A woman told how she shed four stones in weight after she was hypnotised – into believing she’d had a gastric band fitted.
Mother-of-two Emma Eveleigh-Anderton, 36, paid £960 for four sessions with a specialist hypnotherapist after her weight ballooned to 13st.
The treatment involved her being put ‘under’ and talked through every step of the medical procedure as if she were in an operating theatre.
She was told that her stomach was the size of a golf ball – and now feels full if she tries to eat anything other than a small portion of food.
Emma’s weight dropped to nine stone as a result and her dress size fell from a size 18 to an eight in just six months.
Yesterday Marion, of Stoke, Coventry, said: ”I used to sit down after work and order takeaways most evenings. I just got lazy.
”I tried diets, appetite suppression pills and will power but none of them worked in the long term.
”I was going through a lot of stress at work which didn’t help my eating habits at all.
”It was the stress that I originally went to see a hypnotherapists about but I ended up having the ‘gastric band’ fitted. It feels great.”
Emma was running an exhibition business with her husband Darren, 42, when she started to over-eat.
Her weight ballooned to 13 stone when she had her daughters Antonia, aged seven, and Alice, aged six.
She lived on takeaways, chocolates, cakes, ready meals and large breakfasts.
But Emma was shocked when she injured her knee and doctors told her that if she did not lose weight she might not recover.
A friend recommended hypnotherapist Russell Hemmings who had recently launched a ‘hypno-band service’.
Emma booked a 45-minute ‘vital surgery’ session in last August where she was hypnotised into believing that she’d had the gastric band operation.
The sessions took place in a relaxing environment while Emma lay back in a comfortable chair and was hypnotised.
Using a combination of hypnotherapy and Cognitive Behaviour Therapy, she was taken on a ‘virtual tour’ through the ‘operation’.
Therapist Russell also used in-depth guided imagery and visualisation to fit an imaginary gastric band around the stomach, forming a pouch the size of a golf ball.
After four sessions of the treatment – which is 100 per cent safe because it eliminates the risks of general anaesthetic, DVT and MRSA – Emma started to feel a tightening sensation in her stomach.
She lost 3lb in a week after and ate salad, fruit, grilled fish and started jogging.
Emma added: ”It was as if I was having the operation, except I was in an office rather than a theatre.
”After the first session I felt hopeful. But after the second I really felt positive and much more controlled about my eating.
”It has actually re-educated my mind. I was starting to feel fuller quicker and eating much less.
”I don’t have to try to eat this way, it’s just become a habit for me now.
”I’ve lost four stone in weight. I’m happier, confident and now I’m a great role model for my children.”
Incredibly, Emma now jogs for 30 minutes every morning and has ran a half-marathon and triathlon.
She added: ”I get my kids involved in sports too – lots of tennis, swimming, gymnastics and riding around on bikes. And my husband’s pleased to see me happier and fitter.
”It was nice to have a whole new wardrobe and not having that tight feeling all the time.
”I found it particularly liberating having to buy smaller knickers and bras.”
Emma visited her hypnotherapist six months later and she had lost so much weight that he did not recognise her.
Russell said: ”She walked into the clinic and I remember thinking she was a new client making an appointment.
”She said ‘you don’t recognize me do you, Russ?’ I really didn’t. The change in her has been amazing.”
Really good Result Emma well done hypno rocks