Story time: I’ve been getting a lot of questions recently about what people can expect from weight loss hypnotherapy.
I do a few types with different focuses but the most common is VGB or Virtual Gastric Banding.
Some clients are nervous about trying hypnotherapy for the first time, because they’re unsure what to expect.
So I wanted to share a real story, of a real client experience, to help shed some light on the matter. I have of course changed the name for privacy.
Sarah came to me with a laundry list of things that she wanted to change in her life.
This is great because the better a client can articulate their goals, the better results they tend to have.
She wanted increased energy levels, she wanted to be able to buy off the rack clothes, she wanted to be, in her own words “all around happy and healthy and free from being scared of other people’s judgment.”
She found that she was constantly exhausted, she was going through menopause which wasn’t helping and she was finding exercise a chore even though she wanted to get back into social basketball.
During the session we discussed how hypnosis and habits work, I performed a few simple demonstrations to help set her mind at ease and then we got into it.
The session itself often doesn’t feel very dramatic unless I’m helping with chronic pain or anxiety. I often have people initially leave with hopeful but unconvinced looks on their faces at this point. But this is where the magic starts.
I usually try to have a week between sessions, this allows new habits to start to settle and the results to start to become more obvious.
In this case however, our next session was ten days later due to scheduling conflicts. Sarah had found the week ‘interesting’ (her own words). She started to find that having a small plate at mealtimes felt like more than enough.
In fact, on a couple of occasions she had tried to eat a bit more and found that the imaginary band around her stomach made eating more unappealing. Usually people just lose interest in eating more but that momentary feeling of discomfort isn’t uncommon.
She talked about how much energy she had and complained that she had actually had to reduce her bra size and kept having to hitch her socks up.
Remember that this is just after 10 days! I spent the rest of the session reinforcing good habits.
Session three came along, demonstrating why I do four sessions. We again had a ten day gap, this time because the country had decided to stop being the Land of the Long White Cloud and instead become the Land of the Long Damp Pond.
Flooding had hit much of the North and South Islands and Sarah had been dealing with a family member’s house being waterlogged which meant they were displaced for a few weeks.
Anyway, she had noticed a few old bad habits creeping back in while she was dealing with all the disruption. Still, to her surprise she found she was able to forgive herself for the occasional slip up. Besides, to her delight, she hadn’t once touched take-out since our first session.
Our fourth and final session she was back on track. It was seven days since our previous session and, to be blunt, I could see that she was a different person than the one I first met four weeks beforehand.
She was smiling a lot more, she seemed to be much more focused and confident too. I had to laugh though when she described her situation to me. Again, in her own words, she “hadn’t lost a huge amount to date!” When I asked her what that meant, she said “Eight and a half kg!”
