Advanced Virtual Gastric Band Weight Loss Programme

Permanent weight loss is rarely achieved simply by dieting. This is because diets do not take all the complex emotional aspects of the relationship that overweight people have with food into consideration. Generally diets are only adhered to for a limited period of time and therefore are perceived by our unconscious mind as being temporary. Diets turn your entire focus onto food, stop you from eating lots of things you love and sometimes even force you to eat things you don’t enjoy! You feel permanently deprived and fixated with food! The more you feel “deprived” the more you crave what the diet says you can’t have and so the obsession escalates. When you eventually stop dieting you return to what your unconscious mind regards as your “normal” eating habits. Unfortunately because your “normal” eating pattern made you overweight in the first place then all too often the weight goes back on.

The Virtual Gastric Banding Therapy is not a temporary technique focused on a particular diet it can be a permanent solution. In addition to fitting you with a Virtual Gastric Band to reduce the quantity of food you are able to eat, a combination of advanced mind techniques will help you to reassess your relationship with food, your eating habits and help you move away from a “dieting” mentality. The process will teach you how to break the spiral of bad eating habits and dieting and help you to permanently change your lifestyle to a much healthier one. By making these changes you will find reaching and maintaining your target weight achievable (and ultimately sustainable), your self esteem will be raised and you will feel more optimistic and confident not only about yourself but also life in general.

The human brain is extremely complex, it is split into two parts, the conscious and the subconscious or unconscious mind. The function of our conscious mind accounts for only a small proportion of our brain capability, only about 10%, the rest is controlled by the unconscious mind. The conscious mind deals with logic and decision making, the unconscious mind on the other hand regulates all our bodily functions such as breathing, heart rate, body temperature and even metabolism. The unconscious mind is also where all the information gathered from our life experiences and learning is stored and because of this it also controls our self–confidence, self-image, emotions and habits.

Habits are formed by the continuous repetition of an action over a period of time. When a new action is performed a neural pathway is formed in the brain, the more that action is repeated then the stronger the pathway becomes, a bit like a minor road being converted into a motorway. The stronger the pathway then the more ingrained is the habit and the brain perceives this action as being “normal”.

So for example if you eat every time you have an emotional upset or when you are bored then your brain perceives this to be “normal” for you and you will automatically fill your tummy to fill your time or subconsciously regard food as your emotional support.

Habits are difficult to break because they become firmly embedded in the unconscious mind. The conscious mind can overcome the impulses of the unconscious for short periods of time but in the long run the unconscious is much stronger, so over time, you return to the behaviour patterns that the unconscious considers to be “normal”. It is for this reason that losing weight through dieting and willpower is often only effective in the short term.

Failure of this kind is not an indication of whether someone has little willpower but an example of the power of the unconscious mind.

The most usual way to change habits is slow and laborious, the changed behaviour must be repeated over and over until it is accepted as “the new normal” by the unconscious mind. This can be a prolonged and challenging process. However the unconscious mind accepts new information much more readily when in a relaxed state and this allows us to accelerate the rate of change. This is done by speaking directly to the unconscious mind to reprogram it with the use of advanced hypnosis.

When over a prolonged period of time eating has become an emotional response instead of a natural response to physical hunger then frequently the ability to interpret signals from the body is lost. Our bodies are able to let us know when we need to eat and when we have consumed enough and should stop. If we either ignore these signals or are unable to detect them then our eating patterns cease to be instinctive. Hypnosis helps you become more receptive to your natural reflexes, thus allowing you to “listen” to your body. You will then be able to eat only when you are genuinely hungry, consume the correct amount of the right types of food to make your body work efficiently and healthily and be able to stop eating when you have had enough to satisfy your hunger. By establishing this new life long healthy eating pattern and relationship with food you will break free from dieting.

Each hypnosis session that you undergo will comprise of two distinct therapeutic sections, each of which is utilised to obtain a specific outcome.

Firstly at various stages during the hypnotic session you will be asked to visualise yourself as a slim, healthy, happy and attractive person, this is so that your unconscious mind accepts the new you that you are working to become. Embedding the vision of the new you in your mind makes it easier to resist temptation which will delay achieving your goal. You will unconsciously be able to make the decision that the long term benefits of the new healthy lifestyle far outweigh the short-term satisfaction that would be obtained from over eating.

The second focus of the hypnosis sessions will be the fitting of the Virtual Gastric Band. This will restrict the amount of food that you will be able to eat at a time and will restrict the speed at which the food leaves the stomach allowing you to feel full for longer. By using this innovative process is becomes far easier to eat less without feeling hungry.

The Virtual Gastric Band Therapy weight control programme is totally different from any diet. It is an extremely relaxing, pleasant and enjoyable experience which will allow you to be comfortable around food. Just think, no more calorie or points counting, no more obsessing about what you can and can’t eat, you won’t feel deprived and you will have a “normal” relationship with food. The most important aspect of this is that you will find losing weight to reach your target is easier and afterwards maintaining it will be second nature. For the first time both your conscious and unconscious minds will be working together for a joint outcome, this keeps your motivation levels high, willpower has nothing to do with it.

The focus of the therapy is long term with the course starting with 4 pleasant and relaxing therapeutic sessions. These can either take place on consecutive days or over a two week period, the choice is yours. The first session is for an in depth discussion of your eating habits, lifestyle, BMI, your general mental health and your commitment to making the required changes necessary for the programme to be successful. In the first session there will also be an introduction to the techniques to be used extensively in the following sessions.

If after this initial conceptualisation session you do not wish to proceed or if it is felt that you are not ready or suited to the course then any money paid will be refunded, less a nominal fee for the initial session.

The following 3 sessions will be the therapeutic/training modules.

To ensure that satisfactory weight loss is being achieved post-therapy an appointment for “band adjustment” will be made for 4 weeks after the completion of the initial sessions.

Finally an in depth session on long term weight management is recommended when target weight is within reach. The cost of these two sessions is included in the total price.

The sessions will involve a mixture of Advanced Hypnotherapy, NLP and guided visualisations. These techniques will be used in combination to achieve the successful fitting of the Virtual Gastric Band. Every session is tailored to your specific requirements and will be as individual as you are. The treatment will involve you in specific changes (both short and long term) in your eating habits. These will vary depending on your individual therapy pattern however they are an important part of the process as this is to realign your body’s natural reflexes.

Just as the surgical fitting of a Gastric band is not suitable for everyone neither is the fitting of a Virtual Gastric Band.

Although the surgical risks associated with surgery and a general anaesthetic are obviously absent with this process, it is not a magic wand and to gain a successful long term outcome there must be a willingness on the part of the recipient of a Virtual Gastric Band to change their lifestyle.