By in Hypnotherapy

How Emotional Eating Can Affect Weight Gain

Have you ever reached for unhealthy food at times of stress, boredom or fatigue?  Food can be a common ‘go to’ strategy for dealing with uncomfortable emotional states.  However the brief period of relief can turn into a lifetime struggle with a habit that feels unbreakable.  Inevitably difficulties with weight loss, health problems and lack of confidence can follow.

When a client came to me for help to lose weight, it became clear that after years of dieting, exercise plans and unused gym memberships her weight was always up and down and each day was a calorie counting battle.  After a programme of hypnotherapy, my client was able to free herself from the struggle of dieting and able to tune into her body’s hunger signals, so knowing when her body needed food and how much.  She learnt how to manage difficult emotions in more positive ways and enjoyed being able to relax.

She noticed that she was no longer tempted by the chocolate at supermarket checkouts and didn’t need to use her willpower to do this; it just became instinctive and natural to make choices that were healthy and driven by appetite rather than emotions.  By dealing with emotional eating she could finally look forward to achieving and maintaining a weight, shape and size that felt natural for her, increasing her feelings of confidence and wellbeing.

Hypnotherapy targets the subconscious mind which is responsible for habits, impulses and emotional attachments which are linked to overeating. Using hypnosis to induce a relaxed and comfortable state, positive suggestions are made so the mind can re-evaluate old behaviours and change these in favour of new beneficial ones that will encourage healthy choices.

The approach does not use gimmicks or ‘magic’ it simply helps to direct the mind and behaviour towards the benefits that can be gained from forming new healthy eating habits. The principle is that the mind becomes highly attuned to the body’s sensation of hunger as opposed to the emotional cues which means there is no need to overeat or feel deprived of food, as it becomes second nature to eat more mindfully and consciously.

For more help or advice, please call The Body Matters on 01702 714 968.

Louise
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