Hypno gastric band hypnotherapy is a powerful and amazing technique used to help you lose weight. Using this expert tool, as a hypnotherapist in London, I suggest to your subconscious that you have had a gastric band fitted around your stomach. Considered to be a non-invasive alternative to weight loss surgery, a hypno gastric band can have many positive effects, without the cost and potential side effects of surgery.
What is a hypno gastric band?
Let’s look firstly at a real gastric band operation. This is a serious procedure and costs at least £5000 and sometimes over £10000. A gastric band is an adjustable silicone device used in weight loss surgery. The band is placed around the upper section of your stomach to create a small pouch above the device. This restricts the amount of food that can be stored in your stomach, making it difficult to eat large amounts.
Available through private surgery, or for those who meet specific criteria for an NHS procedure, a gastric band is one of three weight-loss surgeries most commonly offered. The main benefit of a gastric band is long-term, sustainable weight loss. In order for you to see the benefits, it is still important to change your diet, exercise regularly, and attend post-surgery follow-up appointments to gain advice and support as needed. The aim of a gastric band is to restrict the amount of food a person can physically eat, causing them to feel full after eating very little to encourage weight loss. For most people who have this surgery, it is the last resort after trying other methods of weight loss. Like any surgery, fitting a gastric band comes with risks.
If you have a physical gastric band, some of the risks include:
The band slipping out of place. This can go on to cause nausea, vomiting, and heartburn. Further surgery may be needed to readjust or remove the band.
A leak in your gut. Following a gastric bypass or gastric sleeve (another form of gastric band), there is a small chance food can leak into your tummy, causing a serious infection that may need antibiotics and surgery to repair any damage.
A blocked gut. Blockages can cause vomiting, tummy pain, trouble swallowing, and bowel movement issues. Blockages may have to be cleared by a professional.
Malnutrition. Absorbing the right amount of vitamins and minerals can become a problem after weight loss surgery, meaning that many will have to take supplements for life to avoid the risks of malnutrition.
Those with uteruses who have had a physical gastric band, sleeve, or bypass are also recommended to avoid becoming pregnant for 12-18 months post-surgery.
Hypno gastric band treatment
Gastric band hypnosis can be used to help people lose weight, without the risks that come with surgery. As a London, gastric band hypnotherapist, I use a two-pronged approach. Firstly I look to identify the root cause of your emotional eating and then use the hypno gastric band to bring powerful changes.
What is emotional eating?
Emotional eating can be a common but unhealthy way of coping with challenging feelings or emotions. If you find yourself reaching for food when you are upset or stressed, or rely on food as a treat or reward for a tough week, to motivate yourself, or even as a fallback when you are bored, these can all be signs that you are using food to help boost your mood. Over time, this can lead to feelings of guilt, shame, and even a cycle of unhealthy eating habits that can lead to eating problems, disordered eating, as well as physical health problems.
Using hypnosis, as a London hypnotherapist, I do try to encourage you to remember long-forgotten experiences surrounding food that may be subconsciously affecting you now. I help people recognise patterns, reactions, or behaviours you may not realise you have been doing. Addressing and recognising any unhealthy thought patterns surrounding food can be helpful before starting gastric band hypnotherapy.
When I use the virtual gastric band treatment at my London office, we look at your relationship food. When it comes to the actual fitting of the virtual gastric band, the gastric band hypnotherapy is designed to suggest, at a subconscious level, that you have truly had an operation to insert an actual gastric band. The aim is for your body to respond to this suggestion by making you feel fuller quicker as if you had the real surgery.
As I explain to my London clients, it is the case that unlike diets, getting a virtual gastric band is designed to help you make long-term lifestyle changes. By recognising and addressing underlying these issues, this helps you to recognise triggers, and work with your subconscious to help you feel fuller for longer. Hypnotherapy can help you take those first steps towards making positive change.
By causing us to count calories or consciously measure portion size or even totally omit types of foods, many diets can make us more obsessed with food and our eating. This can take the pleasure out of eating and can lead us to crave more of certain foods and a diet-overeat/binge cycle can start.
Why should I get gastric band hypnosis?
A traditional gastric band is one form of weight loss surgery that is often considered a last resort. Involving fitting a band around the upper part of your stomach, the band physically limits how much food you can eat, in many cases, encouraging weight loss. However, research has shown that patients undergoing a physical gastric band face a number of complications in the months and years following surgery, including the risk of the band slipping or eroding.
The often significant and sustained loss of weight that accompanies many gastric band procedures can be appealing for those who have struggled with sustainable weight loss, diet changes, and weight-related issues. Having a ‘virtual gastric band’ fitted, also known as a hypno gastric band, doesn’t require surgery.
How does a hypno gastric band work?
Using relaxation techniques as your hypnotherapist, I will put you into a state of hypnosis. In this relaxed state, your subconscious is more open to suggestion. At this point, it is time to include those powerful weight reducing suggestions to your subconscious. With gastric band hypnotherapy, this suggestion is that you’ve had a physical band fitted.
The mind is powerful, so if your subconscious accepts these suggestions, your behaviour will change accordingly. Usually, along with the ‘fitting’ of the virtual hypno gastric band, I add in suggestions surrounding confidence and behaviour. These are made to help you commit to this change in lifestyle also.
Frequently I also teach self-hypnosis techniques, so you can enhance the work you’ve done following the sessions. Educating yourself on nutrition and exercise is often advised as well, to promote physical health and well-being. Indeed studies have shown that hypnotherapy can be a highly effective way of losing and maintaining weight loss.
Unhealthy relationships with food
If you are considering weight-related surgery or hypnotherapy alternatives, it may also be worth considering your relationship with food. Merely focusing on the end goal of weight loss can often overlook underlying issues of an unhealthy relationship with food that may be affecting you across different areas in your life. This can include impacting your self-confidence and self-esteem, causing feelings of anxiety or guilty, or even holding you back in social or work-related situations.
Problem eating doesn’t have a single ‘look’. It can affect anyone, at any age, in any number of different ways. If you are worried that your eating habits may be impacting your overall health and well-being, it’s important to look in more depth at this. This is where my London hypnotherapy for weight loss sessions can really help.
What to expect: Getting a virtual hypno gastric band
Your first meeting is often more of an initial consultation where we discuss what you hope to gain from hypnotherapy. This is an opportunity to talk about any previous weight loss attempts, eating habits, any health issues and your general attitude towards food. This is more than a chat, and the work of shifting perspective truly has begun. Usually this session includes some weight loss hypnotherapy to start the process also. Our discussions help both of us gain a clearer idea of what will help and whether or not any other therapy exercises, visualisations or even home assignments should be considered.
The hypno gastric band procedure itself is designed to mimic gastric band surgery, to help your subconscious believe it has really happened. To make the experience more authentic, I like to sometimes incorporate the sounds and smells of an operating theatre. Perhaps the beep beep of machine or having some chlorine on a saucer, so there’s that familiar hospital smell!
When we get to the sessions which are directly about fitting the virtual hypno gastric band, I begin by taking you into a deeply relaxed state, also known as a trance. You will be aware of what is happening and will be in control at all times. Once you are in a hypnotic state, we go through the ‘operation’. This involves describing in detail and step-by-step what happens in surgery. This starts with imagining you are meeting your consultant and they explain the wonderful benefits of the procedure. Then being put under the anaesthetic, to the first incision, fitting the band itself and stitching up the cut. The sounds and smells of an operating theatre will enhance the experience, to persuade your subconscious that what’s being said is really happening to you. Following this I will have you imagine waking up in hospital already feeling your stomach is smaller and hearing again from the surgeon how well it all went and that your appetite is now greatly reduced.
Other hypnosis suggestions are incorporated during the procedure to increase self-confidence. During further session we really look to ensure you are ready for eating less, have looked at emotional eating and are motivated and excited to stay on track for your weight loss goals.
Just like with a real gastric band, during follow-up sessions, the hypnosis centres on monitoring the virtual gastric band’s success. Imagining the surgeon making any adjustments, which may also happen when people get the physical band fitted too. For some, it can be helpful to continue hypnotherapy sessions as part of a long-term weight management plan, so they stay on track and we address underlying issues surrounding food and self-esteem.
How will I feel after?
For those who overeat, recognising when you’re physically full can be difficult. Sometimes we eat purely for the taste or comfort, ignoring whether or not we are physically hungry. Learning to recognise the physical sensations of being hungry and being full is helpful for cultivating healthy eating habits. The procedure should be a pleasant and relaxing experience, with most people reporting a feeling of calm when they come out of hypnosis.
Will hypno gastric band hypnotherapy work for me?
A common question for those trying hypnotherapy for the first time is: will it work for me? Unfortunately, it isn’t a simple case of yes or no; it is largely up to you. Hypnotherapy helps people with a range of concerns but is particularly useful when it comes to changing habits. For this reason, it is often successful in helping people develop healthy eating habits and lose weight. However, just like any other lifestyle change, it will require your total commitment.
No weight-loss method, from surgery to diets, is guaranteed to achieve specific results. Similarly, as with any form of hypnosis, the results of hypno gastric band hypnotherapy are dependent on you approaching the process with an open mind, as well as being ready and willing to make changes.
You are more likely to make sustainable changes and get what you want from gastric band hypnotherapy if you believe in the process and your hypnotherapist. Being comfortable and trusting your hypnotherapist is essential. This is why I’m always happy to talk by phone before you book sessions. You ca ask any questions you have, big or small.
Is a virtual gastric band the right solution for me?
If you are committed to making a lifestyle change, believe in the procedure and trust your hypnotherapist, hypno gastric band hypnosis should work very well for you. If you would like to hear more about my London sessions, get in touch today.
