Hypnosis for weight loss is heavily advertised, and the claims usually outrun the evidence. So it is worth looking closely at one of the better trials, which asked a practical question: if you teach people with severe obesity to use self-hypnosis, on top of ordinary dietary care, do they lose more weight?
The answer was not a simple yes.
The trial
The study was carried out in Turin and published in 2018. Researchers recruited 120 adults with a body mass index between 35 and 50, and randomly assigned them to two groups.
- Standard care: an individualised diet, advice on exercise, and behavioural recommendations
- Standard care plus self-hypnosis: the same, with three group sessions teaching brief self-hypnosis
The self-hypnosis was a quick technique, lasting only a few minutes, designed to be used several times a day, particularly before eating and when a craving struck. Its aim was to increase self-control at the moment it was needed.
Participants were followed for a year.
What it found
Weight. Both groups lost weight. The self-hypnosis group lost an average of 6.5 kg and the standard care group 5.6 kg. The difference was not statistically significant.
Regular users did better. Within the self-hypnosis group, people who made a habit of the technique lost more: an average of 9.6 kg among frequent users. Weight loss was related to how often people practised.
Other outcomes favoured the self-hypnosis group:
- Greater reported satiety
- Better quality of life
- Lower C-reactive protein, a marker of inflammation
- Lower calorie intake at some points
Reading it honestly
It would be easy to take the 9.6 kg figure and call it proof. It is not.
The headline result is the fair comparison, and it showed no significant difference. That is what randomisation tested.
The frequent-user finding is a comparison within one group. People who practised regularly chose to do so. They may have been more motivated, more organised or less stressed to begin with, and would have done better with or without hypnosis. People who stick to anything in a weight-loss study tend to lose more weight.
So the reasonable conclusions are:
- Teaching self-hypnosis did not, on average, add significant weight loss
- It may have improved how people felt about eating and about their lives
- Those who practised regularly did well, but it cannot be said that the practice caused it
That fits the wider literature. Meta-analyses of hypnosis added to behavioural weight programmes have reported modest extra benefit, with considerable disagreement about its size.
Why the secondary results still matter
A kilogram or so is not much. But satiety and quality of life are not trivial.
Most people who lose weight regain it. The difficulty is not knowing what to eat. It is living with hunger, cravings and the feeling of constant effort. Anything that makes a person feel fuller, calmer around food and better about their life could make a plan easier to keep up, even if the scales show little difference at twelve months.
How the technique was meant to work
The approach was designed for the moment of decision.
- Before a meal: a pause, to arrive at the table calm and not ravenous or rushed
- When a craving comes: a short gap between the urge and the action
- When stressed or bored: an alternative to eating as a way of changing how you feel
It is closer to a brake than an engine.
A three-minute version
This is in the spirit of the trial, not a copy of its protocol.
- Sit or stand still. Look at one point, or close your eyes.
- Take one slow breath in and a longer breath out.
- Let your shoulders, jaw and stomach soften.
- Notice what you are feeling. Is it hunger in the stomach, or something else: tired, bored, anxious, cross?
- Tell yourself: “I can choose. I eat slowly, and I stop when I have had enough.”
- Picture the next half hour going the way you want.
- One more slow breath, and carry on.
Use it before each meal and whenever you find yourself heading for the cupboard.
Tips
- Tie it to something fixed: sitting down at the table, opening the fridge
- Keep it short. A technique you use five times a day beats one you use once a week.
- It is a pause, not a prohibition. Sometimes you will choose to eat, and that is fine.
What it will not do
- Melt fat. There are no suggestions that change metabolism.
- Remove appetite. Especially not the biological drive that follows weight loss.
- Replace a sensible eating plan, activity and sleep.
- Substitute for medical treatment. For severe obesity, medication and surgery have far larger effects, and are worth discussing with a doctor.
Avoid anyone promising rapid, effortless loss, “virtual gastric band” guarantees, or suggestions meant to make you disgusted by food.
A caution about eating disorders
If you binge, purge, restrict heavily or feel out of control around food, weight-loss hypnosis is the wrong tool and may do harm. See your GP. In the UK, the charity Beat offers support.
The bottom line
In a year-long trial in severe obesity, adding self-hypnosis to dietary care did not produce significantly more weight loss, though people felt fuller and better, and those who practised often lost the most. Treat it as a way of pausing before you eat, not as a weight-loss method in itself.
Next in the series: Spiegel’s One-Session Stop-Smoking Method
This article is for general information and is not medical advice.