Ella came in for weight loss. She could not stop binging on bread, cookies, chips and most carbohydrates. She could not stop at one or two glasses of wine. Her craving for the carbohydrate/sugar cycle was insatiable. Mostly, she reported, she didn’t really enjoy it after the first few bites and the first few sips. Does this sound familiar?
When we drilled down into the emotion fueling Ella’s behaviour we came to comfort, as in comfort eating and comfort drinking. Naturally then, we needed to find out where that need for comfort was stemming from. After all, if we feel that comfort already, there is no more need to find comfort.
Ella’s Weight Loss Story
The weight had been creeping up for the last ten years or so. Ella was still a very attractive 50 something, and her husband didn’t mind the extra 15 kilos. She was still beautiful and sexy to him. But she minded. She felt incredibly frustrated that she couldn’t just put a dress on and head out. She would waste hours trying to camouflage her size. She kept having to buy new clothes. She felt weak for lacking self control because in every other area of her life, she was boss material. But why couldn’t she cut the carbs and get on top of weight issue?
When we traced back Ella’s need for comfort, we found grief sitting at the core. She was still in shock in many ways over the murder of her mother, who was an unfortunate victim of a mugging gone too far. There was no goodbye. There was confusion that loved ones can simply disappear, unexpectedly, as the years and years of life lived suddenly stop. There was a fear of being unsafe that was then transferred to Ella’s children. No wonder Ella needed comfort.
When we analysed what her unconscious mind was doing, Ella soon realised that the carbohydrate/sugar cycle was not actually helping her after the initial few minutes, but actually causing her discomfort. Along with reframing this scenario, we performed a regression on Ella around her mother’s disappearance, and we also performed a grief technique to help Ella reclaim her connection to her mum, rather than focusing on her loss. We did standard aversion hypnosis against fattening foods also, as well as hypnosis focused upon the positive outcomes. This all took three sessions.
Hypnosis for weight loss is not well studied academically, largely because there is no financial benefit for providers, unlike research into drug therapies that are owned by large companies. After all, most hypnotherapists are small, lone operators and commissioning research is expensive. But anecdotally speaking, let’s see… after session one, Ella had stopped binge eating and drinking. Most clients will take two or three session, depending on how ready you are. Sessions two and three really drove the message home for Ella into the unconscious mind to ensure a permanent change. I’d call that a wrap.
If you need assistance with weight loss, whether it is emotionally based or a simple habit, we can help.