Today I’m going to tell you, step-by-step, how Glenda, an inspiring 81-year-old woman from Houston, Texas, used hypnosis to lose 45 pounds in 6 months. Oh, and the best part?  She accomplished her weight-loss results despite having:

• Tremendous frustration and disgust about past weight loss failure.
• A long history of yo-yo dieting.
• A long-standing pattern of overeating.

You can probably relate to her struggle with weight loss:

She had been dieting on and off for most of her life, she had tried just about every fad diet to lose weight and got very fed up with dieting, and in her own words “ felt disgusted.”

Glenda realized she needed to do something different. So she called her daughter who is a medical doctor, for advice. They talked about hypnosis, and her daughter referred her to me for weight loss. After 6 months, here’s what happened:

Glenda made a hypnosis appointment on March 10.  She weighed 205 lbs.

On September 1, here were her results:

• She lost 45 pounds.
• She reduced her dress size from a 22 to a size 12, and her clothes fit better than they have in years.
• She reported that she now eats “sensibly” only when she is hungry, and is finally “free” of having to overeat.

Glenda 205 lbs

Glenda 160 lbs

So you are probably wondering: how did she do it?

Below are the steps she took to achieve her weight loss:

You Need To Relax – About Food and Eating

Here’s the deal:

So often there is too much focus on eating this, not eating that, counting points or calories, and most weight-loss programs inadvertently have you focusing on food all the time.

During the first session, Glenda was given suggestions to help her develop a more relaxed attitude about food and eating, to start drinking water, and to stop dieting.

She was also given a weight-loss hypnosis CD set which she started to use faithfully on a daily basis in-between our sessions.

Lose Weight Without Dieting by Reconnecting with Your Own Internal “Weight-Loss Compass”

Why is this important?

You have built into your body what I call the “weight-loss compass”.

It’s the signal your body gives you when you’re hungry, and the signal your stomach gives you when you are full.

Glenda noticed a great feeling of relief from the changes she experienced after her first session, and during her 2nd session she was able to re-connect with her own natural signals her body gives her when she’s hungry and when she’s full, rather than looking outside yourself to a diet, the clock, or some other external source.

This is your “weight-loss compass”.

Glenda was encouraged to use these signals her stomach gives her to guide her as to when to eat, and when to stop, and to honor these signals rather than something outside of herself telling her how often to eat, what to eat, and how much to eat.

How You Can Stop Struggling to Lose Weight by Developing a “New Relationship” to Weight Loss

Check this out:

If you have attempted to lose weight, then you have a “relationship” to weight loss which has been shaped by your prior weight loss experiences.  Glenda was discouraged when she came in for her 3rd session because she had lost “only” 5 lbs in 3 weeks. So what happened?

We talked about how the rate of weight loss is not nearly as important as the changes she had been noticing, and while she was hypnotized techniques were used to help her change her mind-set about losing weight, and develop a new “relationship” to weight loss itself.

She had a long history of being disgusted about the cycle of losing and gaining weight, so suggestions were used to help her realize that losing 5 pounds was a good response, and to help her shift her way of thinking about weight loss as a struggle or battle, to a satisfying, fun, and enjoyable process.

Which Body Image Do You Currently Have: Deliberate or Default?

I’m not going to lie to you: the majority of people have a “default” body image. It’s the one which gets developed automatically as you go through life.

Glenda shared with me that there were some experiences in her life which had contributed to the weight-loss problem, so during her sessions she was able to resolve those underlying causes which had caused her to gain weight and had influenced her body image and self-image.

While she was hypnotized she started to deliberately create her own body image, and replace the “default” body image which was created through her life which is often influenced by statements made by parents, relatives, friends, doctors, teachers, and others.

Glenda started spending a few minutes at night before she went to sleep seeing her body exactly the way she wanted it to be.

Make Weight Loss Easier by Breaking Your Connection Between Stress, Emotions, and Eating Food

This is the truth about stress and emotional eating:

When you lower your stress level and strengthen your belief in yourself and your ability to handle what comes up in your life, you begin to break the connection between stress, emotions and eating food.

In the next session, Glenda continued to build her own self-confidence and self-acceptance.

You do this by resolving experiences which have affected the way you feel about yourself, and make you feel you have to “live up” to other people’s expectations. This enables you to feel more relaxed and become even more confident in your life on an on-going basis.

Reach Your Ideal Weight by Keeping Your Weight-Loss Ball Rolling

What’s the bottom line?

When you start to bring about positive changes in your life and you are moving toward your weight-loss goal, you have to capitalize on that momentum you have created by continuing to do the things that are working.

As Glenda noticed the way she had changed her way of thinking and feeling about herself, she could sense the positive momentum building so she kept the ball rolling by continuing to picture her ideal body, and hypnotizing herself at home each day using the weight-loss hypnosis CDs.

That’s all there is to it. That’s how Glenda lost 45 lbs in 6 months. The best part?  You can get the same results Glenda did by following this step-by-step process.

If you found this case study inspiring, I’d really appreciate it if you would share her story on Facebook.

I’d also like to hear from you: have you used any of these strategies to lose weight? Please leave me a comment and let me know.

Joshua E. Syna M.A., L.C.D.C., C.Ht.

Houston Hypnosis Center