In gastric bypass hypnosis, a hypnotherapist simulates the entire process of gastric bypass surgery from the time the decision to do surgery is taken to the time the patient leaves the hospital as if he/she has had a gastric bypass done. The hypnosis tries to reprogram the patient’s mind to believe that his/her abdomen is being opened up, the stomach is being reduced and intestine being refashioned and that the stomach is now smaller than before and can only accommodate a small amount of food. You perceive all these steps like a dream.
Does Hypnosis Work for Weight Loss?
Gastric bypass hypnosis may make you lose weight but only if you can maintain it. The efficacy of gastric bypass hypnosis is dependent on the individual being able to keep this hypnosis. That is, reminding your brain that your stomach is now small and can only take a small amount of food. Reminding your brain that certain foods are unhealthy and you shouldn’t take them.
The question is how many people can maintain this? Hypnosis seems like a treatment option for obesity done under a partially conscious state, but its effectiveness relies on the conscious effort of the individual. If you cannot use ordinary motivation to stop unhealthy eating habits and engage in adequate exercise to achieve significant weight loss, then you cannot benefit from hypnosis. If motivational counseling is enough for you to adopt the healthy lifestyle and lose weight, then you don’t need hypnosis.
Another essential aspect of gastric bypass surgery is the hormonal effect. After gastric sleeve, certain hunger hormones such as ghrelin are reduced. This hormone decreases your appetite in such a way that you may not need any conscious effort to reduce your calorie intake, and when you take excess, your intestine will only absorb little.
Though gastric bypass hypnotherapy can make you lose weight, its effect is usually transient and not comparable to the benefit of an effective weight loss procedure such as the gastric bypass surgery or gastric sleeve surgery.