What’s Really
Keeping You Overweight
By Deborah
Ferris, M.A., M.Ht., Certified Hypnotherapist
Here’s some food
for thought. Is it what you are eating
or is it what you are thinking about that is causing you to put on pounds?
Scientists
believe you can trigger a hormonal reaction just by standing outside a bakeshop
window drooling at the brownies inside or by looking longingly at the fresh-cut
French fries sold at your local take-out place.
They have
discovered that just by looking at the food or even watching an ad for food on
TV that you can produce more insulin which accelerates the intake of fat into
cells for storage.
As well, the
insulin increase can produce low blood sugar that leads to hunger. This, of
course, could run havoc with your life if you are trying to lose weight or even
to maintain a healthy weight.
So does this
mean there isn’t hope for some people who seem to spend a lot of their time
thinking about food and watching TV with all the food ads and shows?
Positive thoughts Can Help With Weight
Loss
No, there’s
still hope! It is important to recognize
what you are thinking about and how it can shape your moods and your
behaviours. In fact, the more positive
your thoughts and beliefs the easier it is to make changes in your life like eating
healthy foods in the right proportions and exercising several times a week. You can even choose to mute the TV when food
commercials are airing and do something else or maybe instead of watching TV
you go for a walk.
While the tried
and true way to reduce weight lies with common-sense -- eat the right kinds of
foods in moderation and yes that does mean eating veggies like lettuce, carrots
and zucchini along with other healthy, wholesome foods -- it also means eating
less and exercising more so you can lose the fat and not the muscle. Having
said all that, you should always check with your doctor to ensure that you
don’t have any underlying physical problems that could affect weight loss like
low thyroid, metabolic syndrome or diabetes.
As well, it’s always good advice to check with a doctor before starting
a new exercise program.
Of course anyone
who has been overweight and has suffered from gaining and losing and then
re-gaining it all back knows that there is a lot more to this story then eating
the right foods in the right quantities and including exercise in their life or
do they?
How much are you eating anyway?
We sometimes
have selective memories about how much we’ve eaten. Maybe you forgot about the handful of peanuts
you popped into your mouth earlier in the day or the small bag of chips on the
way home.
Perhaps you
forgot about the huge muffin at the morning meeting followed up with a lunch consisting
of a very large Caesar salad with all the fat and a few pieces of fresh bread
with butter…..
Sometimes we do
forget what we’ve eaten as we eat our way through the day and night. Our attention on our food isn’t really there
because we’ve wolfed it down so fast while we think about other things or we are busy talking to someone and not noticing
what we eat and how fast. When we aren’t
mindful about what we eat, we also tend to not feel satisfied and then we
overeat.
What are you thinking and feeling?
Okay so we know
that we need to eat less, exercise more, not watch TV food commercials and circumvent
the bake shop but we still have trouble losing weight.
Here’s where you
need to know what else is going on in your life. Do you notice what you are thinking and what
you are feeling just before you reach for that piece of chocolate or that
handful of chips? You might be very
surprised. Do you tell yourself you don’t care if you ever lose weight because
you’re never going to get slim anyhow? Or
maybe you think that you deserve a treat or two because you feel so bad or
because you were really good all week and now it’s the weekend and you deserve
a break? Are you eating comfort foods to stuff down your emotions and then
feeling worse because you’ve failed once again to eat healthy food and to lose
weight?
Hypnosis Can Help
Perhaps you are ready
to do something different. Maybe you
really want to have a healthy relationship with your body and food. If you really want to change, then hypnosis
can help you.
Unknowingly we
often hypnotize ourselves to think in certain ways that don’t serve us well particularly
when it comes to the way we relate to food. We think its okay to reward
ourselves with some rocky road ice cream at
Get unstuck
When you go to a
hypnotherapist, she will help you to take yourself into hypnosis so you can
connect with your subconscious, a very powerful and limitless part of your mind
that helps you to make positive and long-term changes. It is possible to get unstuck and to release
and eliminate negative thoughts, behaviours and habits. You can release old emotions and bad habits
that are stopping you from being attractive, slim, healthy and fit. In fact,
you can learn new behaviours and have good habits.
Your imagination leads you to success
While you are in
hypnosis you will use your imagination and as many of your five senses as you
can. You will imagine and think positively
about trying on new habits, new ways of being in the world that are healthy. You
will imagine seeing yourself and/or feeling yourself looking the way you want
to look and feel at your goal weight. Hypnosis can help you to feel different
and be different. Success is only a
thought away, reinforced by another positive thought and another especially
when you are in hypnosis. All those
positive thoughts and feelings can lead to putting it all into practice.
Your own
self-talk, the way you think about yourself and speak about yourself to others
is also very important. Your
hypnotherapist will ask you to be aware of your thoughts and to change negative
ones. She will encourage you to see the
real person behind the excess pounds, the excess fat. She will help you to connect with yourself in
a loving way that involves accepting yourself without the need to overeat.
Getting Excited, Enthusiastic about Your
Goal
To lose 20
pounds or more of excess weight takes more than just a session or two of
hypnosis. You will learn self-hypnosis
in the first three sessions so that you can do Steps 1 – 3 self-hypnosis at
home every day.
In this way, you
reinforce the positive thoughts, feelings and images while you are in hypnosis
so you can move towards your goal by your target date.
To be successful
you must examine your self-talk, change your perceptions and your eating
habits. To be successful with hypnosis
you need to be committed to the process and get excited and enthusiastic about
what you want to do and what you can do.
You need to really count yourself in and be honest with yourself.
Your
hypnotherapist will also ask you to monitor your food in-take every week as well as to keep track of how
much you exercise and what your moods are like.
She will give you positive suggestions while in hypnosis about buying
and preparing healthy meals for yourself and eating right and being motivated to exercise. She will talk about your finding support and
engaging in activities that you love and that are fun. It also means learning and practicing
self-hypnosis every day for a few minutes because positive reinforcement while
in hypnosis is key to your success.
What will you give to get success?
There are some
things you will have to give up to gain success on the scale. That means at least for a while you stop
eating junk foods like chips, pop and sweets and you eat more whole foods. It means that you will eat smaller quantities
of food about a 25% reduction. We all
have to make priorities in our lives.
Your weight and
your health should be a #1 priority especially when being overweight can lead
to many serious health problems including extra stress and pressure on the
knees and other joints that can lead to wear and tear. Being overweight can also lead to heart, high
blood pressure and diabetes problems.
And, of course, there’s the beating your self-esteem takes when you feel
that you are out-of-control with food and you don’t like the way you look or
feel.
If it’s
important for you to look good and to feel more energetic and positive about
yourself, then hypnosis can help you solve the battle of the bulge.
You have the
power to change. Your conscious and
subconscious minds can work together to help you re-make your life so that you
lead a healthy lifestyle feeling good about yourself.
The beginning of
any journey really does start with the first step. The first step is having a strong desire to
make a change and being willing to overcome the excuses, the “buts”. The second step involves making an appointment
for hypnosis if you want to work with your subconscious mind. It’s all up to you (and your subconscious).
For more information:
Deborah Ferris MA, M.Ht.
Certified Hypnotherapist, Psychotherapist
& Reiki Master
Healing Connection
(519) 688-9282 Tillsonburg
Facts About Hypnosis
Hypnosis has been used in Western Medicine for more than 150
years to treat everything from anxiety to pain, from easing the nausea of
cancer chemotherapy to enhancing sports performance and to helping people lose
weight.
Hypnosis is a normal, focused state of mind whereby you gain
direct access to your subconscious. You
are not asleep.
When you are hypnotized, you are in a heightened state of
awareness and suggestibility. You may
see images more brightly, hear sounds more acutely or feel more intensely.
Hypnosis is a positive experience that leaves you feeling
refreshed and motivated.