For this blog, names have been changed for privacy and respect to the client. I will refer to the client as ‘Amanda’ for this blog post.
Amanda came to see me in June, 2013 in regard to wanting to lose weight and was willing to give the Hypno-Band a go as a weight loss method, as she had heard and read about this treatment online, as well as having seen this ‘out there hypnotherapy method’ in the media. She had done the usual route of trying lots of diets and fads but non seemed right for her. She was fed up with putting on more and more weight when she was desperate to lose it and fit back in to her ‘slim wardrobe’. Amanda has now thrown out her ‘fat wardrobe’, as she calls it and has a new wardrobe of new clothes she feels fantastic in!
This is her personal journey with what Amanda experienced from the hypnotherapy sessions and her transformation. Amanda to date has lost over 2 stones (28 lbs/13 kilos) and is still shedding the weight, thanks to doing hypnotherapy and specifically the Hypno-Band weight loss method. Amanda is over half way to her desired weight loss goal and has a much more healthier lifestyle with her husband. She was committed to change, was open-minded and enjoyed the hypnotherapy sessions. Here is part 1 of Amanda’s story in her own words…
BAND ON THE RUN………..A Hypno-Band journey
Entry No.1: June 2013.
It’s a hot, humid Tuesday morning. I return home from my daily power walk in the country park, and automatically jump on the scales – because that’s what I do – it’s a routine. The only issue is that it’s the most disheartening routine because all I feel is extreme disappointment.
I am FAT. I weigh 4 stone (25kg) more than I should, and it is entirely my fault.
Now, don’t get me wrong, this is not a new issue – I have battled with my weight since I was a teenager. I have gained weight, lost weight, tried every diet going – and I mean every diet–low carb, low fat, counting points, counting calories, fast days – you name it, I have done it; and to be fair to the creators of these innovative weight loss phenomenoms, they are probably excellent and probably do exactly ‘what they say on the tin’ – if you stick to them…and that’s my main problem. I have no will power at all. I am out of control and have let my excessive lifestyle take hold.
I make my breakfast of bagel, peanut butter and coffee, and sit down to enjoy it whilst sinking in to the latest tabloid stories of the Daily Mail – my online indulgence. And then it happens. Just in the middle of an update about Kate & Will’s expected baby, I am hit with the headline – ‘I lost 3st after being hypnotized into thinking I had gastric band’.
I read the article. I read it again. And then I read it again…It all makes sense. The woman in the story is ME. She has my history, my habits, and my lifestyle. So, if this ‘Hypno-Band’ has worked for her – it can work for me. Right?
I’m excited. I need to research more. Success stories, reviews, pros and cons, is it all fake? And I reveal nothing but sense. There are virtually no negative threads online, plenty of success stories, medically its perfectly safe to do, and there is no ridiculous faddy dieting involved – its simply hypnosis, and channeling your mindset. Surely this is my answer.
I search and then enter the official ‘Hypno-Band’ website. It’s global – reassuring. Practioners – yes, good, there is one in Hong Kong – Deborah Dewey.
I email her…..actually nervously…sweaty palms….adrenaline rushing. Not sure if this is nerves of apprehension, or excitement of what may follow.
…and this where the journey really begins.
Entry No.2: The First Session.
So, the appointment is made and off I go to MidLevels (via Pizza Express for a last-opportunity Sloppy Giuseppe pizza pig-out). I arrive at the hypnotherapy address and I wait downstairs. I am offered water which I gladly take. I am sweating profusely, very, very nervous! Oh come on, get a grip! It feels like I’m waiting for a job interview!
Eventually I make my way upstairs and at the end of the corridor I find Deborah Dewey’s consultation room. It’s dark, and quiet – just how I imagined it would be. Anyway, after an initial ice-breaking conversation we get down to the basics. I’m led into describing my relationship with food – how I eat, how much I eat, what I eat, how I feel when I eat, what I ate like as a child and so on. Now, you would be correct if you think that this is just about making you feel guilty about the food you consume– in the space of a few minutes my carb-laden lunch suddenly feels like a crime. And then comes the worst moment of all….”Please step on the scales”. My heart sinks. I want the relaxing consultation floor to swallow me up. I’m huge. My BMI is through the roof, nestled comfortably in the region of ‘obese’.
How do I feel about that? I feel awful, I feel dreadful that I have allowed myself to get into this position – to have given permission for my self-control to be absorbed and taken over by the familiar over-indulging lifestyle of the middle-class expat in Asia.
The discussion moves on further to how I spend my time, and how I would like to spend my time – things I could do instead of eating and drinking – new hobbies, pastimes, those things you never do but think about doing…but to be honest, my mind has drifted – I am now in a haze, just thinking of the next step I need to make, the changes that have to take place. I’m 39 years old, and my body is being abused. What price am I going to pay for this later in life if I don’t take action now?
I’m given a food diary and told I need to complete it with everything I eat and drink, the time of day, and my thoughts at the time. I make another appointment and agree a weight loss target I need to achieve before the next session, by cutting down portions (I am told to eat out of a rice bowl – I don’t even own a rice bowl! – says it all about how I am in this position!) and to exercise. Now the exercise bit is fine, I like exercising – in 2007 I ran two half-marathons – so I know I can do this.
I leave the consultation room and I’m back in the hustle and bustle of Central. I need a drink. I go for a glass of wine – and strangely, it feels quite wrong, quiet bad…almost illegal.
After just one consultation a change is most definitely in process of being made.
