Firstly I would like to add a disclaimer before I get into the main course if you like. I've recently had a few people say that they did a session with a hypnotist to lose weight, or they changed their eating habits for a few days but then went back to the same old, same old realising too late that they had thrown their money away. Every time, my sympathy goes out to them, and I can't help but feel that those poor people were taken advantage of.
 
In this modern age we have so many different things pulling us this way and that. We have limited money and limited time but we've been sold on the idea that there exists the 'instant fix'. Some part of us realises that the instant fix is usually a lie but we pursue it anyway. The fact of the matter is that changing your body shape takes time and effort. Anyone who tries to tell you that a one hour session will fix that, is selling you a lovely dream. One that isn't based in reality and it doesn't matter how much money you throw at it, is extremely unlikely to get the results you are hoping for.
 
With that out of the way, I use a hypnotic process known as VGB or Virtual Gastric Banding. There have been others who have claimed to use this system but instead invented their own, usually less effective system but I do the original Sheila Granger method because it works and it's the reason why there is so much hype regarding VGB. I do this because it works. I've probably helped over a hundred people lose weight and it's only failed once. I know exactly why that was and, with the benefit of hindsight and, knowing what I know now I'd turn her away as she had no interest in changing.
 
"How does that work" I hear you ask? "I've done all the celebrity diets, I've drunk the liver cleansing smoothies. Why can't I keep the weight off?"
Or some come to me and say "No matter what I do, I just can't seem to stop eating, I open a bag of chippies and just can't stop until I've finished them, I walk past the takeaway on a Friday evening after work and I've just got to get a scoop with two fish and a hot-dog even when I know it's not good for me." Sometimes it's "when I get home I like a wine or beer but then I'll have two, or three, or more as I relax!"
 
To me it all has the same solution. I'm not interested in making you do something you hate because you'll soon stop doing it. I have no interest in making you feel bad about yourself because you are already there and it's not helping. The solution, strangely enough is to start feeling great about food again. To start building a positive relationship between food and yourself where you enjoy each meal without feeling bad about yourself straight afterwards.
 
"But that doesn't make any sense" you say. You think to yourself that  you've put the weight on because you are weak-willed. In the back of your mind there are all these excuses, stress, injury, a bad break-up, a job that has free snacks, a job spent in front of a computer all day. Maybe your excuse is that your family has always been big-boned. Whatever the thoughts that run through your head, deep down you are sure that it's all your fault at some level. And, you feel really, really miserable about that. Sometimes maybe you try to make the effort to get some exercise but you are always too busy, too ashamed of yourself or it's all just too hard to do.
 
These are all common thoughts, they are also just straight up wrong. Those thoughts are the reason you put on weight. Those thoughts are the things that stop you from making the progress that a part of you wants so dearly. Yes a part of you is what's holding you back but it's not the part you think. Willpower isn't the problem, it's that you are conflicted. There are two sides of you having a desperate battle inside your mind. They  are both fighting tooth and nail for what's best for you, and the problem is, when you fight yourself you always... always lose.
 
Hypnotism is a funny old thing, it's not what people think it is based on movies or TV shows or stage hypnotists. I mean the guy who gets someone to cluck like a chicken on stage, that's all real but it isn't what you think it is. Hypnotists tend to think of people as being a jumble of different parts. If we can distract or quieten the part of you that that reasons things out then we can talk directly to the parts that we want to affect. That's exactly what we do with weight-loss.
 
To hypnotise someone to lose weight using VGB, to help them not only to lose kilos but to keep them off forever I have to get them on-board. Once they are in a relaxed space, no longer thinking about anything in particular I then talk to the part of them that keeps wanting to eat. Crazy I know, but it works, and it works because that's how we think! We'd like to believe that we are rational beings in control of everything we do but, if that was true why would we keep eating when we know that it's a bad idea?
 
Virtual Gastric Banding is a way to beat that, to drop kilos in a safe reliable way and, more importantly, keep them off. There's nothing revolutionary in the advice I give you. I won't tell you to start eating lean meat and spinach. I won't endorse some cranberry and mushroom diet. I'm not a nutritionist and I don't need to be. Here's a little secret that people in the industry don't want you to know. It's not what you are eating that's making you gain weight, it's portion size! Sure, the amount of corn syrup that ends up in almost everything these days is bad but it's mainly bad because it concentrates more food into a smaller package but we are still eating more (plus it's not great for our teeth).
 
So that's the secret behind VGB, we make it easy for you to eat less, smaller meals, gaps between meals and, strangely enough, starting to enjoy what you eat a whole lot more. When you say you love food and that's the problem, it's not! When you joke that you are on a sea-food diet... when you see food and eat it, that's actually true. You have developed the bad habit of associating eating with pleasure or comfort. Bad habits? That's what hypnosis is great at beating.
 
When I take a client on and start them on the journey to being the shape and size they want to be I make no bones about it. I'm not a magician, there is no magic bullet and I can't lose the weight for them. What I can do is make it easy for them to meet their goals. I give them the tools they need to succeed. I help them develop that full feeling quicker, I make them aware of what they are eating, reclaiming the joy of food for themselves and, perhaps most importantly I help them develop the perspective that allows them to deal with the inevitable potholes and detours that they meet on this journey. Remember, this is a long term lifestyle change, not a quick fix! There is no reason to go back once you have hit your weight loss goal. Once you are the size and shape you want to be you can stay there. What's more, when something comes up like a baby in your life, taking a sedentary job or having an injury. It makes no difference, you have the automatic tools to cope. You don't have to deprive yourself or diet because you are no longer warring with those bad habits.
 
One last thing that I want to add is that something I often note is that my clients stop caring about their weight, they are shedding kilos but they get caught up in enjoying life again. One of the first things that comes back is a sense of energy. They find that the changes mean they are sleeping better, maybe taking part in exercise or socialising more. I had one lovely lady recently who couldn't get over her new confidence. She was suddenly taking charge of work meetings and giving impromptu speeches, and people were amazed by the change. This self described 'quiet' person expressing all the things that she'd held back on before.