self-hypnosis through meditation....
  • Hypnosis has nothing to do with how gullible you are, and you DON'T have to really want something for it to work.

    How well it works depends on two things:
    -- how receptive you are to being hypnotized
    -- the skills of the hypnotist and how well that person's style fits with you

    Being receptive to hypnosis means you're both willing and able to relax and allow someone to guide your thoughts. You're still in control in the sense that you are always aware of what's being said and you can always reject a hypnotist's suggestion. OTOH, you relinquish some control by relaxing and letting the other person lead your thoughts. Basically, you go into a state where you're very accepting of the hypnotist's suggestions.

    What the hypnotist suggests and how will determine how successful the hypnosis is for you. They don't all use the same things.

    So for example, when I was in high school, the hypnotherapist I saw for weight loss suggested that forbidden foods would all taste lemony to me. This didn't work for me, because I adore the taste of lemon. Telling me that just puzzled me, which ruined the effectiveness of the hypnotic state. Instead of relaxing deeper into the trance, I was wondering why he was using that idea. Being young, I figured he knew what he was doing, but that week I lost no weight at all. I had a sense of lemoniness in the taste of things, but I liked it! So the next week, I said that and suggested he tell me the forbidden foods would taste like cardboard instead of lemon. This worked a bit better, but the fact was, I was very leery of going into the hypnotic state and never got into more than a light trance. I think I'd do better now.

    Sorry, I'm getting sidetracked. Another hypnotist might suggest that you feel full after meals, or that every time the urge to munch happens, you get the urge to walk or sing or clean something instead. Or as someone suggested above, that you feel repelled by certain foods. So what is suggested needs to be tailored to you, to how you want to perceive or redirect those nudges from your appetite.

    What if you're not all gung-ho to lose weight or more likely, you want to but don't really want to give up the goodies? Hypnosis CAN work well with that. The hypnotist can make you feel more secure about being successful and can calm anxieties about changing your eating habits. Only if you were totally resistant to it, if you were being forced into it by someone, would the hypnosis not work.

    Even though it didn't work well for me, I'm a total believer in it. My mother gave birth to me via Caesarean section with NO anesthesia, only hypnosis. Granted, she was a very good hypnotic subject, having total faith in her doctor and the process, but she had no pain until the whole thing was over and the hypnosis wore off. Losing weight is a lot less scary than having your belly cut open!

    I don't know about costs. Health insurance sometimes covers hypnosis for certain things, but insurance often refuses to cover obesity treatments, so check with yours first. And if yours does cover it, it may depend on the credentials of the hypnotist. Psychiatrists are covered, because they are MDs. Licensed psychologists are usually covered providers, but someone with only a certificate in hypnosis may not be, even though that person may be an excellent hypnotist. OTOH, the one with only the certificate will likely charge less than the psychiatrist.
  • I could be wrong, but I think what TamiL meant by saying it depended on how gullible you were was really how receptive you were to being hypnotized. I took it that way when she said it and it surprised me how upset some people got because of her comment. While on the internet, I have to try to remember that we are not all from the same place, english is not everyone's first language, and slang is different in different parts of the world. Misunderstandings sometimes happen.
  • i had it done a few years ago by a friend of mine that did that for a living. she mainly did hypnosis for weight loss and smoking. it was great, i loved it and YES IT DID WORK! while in my "trance", she told me that eating junk was going to feel like eating bugs to me, and i wouldn't want to eat bad things. it definately worked b/c i lost some weight, i was actually the smallest i have ever been. even my size 6's were too big and that has never been able to happen for me. i had never even been in a size 6 before!!! (and i had just had a baby!) anyway, before she started, she did explain that hypnosis is not a cure and that it doesn't last forever. in a couple of months, it wore off and i should have had it done again. i just didn't want to ask her to do it again b/c she didn't charge me the last time
    it is always worth a try if you are desperate. good luck!
    gabrielbeth
  • Ditto to most of the above concerning hypnosis. I paid $5.00 for a session in our town at the convention center. I was in control at all times. He did ask who was there for stopping smoking, stress, weight loss. I raised my hand for all three but I was really there for weight loss. At break time I went outside to have a cigarette - I had smoked for forty years and then came back for the next hour's presentation. I left the session when it was over and I haven't smoked since. This was four years ago. Unfortunately, my weight went up, so I'm working on that. I have been to the same man for the past three years when he would come to town, but I just can't seem to get it for weight loss. End of story.