Weight loss

Do you want to be slimmer, fitter and healthier?

The problem with most diets are they are created around the idea that obesity is caused by too many calories. Research has found that not all calories behave the same, the reason being that its insulin which causes the problems. These spikes in insulin happen when you eat different types of foods.

The “Keep it off” plan helps you to make the lifestyle changes needed to be able to change poor diets, change habits, focus on the goals, and understand the foods and nutrition you need to keep a body healthy and lose weight.

Our body has evolved to keep a certain weight, so if we lose weight too fast, our body will do everything in its power to increase appetite and lose power. A slow approach is needed, and an understanding of how the body is working.

It might even mean that you have to cut out certain foods from your diet (ie. sugar) or that it may be best to practice intermittent fasting for example.  If you have religiously followed other diet plans in the past and they worked at the time, but you’ve piled the pounds back on over time, a complete rethink will need to take place.

Changing habits

Changing habits takes between 60 – 90 days. Looking at current practices and what you can change, replacing the poor habits with better ones, and understanding why you resist writing out food diaries, changing foods and trying different exercise regimes.

The problem with Generic weight loss programmes is that they do not match the person. They are like department stores where everything is a size 16, and you have to fit yourself into the dress or trousers somehow. This programme is designed for individual people – as a psychotherapist, I understand how people think about food, and having trained as a nutritional therapist, I can help people change the way they think and feel about food.

What it involves:

  1. Session 1 is all about looking at what you currently eat, and to look at your current lifestyle to agree on changes, and set an achievable goal. You will be asked to complete an activity sheet for a week. Looking at Where, Who, When and What you’re doing. Including how you feel and what you are eating in that time.
  2. Discover what underlying issues are currently stopping you reach your goal.
  3. Listing foods you currently eat. Create a nutritional list of foods which need adding to the diet.
  4. Set up a plan of action for creating small steps which you can start.
  5. Realise some of the habits, thoughts and behaviours that are in conflict with your weight-loss goal and replace them with more positive ones.
  6. Deal with any unresolved or underlying issues that could hamper your long-term success, such as low self-esteem, lack of confidence or feeling a lack of love.
  7. Identify the things that need to change. Identify the people that sabotage the plan. Start thinking like a naturally slim person and develop a long-term habit.
  8. Improve motivation by understanding what it is and how it works, and draw up plans to improve it.
  9. Use visualisations to help align yourself to your goals. Mentally walking yourself through the process of success and the joys and benefits it brings can teach your brain to be motivated by something other than fear.
  10. Reward yourself when achieving goals. These rewards need to be positive experiences which can boost your mood, such as promising yourself a day at a spa; they are not to be food or drink-related.
  11. Cortisol levels increase the amount of weight we hold. Often connected to sleep. If you snore or suffer from sleep apnea then this really needs tackling first. If you’re feeling stressed about life, then we’ll work on that first. We need our sleep to feel in control, when we’re tired, that’s when we’re likely to make the worst choices.

Therapies used:

Solution-focused therapy keeps your focus on the result; the hypnosis helps visualise your success. CBT looks at the thoughts and behaviours which are stopping you from making the changes. Nutritional therapy helps determine which foods you may need to cut out and which you may need to include. Mindfulness helps stay focused on eating at each meal which means you are more likely to feel full. We draw on your strengths and resources, leaving you feeling more confident, feeling more in control, more motivated to exercise, and finding alternate ways and means to fulfil your emotional needs. By tackling the negative emotions of guilt, shame, boredom, fear, grief, or lack of self-worth, you can make the changes needed to start losing weight.

I have personally found that to keep the weight off, you need to be mindful of your weight once you have achieved your goal. I use the intermittent fasting approach of eating in a 6 – 8 hour window the best approach for myself, but that doesn’t necessarily mean it’s the best approach for you. When my weight moves up a pound or two, I go straight back to IF for a week or so. This stops the weight from creeping back and keeps it off long term. I encourage my clients to do the same. It also means that there are times I can be more indulgent – holidays and special occasions but equally, I know my own limits.

This package includes:

  • MP3s to help relax and make better choices for yourself.
  • Email and text support for the times between sessions.
  • Solution-Focused therapy to aim for your preferred future.
  • Cognitive behavioural therapy for challenging any stubborn thought patterns.
  • NLP to help keep focused on future success.
  • Nutritional advice.

Terms and Conditions

Each session will take place a week apart, so please make sure you can make each one, and 48 hours is needed to cancel. Payment is by cash, bank transfer or PayPal.

Hypnosis is not recommended for individuals with mental health problems, schizophrenia, epilepsy, bipolar or borderline personality disorder. Eating disorders require a slightly different approach, especially around fasting/bingeing, so please call for more information. If you have mobility problems, this method may improve your physical and mental well-being. Some exercise of any description is needed to make it all work together.

Follow up sessions

The first few sessions are centred around changing habits and behaviours deemed necessary, and sorting sleep out. It’s often found these things need to be put in order before any weight loss happens. Usually, after about 6 sessions, that’s when things start to happen and follow-up sessions help you stay on track.


Weight loss case study 1

Susan came to see me about losing weight. When we looked at what it was she was doing; she admitted that she had very little self-control.

She had been widowed just over a year and had moved and found a job to keep her occupied. Susan had bought herself a dog to keep her company and to get some exercise. In the first couple of weeks, she realised that her lack of willpower was due to feeling tired. And that her job had not lived up to her expectations. Thinking it would let her meet people,  she found herself on her own most of the time. She didn’t need to work, but she didn’t like the idea of just giving it up either. Over the next few weeks, she was also able to put together strategies when buying her shopping to be more mindful of the types of food to purchase and to cut back on wine. Instead, she decided to fill the fridge with low-calorie tonic water, fruit juice and low-calorie snacks.

By week 5, she had decided to leave her job, and she was also feeling more in control. She’d been to see friends and had decided to join some evening classes to meet people and pursue her interests. She also joined a widows lunch group.

Session 9, she was back in control and was coping much better with organising her time and her diet. She chose the 5:2 diet plan because there was only her and all she did was to eat a salad or soup on those days. She lost over a stone, and by her last session, she was looking forward to buying new clothes and going on holiday with friends.


Weight loss case study 2

Joanne was a lady in her 60s, and although she had retired, she was active in local activities and charities. She was often battling with committee meetings surrounded by cakes and biscuits. Going to dinner with friends and eating dessert because Jo didn’t like to be unkind to her friends. However, this meant since retiring she had put on a stone in weight and found it impossible to shift it.

Once finishing the activity sheet for a week, we were able to come up with a plan of action. Over the first four sessions Jo worked on looking at days and times she could put in some exercise, and she decided to take up badminton and to walk her neighbour’s dog each day to get her up to 10,000 steps.

She realised her thoughts about letting her friends sown was unfounded as if she had diabetes, she wouldn’t be able to eat any of the sweet desserts anyway, so she let them all know that she needed to cut this out of her diet, and if they wanted to serve up dessert, then fresh fruit and greek yoghurt was preferable.

Jo’s upbringing had taught into her to eat everything on her plate and not to waste anything. So she came up with a mantra to help her leave food once she felt full. She used mindful eating techniques to slow her eating down and not to eat while watching TV.

Her nutrition plan had cut out white bread, white pasta, white rice and potatoes from her weekly food plan and replaced them with wholemeal bread, seeded crispbreads, sweet potatoes and wholemeal rice and Quinoa. She was eating far too many carbs and not enough calcium for good bone health. She added more greek yoghurt into her diet and red fruits. She realised the low-fat plan she’d been on all these years hadn’t been a particularly healthy one, recognising that she was probably eating way too much sugar, which the food diary did flag up.

Over the 12 weeks, she was able to change her diet and stick to it long term; she was able to say no to the cakes, biscuits and desserts. Her willpower improved because she was freeing up mental tasks by writing everything down instead of trying to remember it all. She felt fitter, happier and felt the pace in which she worked was just fine.


 Also see: Tools

And Clinical research into Hypnosis effect on weight loss. Irvine.

And https://www.dietdoctor.com/intermittent-fasting/questions-and-answers