Gastric Band Hypnosis – Everything you ever wanted to know

Gastric band hypnosis is a hypnosis treatment for weight loss. This treatment is sometimes also referred to as ‘hypno gastric band’, ‘virtual gastric band’, mind band, or ‘gastric band surgery hypnosis’. It is a branch of weight loss hypnotherapy that was initially just aimed at clients with obesity issues.

It turns out that it is effective across the board if you want to slim without yet another slimming approach that only works short term.

We have known since 1917 that diets usually fail – that is because it is difficult to stick to a diet regime and gimmicky approaches get boring.

You are probably here because you want to lose some weight and are weighing up your options.

You might also have tried everything else and are looking for a radically different approach.

I have written this blog about the hypnotic gastric band for you so that you can find out what this treatment involves and decide it may be for you. 

What is Gastric Band Hypnotherapy?

Gastric band hypnotherapy is a powerful hypnotic suggestion program that convinces your unconscious mind that your stomach is already full, although, in reality, the portion size was smaller than usual.

It teaches the mind to recognise “feeling full” again.

It mimics Bariatric surgery without having to have real surgery,

The hypno gastric band is a natural alternative to expensive surgery which, like all medical interventions, comes with risks to life as well as potential benefits.

Real weight loss surgery  could cost up to £10,000 to you or to the NHS.

I have seen real gastric band patients who had bariatric surgery but didn’t tackle why they overeat – so were desperately trying to cheat the system.

Who is suited to Hypno Gastric Band Hypnotherapy ?

Have a look below and complete a list of twenty questions that will help you establish whether your weight loss issues fall into the bracket of conscious eating issues, or whether you might be an emotional eater.

What to expect if you Lose Weight by Hypnosis

Generally speaking, people for whom weight loss hypnosis is suitable, fall into two categories:

The first group are people who want to lose up to around stone in weight whose weight issues simply come down to a lack of conscious eating.

The second group are people who come with a bigger weight issue that may have been going on for many years and is underpinned by emotional eating issues.

Below you will find two sets of questions that can help you identify where you fall on the spectrum.

Finding out where you fit in is important because that will determine what your weight loss hypnosis treatment should focus on and how it should be structured.

Those who overeat because of a lack of conscious eating would typically answer ‘no’ to the majority of the following set of conscious eating questions, and ‘no’ to the majority of the set of emotional eating questions below.

Those with emotional eating issues would typically answer ‘no’ to the majority of the conscious eating questions, and ‘yes’ to the majority of the emotional eating questions below.

Both groups can lose weight by hypnosis.

See below which group you belong to.

Emotional Eating Questions:

1. Do you ever feel you are eating to meet emotional needs?
2. For example, do you ever overeat or eat the wrong type of foods because you feel bad and hope they will make you feel better?
3. Or, do you find yourself suppressing negative emotions such as anger, fear or sadness by eating?
4. Or, do you ever find yourself eating out of boredom or loneliness?
5. Do you feel you picked up bad eating habits in childhood?
6. Do you have difficulties being happy with your body?
7. Do you ever find it hard to stop eating once you start?
8. Do you ever compulsively eat sweets, sweet foods or deep fried foods?
9. Do you ever miss your body’s signals as to when you are full?
10. Do you sometimes feel powerless over your eating habits?

The more of these questions you answered with ‘yes’, the more you are on the emotional eating side of the spectrum. Find out below what that means.

1. Do you pay attention to the correct portion size for you?
2. Do you eat slowly?
3. Do you consciously taste the different foods you eat and pay attention to enjoying every bite?
4. Do you always stop eating when you are full?
5. Do you consciously think about your body’s nutritional requirements?
6. Do you consciously refrain from using food as a reward?
7. Do you have good mechanisms in place to deal with food cravings?
8. Do you feel you are overweight?
9. Do you weigh yourself regularly or worry about your weight?
10. Do you get regular exercise?

The more questions you answered with ‘no’, the more you may benefit from weight loss through hypnosis.

Weight Loss is a Complex Issue

From these two sets of questions you can begin to appreciate that weight loss hypnosis views issues with excess weight as a complex issue that involves the mind and emotions as much as the body.

We start developing our relationship with food during infancy where we learn how hunger feels in the body, how to ask (cry) for food, how to ingest food (fast or slow), how to sense when we have enough, and feel satisfied after a meal.

As our relationship with food develops throughout childhood, we often pick up bad habits from parents and carers. One such bad habit, which often features in weight loss hypnosis is the habit to get emotional needs met through ingesting food. Bad habits can become deeply ingrained and can be hard to shake. The inner toddler stamps their foot and demands to be fed!

Weight loss hypnotists, in designing a treatment protocol, will want to have a detailed consultation with you to evaluate where you fall on this spectrum and what your particular needs are. The design of your program will be based on this consultation.

If you veer towards the conscious eating side of the spectrum your practitioner will recommend working with suggestion hypnotherapy to help your unconscious mind get on top of cravings, motivation for exercise, starting to eat slowly and really listening to your body’s signals. The idea would also be to understand WHY you overeat.

If you veer towards the emotional eating side of the spectrum, as well as the above issues, your practitioner will likely recommend some work utilising regression hypnosis, where present day issues are resolved by revisiting the source experience and dealing with the associated emotions that might be driving cravings or using food as a tranquilliser.

Many different kinds of past experiences can underlie becoming overweight. Some examples for what the source experience may look like which resulted in finding consolation in foods:

• If you did not feel loved when growing up
• Being or feeling neglected or abandoned as a young child
• If you felt you didn’t really matter growing up
• If you persistently felt not enough when growing up
• If there was a shock in your childhood such as the sudden loss of a parent or carer
• Parents or carers modelling emotional eating
• Parents or carers modelling perpetual dieting
• Clear your plate!
• Dealing with anxiety boredom or stress with self medicating with food

Using hypnotic regression your weight loss hypnotist will help you revisit source experiences in an easy and very doable way so you do not become overwhelmed. They will help you make sense of those experiences, re-interpret them from an adult’s perspective and feel the associated emotions in hypnosis where they are bearable so that you can let them go, learn from them if necessary,  and move on with your life.

Graham Howes Certified Weight Loss Professional in person in Ipswich Suffolk or by Skype around the world

How Many Sessions Will You Need When You Lose Weight by Hypnosis?

It’s important for you to understand from the start that weight loss is a complex issue which does not resolve overnight.

As a rule of thumb, the more you veer towards the emotional eating side of the spectrum, the more long term you can expect the work to be.

On the plus side, hypnotherapy does not involve the same regular expenditure that you would have to plan for typically weekly psychotherapy sessions.

Typically, your practitioner will suggest regular sessions. They may be spaced weekly.Initial sessions may be longer.

Later sessions will be shorter as they may be focused on maintenance.

Depending on how much weight you want to lose, plan hypnosis into your life for at least a few months, and for up to two years.

Remember, the approach is to lose weight gradually and naturally, at your own pace. Give your mind and body time to adjust at every step.

What About the Cost?

Yes, hypnosis can be more costly than other weight loss programs. I charge £260 for a four part course with a fifth session available if you are slipping. The upside is that you are less likely to yoyo diet and have to go on yet another diet with this approach as this is NOT a gimmicky dieting approach.

The first thing to consider, however, is what you get from HypnoGastricBand Weight Loss Hypnosis 

Generally speaking, I would suggest that gastric band hypnosis is an ideal part of a hypnosis weight loss program for someone who:

• Has more than just a few pounds to lose eg BMI over 28
• Identifies as being on the emotional eating side of the spectrum
• Is considered obese

Gastric band hypnosis is the ‘Rolls Royce’ approach in the portfolio of a weight loss hypnotist. It gives the weight loss program the edge

Having said all that, there is nothing that precludes someone with a conscious eating issue to include the powerful hypno gastric band in their weight loss program.

If you feel drawn to gastric band hypnosis, it may be just the thing for you.

What Does the Gastric Band Hypnosis Treatment Involve?

Like any other hypnosis program, gastric band hypnosis starts with deep mental and physical relaxation protocol that aims to get you as relaxed as possible – all clients enjoy this!

Once you are deeply relaxed, the hypnotist uses a powerful suggestion based approach. This is based around agreed strategies with the client – so it comes from you and is allied to extensive experience. I have for instance been offering this approach since 2010.

In session one we put in place strategies to handle the drivers for overeating and motivate weight management

Session two is often about making adjustments and establishing mindfully eating and carefully shopping.

Session three is the regression session where we regress to cause but also help you dump all the emotional baggage that might be blocking you in Life

Session four is the Hypno Gastric Band “operation” where we pretend to your unconscious mind that you are undergoing laproscopic gastric banding  surgery.

This lap band surgery places a gastric band around the upper part of the stomach creating a pouch and establishes a level of stricture that curbs the appetite.When the food hits the obstruction it sends a signal to the hypothalamus to stop eating. The food then passes normally through the band and is digested as normal.

The basic underlying concept here is that the subconscious mind does not know the difference between reality and imagination. If you can convince your unconscious mind that you can do something, then your unconscious mind will deliver success.

To convince your unconscious mind, your hypnotist may even use smells and sounds you would associate with a hospital setting.

This will be combined with implanting powerful post hypnotic suggestions to the effect that, from now on, your stomach will only be able to eat small portions.

Often you have a session in reserve if there are any changes in your life that upset our work.

 

Does Gastric Band Hypnotherapy Work?

There are many success stories of people who have lost weight with gastric band hypnosis, for example this one here which was featured in the Daily Mirror.

Firstly, gastric band hypnosis used on its own in a once off session may not be enough to help you overcome your weight issue.

It is best used as part of a comprehensive weight loss hypnosis program which addresses all aspects of your weight issue in a way that’s tailor-made for you as an individual.

Secondly, you mustn’t take the idea of the gastric band completely literally.

What do I mean by that?

The virtual gastric lap band surgery will be performed in a hypnotic trance state so that the suggestions will sink into your unconscious mind.

If they sink in even just a small bit, your unconscious mind helps you lose weight by directing you towards eating much smaller portions. Maybe half of what you usually eat. Which means you will lose weight.

Do not expect that your conscious mind will be convinced that you have actually undergone surgery. It won’t be. It doesn’t have to be. That is not what matters in the process.

Instead, you’ll change your mind set and expectations to look at the virtual gastric band as a tool, as a means to an end.

What matters are the effects of the treatment on the unconscious mind and the changes you make to your diet post treatment.

When you adopt this pragmatic mind set, you are better equipped to get the best out of your treatment because you won’t get side tracked  by your mind’s inbuilt censors ‘evaluating’ how realistic the session was for you.

What Clients say About Gastric Band Hypnosis

Joe’s Story

“At sixty, my doctor told me I needed a heart bypass. He urged me to lose weight starting from before the surgery date. That was easier said than done. I had been overweight for most of my adult life. I’m a ‘foodie’.  I enjoy cooking and trying out new recipes. I enjoy inviting friends over for dinner. What to do?

A friend told me about weight loss hypnosis and I decided to give it a try. I was full of doubt whether it would do anything, and I didn’t notice much initially.

The gastric band session made all the difference. It was after that I started finding my way. I continued to eat what I enjoy, but I started eating smaller portions, and I started- for the first time in my life- to really chew my food, to take my time and enjoy every bite.

The first week after the gastric band hypnosis I lost four pounds and I continued losing weight from then on. I now maintain my weight and don’t need maintenance sessions.”

Jill’s Story

“After I had children, I became an emotional eater, always grazing, especially in the evenings after the children were in bed. There was an emptiness inside me and I was trying to fill it. I put on a lot of weight over the years. I tried various weight loss programs and I would lose weight, but it never lasted long. Eventually I tried hypnosis. I lost five stone after the virtual hypno gastric band.

Gastric Band Hypnosis as Part of a Weight Loss Hypnosis Program

• Suggestion work which addresses conscious eating issues
• Suggestion work that dresses emotional eating issues
• Suggestion work with the virtual gastric band
• Regression work clearing up how past issues (typically early childhood experiences) have impacted the relationship with food
• Coaching work focused on integrating changes and establishing new habits

This work will be spread out over an extended period of time, which allows sufficient time for both body and mind to adjust to the changes made. Regular weekly sessions are ideal.  They allow for regular top-ups while also spreading out the cost of the treatment over a longer period of time.

Is Gastric Band Hypnosis for you?

For gastric band hypnosis to work for you, importantly, you’ll have to like working with hypnosis as a method.

There are a number of blogs I’ve written that can help you gain a clear picture of what hypnotherapy treatments are like and how you might benefit.

Graham Howes Advanced Hypnotherapist and NLP Practitioner and Hypno Gastric Band Hypnosis Certified Weight Loss Professional Ipswich Suffolk

Mobile: 07875720623

Skype Worldwide: grahamhowes1

Landline: 01473 879561

Weight Loss with Hypno Gastric Band Hypnotherapy