Why is weight loss hypnotherapy different from dieting?
Your individual nutritional requirements should be the primary source of truth when it comes to deciding what you should eat. That is a question for a nutritionist, or you could use complementary medicine, to find out what your body actually needs. The premise of mainstream dieting doesn’t consider you at all. Calorie counting, restrictive meal plans, and prescriptive programs ignore you completely. They give a set of rules that applies to everyone, reducing your food intake through the unpleasant process of self-deprivation and forced willpower masquerading as self-control. Research shows that the causes of weight gain are actually highly complex and holistic — there are many factors influencing each other simultaneously. Research shows that between one-third and two-thirds of dieters regain more weight than they lost within 4-5 years (Mann et al., 2007), which leads to misplaced feelings of shame and frustration amongst people who are trying to lose weight. But those people have not failed, and they do not deserve to feel ashamed. That failure belongs to an oversimplified myth, that: “If you want to lose weight, go on a diet.” That whole premise is inadequate, so how is it your fault that it fails?
Weight loss hypnotherapy takes a completely different approach — it’s more inclusive, and personal, and supports you in imagining and developing a mindset in which you love your natural body without any extra weight. I work with several important life-style factors besides nutritional awareness: sleep quality, emotional well-being, life goals, and appropriate exercise. I use hypnotherapy to help you develop a mindset and life-style that gives you the motivation and energy to go after whatever you want. Simultaneously, I work with underlying subconscious factors — past trauma that may be creating protective patterns, or negative self-beliefs that trap you into making unhealthy decisions. The mindset aspect to weight loss often tries to address complexities such as “emotional eating” by attempting to change your beliefs about food. But the problem is not only your beliefs about food, its also your beliefs about yourself. My approach is holistic - the whole is greater than the sum of it’s parts: In hypnosis you rehearse your life direction and goals, create healthy loving beliefs about yourself, make healthy decisions in the supermarket, and bring all these factors together to support a mindset that makes you healthy and successful.
What is Andrew’s multidisciplinary method for helping you lose weight?
There is no single weight loss solution that applies to everyone. Your body shape is genetic, and if you have been cleared of any medical condition preventing it, you can be your natural shape without any extra weight. However, being your natural shape is as much about accepting your body and loving yourself, as it is about what you eat and how much you exercise. My method embraces this philosophy, because in my experience, you will not maintain your ideal weight if you only focus on diet. Research consistently shows that combining diet, exercise, and psychological support produces significantly better long-term outcomes than any single intervention alone (Johns et al., 2014). This may sound like you are preparing for the Olympics, but I collaborate with qualified nutritionists and certified personal trainers who work with my clients. I can connect you with professionals I trust, or work alongside your own nutritionist and trainer. For anyone trying to lose weight, exercising seems like an impossible task. It’s uncomfortable in a public environment, but you need to work with a qualified coach for safety. Your online personal trainer takes you safely through your workouts at home, where you retain your dignity and privacy.
My role in this team is to provide psychological support that helps your subconscious mind feel safe enough to release protective patterns. Jon Gabriel’s book ‘The Gabriel Method’ explains how chronic stress triggers metabolic changes that cause weight retention. After a long struggle with weight, Gabriel succeeded with his own method, based on the work of Zena Stein, an early contributor to modern epigenetics - the study of gene activation and deactivation that occurs without altering our DNA. Gabriel’s method is based on the premise that your body holds on to weight because of chronic stress, which activates primordial survival genes that slow your metabolism when your subconscious mind feels overwhelmed. His method uses visualization to deactivate these genes*. I provide a highly effective combination of hypnotherapy session and personalized soundtracks to signal confidence to your subconscious mind, that it’s safe to be your body’s natural shape. My method guide you in feeling confident, valued, successful, loving and accepting your natural shape without extra weight, and choosing a fit and healthy life-style for yourself.
- Zena Stein “Famine and Human Development: The Dutch Hunger Winter of 1944–1945” (1975) ** Jon Gabriel “The Gabriel Method” (2008)
What happens in a weight loss hypnotherapy session with Andrew?
The session lasts between one and two hours depending on your booking, and is divided into two halves. In the first half, we talk about triggers that make you fearful or anxious. Together we develop an understanding of your triggering mechanisms, and identify any negative subconscious body images that form the root of your chronic stress. In the process, we create affirmations for your new belief system, in which you are confident, safe, fit, healthy, and loving your natural qualities. We also explore any natural resistance stemming from being told to exercise, and what to eat, which can feel punishing and depriving and often induces rebellion and self-sabotage. Using affirmations, we shift your perspective into a position of power, where you have decided to make these changes and this is how you are doing it. These affirmations become the voice-over script for your personal affirmation soundtrack.
In the second half of the session I will guide you into hypnosis and rehearse your affirmations, solutions, and empowered intentional perspective. Hypnosis will take about twenty to thirty minutes. You’re in your own comfortable space at home, listening to my voice and psychoacoustic soundtrack streaming through your headphones. The video allows me to gauge your reactions and helps me pick up on your emotional cues. You can communicate if you want, but most people don’t feel the need to. I’ll take you through some relaxation techniques to activate a peaceful, receptive state — similar to a daydream where you’re deeply at ease but still aware. Throughout this part, you remain conscious and can hear my voice clearly. Many describe feeling understood and free from judgment, with emotional clarity about themselves emerging naturally. In the last 5 minutes I bring you out of hypnosis and ask you about your experience to reactivate your conscious state.
How many sessions will you need to see results?
The timeline for results depends on many individual circumstances — your metabolism, current lifestyle, the complexity of your emotional relationship with food, and how consistently you engage with the full multidisciplinary team. Generally, you can expect to feel internal improvements within the first few weeks, see subtle physical changes within 4-6 weeks, and experience significant transformation within 3-6 months. These timelines vary considerably based on individual factors, but working with a professional team of nutritionist, personal trainer, and psychological support accelerates results by ensuring proper nutrition, effective training, and the mental resilience to avoid the common early-stage quitting that derails most solo attempts at weight loss. The psychological support is the piece that makes the difference between starting the weight loss process and following through until you see the results.
This is exactly where my method helps you stay with the program. The most common reason people abandon weight loss efforts isn’t lack of information—it’s the emotional and psychological resistance that surfaces when you start making changes. In our sessions, we work through that resistance as it comes up, session by session, so it doesn’t accumulate into the overwhelm that leads to quitting. Between sessions, your custom affirmation soundtrack keeps you motivated and mentally rehearsing the healthy choices you want to make—reminding your subconscious daily that you are safe, that your body can change, and that you are capable of following through. The Soul Sanctuary meditation tracks support your sleep and reduce the anxiety that can trigger emotional eating. Together, these tools mean you’re not relying on willpower between sessions — you have active psychological support every single day, which is what makes the transformation sustainable.
Is weight loss hypnotherapy effective for lasting change?
Yes, weight loss hypnotherapy is highly effective for lasting change, particularly when integrated into a multidisciplinary approach. A comprehensive review of 18 studies found that adding hypnotherapy to cognitive-behavioral weight loss treatments nearly doubled the results: participants lost an average of 6.00 lbs (2.72 kg) without hypnosis compared to 11.83 lbs (5.37 kg) with hypnosis (Kirsch, 1996). More importantly, the benefits of hypnotherapy increased substantially over time — at final follow-up, the hypnosis group had lost 14.88 lbs compared to just 6.03 lbs in the non-hypnosis group. This pattern of continued improvement after treatment is exactly what distinguishes hypnotherapy from diet-only approaches, where weight regain is the norm. Research consistently demonstrates that people using hypnotherapy continued to lose significant weight at 8-month and 2-year follow-ups, while those using behavioral treatment alone showed little further change (Cochrane & Friesen, 1986).
The effectiveness of hypnotherapy lies in addressing the psychological and emotional factors that traditional dieting ignores. More than half of overweight adults report frequent episodes of emotional eating—eating in response to stress, anxiety, or negative emotions rather than physical hunger (Niemeier et al., 2007). This is critical because emotional eating is a primary driver of recurrent weight gain: those with higher emotional eating levels before treatment lose significantly less weight and face higher rates of regain (Elfhag & Rössner, 2005; Dakanalis et al., 2023). The problem isn’t willpower — it’s biology. When you’re stressed, your body actually craves sweet, high-fat comfort foods as a coping mechanism, and repeatedly turning to these foods in response to stress leads to weight gain over time (Gibson, 2006). Hypnotherapy changes the subconscious patterns driving emotional eating: studies show it significantly reduces uncontrolled overeating in response to emotional triggers while improving eating behaviors (Bo et al., 2018). By addressing emotional and stress-based triggers, hypnotherapy helps your subconscious feel safe enough to release protective eating patterns, and resolves negative body image and the complex emotional relationship with food, making weight loss sustainable.
This explains why the multidisciplinary approach — combining nutritional guidance, exercise, and psychological support — produces significantly better long-term outcomes than any single intervention alone (Johns et al., 2014). Your nutritionist ensures proper nutrition, your personal trainer builds fitness, and your hypnotherapist provides psychological resilience to avoid the emotional overwhelm that derails most attempts. Research confirms that this integrated approach accelerates results and prevents early-stage quitting that causes diet-only programs to fail (Mann et al., 2007). Lasting change requires a subconscious shift in your relationship with yourself and your diet — this is the fundamental distinction between hypnotherapy and traditional programs. Online hypnotherapy sessions are just as effective as in-person sessions, and many clients prefer the privacy and comfort of home. The home setting makes deep emotional work easier without gym anxiety or commuting stress, creating the ideal environment for lasting transformation.
What can you expect from Andrew’s weight loss hypnotherapy treatment?
Within the first few weeks the first changes you can expect are changes in your relationship with yourself. You’re more accepting and patient with yourself, for example at work, or kinder in your self-talk. You find it easier to imagine your body’s natural shape and appreciate it. You’ll also notice a difference in how you think about food — you’re more in control. You may find you appreciate the wholesome feeling of healthy food. Within 4-6 weeks the first physical changes occur, but only you will notice them: exercise makes you less tired as your fitness improves, your confidence starts to build, you’ll notice muscle definition in certain areas. By 3-6 months, other people will notice the change as your body starts wanting to be your natural shape. Your clothes feel lose, you look different in the mirror, and people compliment you.
Earlier I mentioned training for the Olympics because losing weight can really feel like that - it requires dedication and personal accountability to apply the mindset and training. But athletes rely on their team of experts to help them win races or competitions, and here the similarity ends: you are not going for perfection over the short term, you are developing a life-style. Your multidisciplinary team supports you in creating the essential belief systems and habits that will keep you in shape for life. Your victory is to be the best version of yourself and make that your life-style. The important similarity with athletes is: none of their coaches can win for them - and no-one can lose your weight for you. Only you can do that with your commitment and consistency. The multidisciplinary approach works when you engage with all three elements and make them work together.
Would you like to talk to Andrew about weight loss?
Weight is personal and reaching out is difficult after you’ve tried a few approaches. It’s exhausting making yourself vulnerable. My 15-minute consultation is free because I dont want to put my number on the internet. If you’d like to talk about what you’re going through it’s really easy to book and there’s no obligation. If you already feel good about this method I recommend the Mastery Package, most of my clients working on losing weight find this provides the support and consistency needed for life-style transformations. When you’re ready, I’m ready to listen.