I’m sure most of you can relate to my story. I’ve lost and gained so much weight over the years that I could probably have cloned myself at least three times. My yo-yo dieting was always accompanied by inactivity. Never was one for being active though I’ve had several gym memberships over the years as well as at-home equipment which usually becomes a place to throw clothes onto. My biggest success was a few years back on Nutri-system where I lost 50 pounds but the weight came back on once I got sick of eating their food.
I know the real problem with losing weight (and maintaining the loss) is in my mind not my stomach. Have done some insightful thinking about why I eat when I’m not hungry, why I keep eating even though I’m stuffed and why I will eat desserts instead of regular food. The best answer is that eating helps numb out negative emotions and I’ve grown to view eating certain foods as a reward/pleasure. Then it becomes a habit which is hard to stop.
But the other part is also physiological. Eating high fat, sugar foods seems to set up a craving process. The more I eat these types of food the more I only want to eat just these types. I’ve read numerous articles on how the food today is made to create cravings but why does it affect only some of us? Each day seems to bring a new article on how to lose body fat, or eat just this food, or don’t eat that food and so on and so on. But I really believe the true way is less calories eaten and more physical activity. So how do I do that? We all know this is true but how do we make ourselves do this.
So I decided to try something I never thought of before. Hypnosis. I’ve heard of using hypnosis to stop smoking and it has a high success rate because you don’t have to ever smoke again to survive. But we do have to eat. The power of the mind has always fascinated me and I love to read psychology articles so I figure if nothing else it would be an interesting experience. So I made an appointment with a reputable psychologist who is also a hypnotherapist. He’s been in practice for 40 years and teaches at the local college and has also developed a graduate course on hypnotherapy for another local college. He wasn’t someone I found in the yellow pages (if you can even do that I don’t know).
We met for the first time and he asked me what I knew about hypnosis and I said just from what I saw on tv but I didn’t think he was going to swing a watch in front of my face and say ‘you are getting sleepy’. We laughed and he said most of what is shown in the movies and on TV is not true. In practice, a person actually hypnotizes themselves and the therapist is really a facilitator. He explained he doesn’t hypnotize anyone who isn’t motivated themselves to lose weight or stop smoking, meaning anyone who comes because their doctor told them to lose weight. The person must be self-motivated. He has a 90% success rate for smoking cessation but weight loss is not as high. We talked about the type of food I tend to overeat (ice cream, chocolate chip cookies), when I overeat (after work) and why (tired, bored, stressed, etc.). Then he did an experiment on me to see if I was susceptible to hypnosis. I had to put both arms out straight in front of me and visualize a heavy dictionary on top of my right hand and a balloon attached to my left hand pulling it up. I visualized these for a minute or two and was surprised when I opened my eyes to see my arms where no longer outstretched evenly in front of me. The left hand was higher than the right. He did two other short experiments and afterwards, said I should be a good candidate. So we scheduled a second session to do the actual hypnosis.
The following week I went back and he had written a script he would use based on my specific patterns. He had a really comfortable chair he uses (which he had made so when you sit in it, there is no pressure on any part of your body) and music which he had created by a music therapist to help the person’s heart rate slow down. The chair had two speakers right by my ears and I could hear the music and his voice. He began with statements to relax various parts of my body, my forehead, jaws, arms, torso, etc. and he came over to pick up my arm and it just dropped when he released it. He continued speaking to me to relax. I noticed during this that I had a slight ache in my calf muscle and was afraid it would distract me but by the time he began the script he had written I wasn’t even aware of my body. It was just his voice. Later when it was over I realized I didn’t hear any other sounds just his voice and it did feel like I had no body and was floating. Not like an out of body experience, just that my mind was totally focused on what he was saying. From what I remember he said statements about my no longer needing to use food when I am bored (or any of the other emotional states we discussed) I would not having cravings for unhealthy foods (like sweets), I would be able to become satisfied with eating moderate amounts of food and not overeat, I would prefer to eat healthier foods (fruits, salads), if I was to grab something quickly to eat I would stop and take two deep breaths and think about what I was going to eat. I would feel more self-confident and proud of myself when I eat healthy. I would be able to motivate myself to be more active. (When I left the office I could remember more but can’t now – sort of like when you awaken from a dream and you remember all the details but later on can’t.) Even though the session seemed five minutes it lasted about 35 minutes. When it was done, I felt as if I was all ready to take ‘something’ on. I left his office confident I could do this.
So its been a week now and I haven’t had any cravings and haven’t even eaten any sweets. The first day I felt like something was missing but had no desire to seek out food. I’ve eaten normal food for meals instead of eating just ice cream as a meal or a box of cookies. Even though I’m not having any sweets I don’t miss them either. I don’t have any of the feelings I’m restricting myself from food. When on a diet, there is always that slight tension that you are holding yourself back from eating certain foods. This time nothing like that at all.
My first week is done and now only time will tell how successful I will be but so far I’m optimistic.
