Hypnotherapy

ArmyMedic23PFA

Has anybody ever tried hypnotherapy to help with weight loss and fitness goals.

What's been the outcomes and was it worth it?

My biggest failure is the lack of dedication and sticking with a plan

snowflake954

Haven't used it, but as for dedication and sticking with it all I can tell you is that there arrives a moment when something clicks, like enough is enough, and you just do it. You can cruise along for years, waffling, and then "bam". You have to really want to change your life. Weight loss is just good habits. Plug your stats into MFP, get your daily calorie goal, buy that digital food scale, and you're good to go. Try to stay within that goal everyday. Exercise a bit, because it lifts your spirits and helps keep muscle mass while losing. Take everyday, one at a time...... Best of luck.

AnnPT77

I had a course of hypnotherapy from a trained psychologist for sleep interruption insomnia, even though I'm a skeptic, because I was in absolute desperation after every other intervention had failed (including sleep clinic, sleep apnea treatment, drugs, and more). (This is not the usual "can't get to sleep" or "wake up and can't get back to sleep" thing, but waking up about every 90 minutes all night long, able to go back to sleep very quickly, but never getting into deep, restful sleep.)

To my surprise, it was helpful: The most effective of any intervention I tried. Not a total solution, but a huge improvement.

Didn't try it for weight loss. For me, it wasn't necessary.

ETA: If you can find a path through "lack of dedication and sticking with a plan" without resorting to hypnotherapy, that improved ability to plan, commit, and act persistently will bleed over into other areas of your life, with great results, I predict. Discovering that you have control of your life (in large part, anyway), and figuring out how to use that control - that's a very, very, powerful thing.

33gail33

I would recommend it, but I am biased because I am trained in hypnosis and practiced hypnotherapy for several years. My experience with clients was that we used hypnosis as one tool in their box. I would disagree with the above that "resorting" to hypnotherapy would in any way hamper ones ability to plan, commit and act persistently. Quite the opposite it is great for self inquiry and self awareness and it definitely bleeds over into other areas of your life. A good hypnotherapist won't just hypnotize you and send you on your way, they will give you a tool to use going forward.

AnnPT77

33gail33 wrote: »

I would recommend it, but I am biased because I am trained in hypnosis and practiced hypnotherapy for several years. My experience with clients was that we used hypnosis as one tool in their box. I would disagree with the above that "resorting" to hypnotherapy would in any way hamper ones ability to plan, commit and act persistently. Quite the opposite it is great for self inquiry and self awareness and it definitely bleeds over into other areas of your life. A good hypnotherapist won't just hypnotize you and send you on your way, they will give you a tool to use going forward.

My point was not that hypnotherapy is in any way disempowering. I'm a supporter. (In particular, "resort to" was not meant to be pejorative).

OP had said "My biggest failure is the lack of dedication and sticking with a plan" as if that were a generalized problem, above and beyond weight loss. I meant to suggest that hypnotherapy might not address the skill-building dimension of that (conventional therapy might) - the aspect that might be transferable to other areas of life where "dedication and sticking to a plan" might be helpful. I don't think I expressed it very well, and still don't think I'm really clearly saying what I mean.

I'm not a professional, and don't to pretend to be. Hypnotherapy was very helpful with my sleep problem. I'm deeply grateful for that. But it didn't leave me with any skills or strategies I could apply on my own to dissimilar problems. But that wasn't what I was looking for, either.

I don't discount your professional experience or perspective.

33gail33

AnnPT77 wrote: »

33gail33 wrote: »

I would recommend it, but I am biased because I am trained in hypnosis and practiced hypnotherapy for several years. My experience with clients was that we used hypnosis as one tool in their box. I would disagree with the above that "resorting" to hypnotherapy would in any way hamper ones ability to plan, commit and act persistently. Quite the opposite it is great for self inquiry and self awareness and it definitely bleeds over into other areas of your life. A good hypnotherapist won't just hypnotize you and send you on your way, they will give you a tool to use going forward.

My point was not that hypnotherapy is in any way disempowering. I'm a supporter. (In particular, "resort to" was not meant to be pejorative).

OP had said "My biggest failure is the lack of dedication and sticking with a plan" as if that were a generalized problem, above and beyond weight loss. I meant to suggest that hypnotherapy might not address the skill-building dimension of that (conventional therapy might) - the aspect that might be transferable to other areas of life where "dedication and sticking to a plan" might be helpful. I don't think I expressed it very well, and still don't think I'm really clearly saying what I mean.

I'm not a professional, and don't to pretend to be. Hypnotherapy was very helpful with my sleep problem. I'm deeply grateful for that. But it didn't leave me with any skills or strategies I could apply on my own to dissimilar problems. But that wasn't what I was looking for, either.

I don't discount your professional experience or perspective.

I am not a psychologist so my practice dealt strictly with hypnosis for habit/behavior change - but my perspective is that an integral part if that is identifying and tackling the limiting beliefs that drive the behaviour. Generally those beliefs impact various areas of ones life beyond just the issue that brought the client in - say weight loss or smoking cessation. My experience (and that of the colleagues I dealt with) was that there were often breakthroughs in other areas as well. So in the OP's scenario working on "dedication and sticking to plan" would be an integral part of the program. We don't just hypnotize people to not eat this or that food - that would be useless and definitely non transferrable to other areas of life! Also I always included self hypnosis training in all my programs - because I do see it as a valuable tool that people can continue to access as needed.
I am glad you got value out of your hypnosis sessions! Obviously I am a big believer in it.