Emotional Eating and Weight

Sometimes the hardest part of changing the way you eat isn’t knowing what to eat.

You probably already know the difference between an apple and a cookie.

The harder question may be: What happens in the moment when you reach for the cookie even though you weren’t hungry?

Food can become connected with comfort, stress, boredom, reward, loneliness, celebration or simply habit. Over time, those connections can become so familiar that the response seems almost automatic.

Something happens.
You feel something.
You eat.

And sometimes you don’t even realize the pattern is happening.

Looking Beyond the Food

My approach to hypnosis for weight concerns isn’t about making certain foods “bad,” forcing you to dislike something you enjoy, or giving every client the same weight-loss script.

Instead, we look at your pattern.

What tends to happen before you eat when you aren’t physically hungry? What does the food provide in that moment? Are there particular situations, feelings, times of day or habits that seem to trigger the same response again and again?

Once we begin to recognize the pattern underneath a behavior, hypnosis can be used to help you begin responding to that pattern differently.

The goal isn’t perfection.

It’s greater choice.

Hypnosis and Weight: What Does the Research Say?

Research has explored hypnosis as an addition to nutrition, behavioral change and other approaches to weight management.

Some of the more interesting findings aren’t simply about pounds lost.

In a randomized controlled trial, adults who received hypnosis and self-hypnosis training in addition to nutrition education showed significant improvements in food disinhibition — the tendency to lose control over eating — and susceptibility to hunger compared with those receiving nutrition education alone.

Another randomized trial found that adding self-hypnosis to individualized diet, exercise and behavioral recommendations did not produce significantly greater weight loss overall, but participants in the hypnosis group reported improvements in satiety and quality of life. Participants who practiced self-hypnosis regularly experienced greater weight loss, although that finding does not establish that hypnosis alone caused the difference.

Reviews of the research suggest that hypnosis may have value as a complementary tool within a broader approach to weight management, particularly for eating behavior, motivation, food awareness and emotional eating. The research remains limited, however, and hypnosis should not be presented as a guaranteed method of losing weight.

2022 randomized controlled study — PubMed
2018 randomized controlled study — PubMed
2020 review of hypnosis and weight management — PubMed

An Individual Approach

No two people arrive at the same eating pattern in exactly the same way.

That’s why my work is individualized. I listen for the habits, associations and responses that may be keeping you stuck, and the hypnosis we do together is built around what we discover.

Hypnosis isn’t a diet, and I don’t provide medical or nutritional treatment. If you have a medical condition, an eating disorder, take medication that affects appetite or weight, or are currently receiving medical weight-management treatment, appropriate care from your healthcare provider remains important.

Virtual hypnosis sessions are available, allowing us to work together from the comfort and privacy of your own home.