People all over the world are struggling with obesity and are looking for ways to lose weight fast. One of the more popular ways to achieve that at present is lap band surgery. However, surgery is surgery and not everybody wants to go under the knife, no matter what the potential results will be. Unfortunately, this has also opened up a market for charlatans who claim that they can deliver amazing results without any surgery at all. One of those claims is that they can use hypnosis.
Hypnosis for Weight Loss – The Claims
When you come across someone who claims they can hypnotize you slim, they will probably tell you that they can truly transform your life. They will tell you that all that is truly needed of you is a commitment to lose weight and to make lifestyle changes. What they claim is that their hypnosis will be able to give you that boost you need to actually stick to your motivation and thereby achieve your goals. Of course, they will also remind you time and time again that hypnosis is so much safer than surgery, that there is no recovery time, that there are no chances of complications, and so on.
But is there any truth in it?
The most honest hypnotherapists will tell you that their methods ‘may’ work. However, there are no guarantees at all. But what is guaranteed is that you will not have to deal with the dangerous side effects of surgery, that it is a lot cheaper, and that you can also deal with your emotional relationship with food.
Unfortunately, hypnotists seem to pray on the same part of the brain that crash dieters and self-help gurus do. They pray on the fact that people are sad, see no light at the end of the tunnel, and are pretty much at their lowest. Unfortunately, the so-called “virtual gastric band” is now becoming so popular that it is almost turning into a whole movement. But the reality is that the virtual band does not work. Except for a placebo effect that is…
The Placebo Effect
There is something to be said for the placebo effect. Essentially, this means that it is mind over matter and that your belief in the idea that you can achieve something actually helps you achieve it. But that isn’t because of some subliminal message planted in your brain by a hypnotist. It is because you had it in you all along.
The reality is, however, that if you are so overweight or obese that conventional weight loss methods no longer work on you, then not even the placebo effect will. In that case, you will simply have to opt for a bariatric procedure. Luckily, thanks to advances in medical science, those procedures are now almost fully non-invasive, and the risk of complications and mortality has been reduced tremendously. You can lose weight, if you put your mind to it and are ready to make a real change.