NLP & Hypnosis - Can They Help You Lose Weight?

Hypnosis, thanks to TV shows, the very word conjures up the likeness of a beady-eyed hypnotist swinging an old watch and droning, "You are getting sleepy."

Do a Google search and you will find thousands of web pages devoted to the subject. Unfortunately, many websites that sell hypnosis CDs make wild and crazy, unsubstantiated claims. I've been a hypnotist since 1978. So I think that I'm more than equipped to set the record straight on weight loss hypnosis.

First of all, self-hypnosis is a tool, just like a scalpel is a tool. Just as different surgeons have varying skill levels in the use of a scalpel, different hypno-technicians have varying skill levels in the use of self-hypnosis. And to complicate the matter, there are many different forms and types of self-hypnosis.

Here are just a couple of the ridiculous claims about weight loss hypnosis that I've seen on the Internet, along with the facts of reality:

"Hypnotic suggestion will speed up your metabolism." If you want a dose of reality, the fact is that self-hypnosis will not directly speed up your metabolism. But it can be very useful at helping to program your subconscious mind with increased motivation to exercise. And that exercise will speed up your metabolic rate. Similarly, self-hypnosis to speed up the metabolism for quick weight loss can be effected by re-programming the subconscious mind to motivate the intake of increased amounts of protein, because that intake will step up your metabolic rate.

"Hypnotic suggestion will make you drop pounds." This is false. But self-hypnosis can be used to help case out your appetite, so that you eat less. And eating less can help you to drop pounds. The average person's appetite and urges for food and compulsion to eat are triggered by two unconscious programs:

A. When you pair eating with any other behavior, the other behavior will trigger cravings for food and an overwhelming compulsion to eat. This is called a conditioned response. For example, if you eat as you watch TV, you will get the urge to eat every time you sit down to watch TV.

B. When you feel stressed, you feel a compulsion to put something into your mouth for relaxation and pleasure. This is the result of training that you received as an infant. When you got upset, your mother put a bottle in your mouth. You got distracted, relaxed, and probably fell asleep. Now when you get cranky (anxious or tense), you feel compelled to put something into your mouth for relaxation and pleasure.

C. There is a third unconscious program that is present for some people. It's called emotional eating. Emotional eating takes place when someone is motivated to make him or herself fat, because by being fat they will protect themselves in some way. For example, if someone gets their heart broken in a relationship, their subconscious mind can usually motivate them into a behavior that can prevent them from getting their heart broken again. Example: They are motivated to become overweight to keep them out of another relationship, because that will eliminate the possibility of another broken heart.

So just how can weight loss self-hypnosis get rid of the above discussed problems? Click here to read the rest of this weight loss hypnosis article.

I've written several articles on this complex topic that available on my website. These articles outline some powerful methods of using hypnotherapy for emotional compulsive eating.