There are many hypnosis myths. One is that hypnosis puts a person’s mind in to a hyper-attentive state where it becomes very open to suggestion. This makes it so a person in this state does things that they wouldn’t normally do, and is one of the reasons why hypnosis stage shows are so popular as the guests are told to do strange and bizarre things. But that’s not really true. Hypnosis can’t make you do things you don’t want to do.

But hypnosis can be a powerful ally in your weight loss program. Most people know that the three key factors to losing weight are to eat healthy food, to eat smaller portions and to take regular exercise. Some of us try crash diets and for several weeks, restricting our calorie intake. This can make it appear like you’re losing a lot of weight. Unfortunately not only is this an unhealthy way to lose weight (because you are mostly losing muscle mass rather than fat) it also causes a yo-yo effect where gradually you go back to your old eating habits and end up even bigger than you were before.

What’s required is a whole new approach to how you think about food. From a very early age it is often drilled in to your mind to eat everything that’s on your plate regardless of how much is on there. While your parents may have had the best intentions at heart the sad truth is that the portions they were feeding you were sometimes far too large for your dietary requirements and how many times were you refused seconds if there was still food left over? This can become a subconscious need for you to clear any plate put in front of you regardless of how hungry you are.

Another reason why people tend to overeat is down to the way they feel about themselves. People who feel depressed often use binge eating as a coping method. Until the core problem is dealt with on a subconscious level no amount of dieting is going to help you to lose weight if there is still a subconscious need to binge eat to feel good about yourself.

This is how you can lose weight with hypnosis. By visiting a hypnotherapist they can add suggestions in to your subconscious mind that you are a lean, healthy person who has a healthy approach to weight loss and diets. If visiting a hypnotherapist doesn’t appeal to you there are also numerous self-hypnosis audio packages available that will help you achieve the super-relaxed state of mind to the point where it becomes open to suggestions via the calm voice on the CD or DVD.

Hypnosis can also help combat the depressed feeling some people feel about themselves and helps them perceive themselves in a more positive light. This helps with the binge eating which is often a major cause of being overweight. There are no weight loss diets available that target psychological problems for over eating. This is why so many people are deciding to lose weight with hypnosis.

Wil Dieck is the founder of the personal transformational technology known as  Total Mind Therapy . You can sign up here to receive positive thinking tips delivered by e-mail weekly.