Hypnosis for weight loss: what it can work on, without promising kilos

Hypnosis for weight loss may have been sold to you as the answer after years of diets: a few sessions and you would stop wanting chocolate. You have probably lost weight before, then put a bit more back on. Sometimes you eat without being hungry, in the evening, in front of a screen or after a day that was too much. And you want to know whether it is worth trying.

I am a hypnotherapist in Bordeaux, trained in Ericksonian hypnosis, and I see people who want to change their relationship with food. I would rather tell you straight away what I will not do: promise you a number of kilos, give you a diet, or make you hate sugar "without realising it". What hypnosis can do is quieter than that, and I think that is exactly where it helps.

Hypnosis for weight loss: what the studies say

Let us start with the question you care about most: does hypnosis make you lose weight? Serious studies answer: not really, or only a little.

A reanalysis of six studies published in the Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology compared behavioural support on its own with the same support plus hypnosis. An earlier analysis had reported a spectacular effect. Once the calculation errors were corrected, the authors found a much smaller effect, which was no longer significant if one doubtful study was removed. Their conclusion: adding hypnosis gives at most a small gain in weight.

More recently, a trial in Turin with 120 people living with severe obesity added three hypnosis sessions, including learning self-hypnosis, to dietary and exercise support. After a year, both groups had lost about the same: 6.5 kg on one side, 5.6 kg on the other, a difference the study did not count as real. On the other hand, the hypnosis group felt full sooner and reported a better quality of life.

The result that speaks to me most comes from the Pitié-Salpêtrière hospital in Paris. In the HYPNODIET trial, 82 adults who found it hard to stop eating once they had started all attended eight nutrition education workshops. Half of them also had eight Ericksonian hypnosis sessions and learned self-hypnosis. Eight months later, 67.7% of the hypnosis group had returned to a normal level on this measure of "disinhibition", compared with 11.1% in the other group. The weight difference, 1.8 kg, stayed right at the edge of what the study could claim.

So what shifts is less the scales than the way people eat. The psychological side of the same trial, published in the American Journal of Clinical Hypnosis, points the same way: people in the hypnosis group dealt with their difficulties more actively, relied less on emotion or distraction, and felt less tired. These are modest trials, and more are needed. But they describe quite well what I see at my practice.

What hypnosis can work on, and what it does not do

The people who come to me about this almost always know what they "should" eat. They could recite the guidelines to you. What gets stuck is the moment the urge takes over: the packet of biscuits opened as soon as you get home from work, the fridge at 10 pm, a meal eaten standing up without tasting it. Food often does a job other than feeding you. It soothes, it rewards, it fills a gap or a tiredness.

That is the ground where hypnosis makes sense to me:

• spotting the situations where you eat without being hungry, and what happens just before;
• loosening some automatic habits, such as snacking in front of a screen;
• finding another way to bring tension down than opening a cupboard;
• learning again to notice hunger and fullness, and to eat more slowly;
• working on the way you see your body, which is often very harsh after years of dieting.

What it does not do: replace medical or dietary care. Hypnosis does not replace medical advice. Weight depends on many things I do not touch. The Inserm information file on obesity lists genetics, some medicines, sleep, irregular meals and stress among the factors involved. It also points out that the recommended care brings several professionals together, including a doctor, a dietitian, a physical activity specialist and psychological support. I come alongside that care, never in its place.

Nor will I make you "disgusted" by a food through suggestion. In Ericksonian hypnosis you stay aware, you hear everything and you stay in control. I am not the one who decides what you eat tomorrow. I help you find a bit of choice again at the moment you felt you had none.

How a hypnosis session for weight loss works

I offer hypnosis only at my practice on rue Ducau in Bordeaux. Sophrology and coaching can happen by video call; hypnosis cannot, because I need to be in the room with you.

We start by talking

The first part of the session is a conversation, and it matters as much as what follows. I ask what you have already tried, what your days look like, when you eat without being hungry and what you feel just before. I also ask what food gives you in those moments. The question sometimes surprises people. But if we do not know what the snacking is for, we do not know what to offer in its place.

The hypnosis part

You sit comfortably. With my voice, I guide you into a state of inward-facing concentration, a bit like being so absorbed in a film that you forget the cinema around you. You can move, speak and open your eyes. We then work on a specific situation you have chosen: getting home from work, an evening alone, a family meal. You live it first in your imagination, with a different ending.

After the session

We take a few minutes to go back over what you felt. I often teach you a short self-hypnosis exercise to repeat at home. In the Turin trial, the people who practised self-hypnosis regularly were the ones who lost the most weight. The study shows a link, not proof that one causes the other, but it matches my experience: what you repeat at home counts for more than the session itself.

If you are wondering whether hypnosis carries any risks, I cover that in my article on whether Ericksonian hypnosis is dangerous. And for a wider picture, I have described the situations where a hypnotherapist can help.

How many sessions, and what does it cost?

People often ask me how many sessions it takes to lose weight. I cannot give you an honest number, because I do not work on kilos. For some people it is about one specific moment of the day, and a few sessions are enough to shift it. For others, food holds a whole balance together in the face of stress or loneliness, and it takes longer.

We take stock at the end of the first session, and you are free to stop there. A hypnosis session lasts 1 hour and costs €80, like my other sessions; everything is on my pricing page. You pay for the session you have, not a package in advance.

Be wary of offers that guarantee a number of kilos or a "virtual gastric band" in one session. The Inserm report on hypnosis, written for the French Directorate General for Health, points out that the title of hypnotherapist is not regulated in France and that training varies widely. It also calls for caution about abuses linked to suggestion. Ask where the person trained; my own background is on my about page.

An exercise for when the urge to eat takes over

Here is what I often suggest for the moments when an urge arrives out of nowhere, without real hunger. It mixes breathing with a little self-hypnosis and takes two to three minutes. The aim is not to forbid you from eating, it is to give you the choice back.

The four steps

1. Pause before you open anything. Put your hand on the cupboard or fridge door without opening it. Tell yourself: "I want to eat. I'll look at what is going on first."
2. Look for the hunger. Close your eyes for a few seconds if you can. Is your stomach hungry, or is it your head, tiredness, irritation? Give your hunger a score from 0 to 10.
3. Breathe into your belly. With one hand on your belly, breathe in through your nose and let it rise, then breathe out slowly, a little longer than the in-breath. Four or five times. On each out-breath, let your shoulders and jaw relax.
4. Choose. If the hunger is there, eat, sitting down, taking time to taste. If it was something else, give yourself what you actually needed: a glass of hot water, five minutes outside, a call to someone, a lie-down.

Some evenings you will still eat the biscuit. That is not a failure: you will have chosen it, and that is already very different. If stress is what mostly pushes you towards food, my article on managing stress and emotions will give you other tools.

When to see a doctor first

Before you start anything, talk to your doctor if you have gained or lost weight quickly for no clear reason, if you have diabetes or a heart problem, if you take a long-term medicine, or if you are pregnant. Weight gain can have a medical cause, and only your doctor can look for it.

See a doctor too if you have episodes where you eat large amounts in a short time and feel you have lost control, if you make yourself sick, or if food takes up your thoughts for much of the day. Inserm lists binge eating among the causes of weight gain: it calls for specialist medical care, and hypnosis only comes afterwards, as a complement, if your doctor agrees.

And if you have been through diet after diet, it helps to know that Inserm points out that losing 5 to 10% of your starting weight already brings real benefits. You do not need to aim for an ideal number for it to count.

Before you book

When I worked in start-ups, I ate at my computer, fast, often something sweet, just to keep going until the evening. It took me a while to understand that it was not a lack of willpower but a way of making up for a tiredness I refused to see. That may be why I do not judge anyone for what they eat. In a session, I look with you at what food is doing in your day, so you can give it back its proper place.

As with hypnosis to quit smoking, I will not sell you a miracle. I offer to work together on what happens before the first bite, alongside your doctor or dietitian if you have one.

If you would like to try, I can see you for an Ericksonian hypnosis session in Bordeaux, at my practice on rue Ducau. You can also read how hypnosis for adults works before booking. And from tonight, try the four steps the next time you find yourself in front of the cupboard.