"Hi everyone. The first thing to say here is that blogging isn't natural to a therapist – client confidentiality and all that. But, as Vic is being so open about her journey, I’m very happy to contribute.
I think most people who know Vic would agree with me when I say that in no way does she look overweight. And I know many have passed that comment. However, I congratulate her on recognising the fact that she has put weight on and has become unhappy with her body image at such an early stage. It’s all about how we feel inside isn't it?
Now, I appreciate there are the extremes, you know people who see themselves as fat when they are super skinny already and allowing that unrealistic body image to drive them to develop an eating disorder. But how much happier would a large percentage of the population be if they'd taken action as quickly as Vic and just how incredible is it that she's achieved the weight loss she has so far?? I’m so proud of her.
I may be a clinically trained therapist, but it’s down to my clients to make the changes they require.
Session 1:
When I first met Vic and we went through her eating habits in detail, I have to admit it was such a healthy diet already I had my doubts how quickly we would see success. It’s so much easier when a client's addicted to sugar!!! But, by Vic exploring with me what the correct foods are to eat at each point in the day we managed to tweak her diet – and what a success that's proven to be.
I reinforced the messages we'd discussed, along with a few additional ones, using hypnosis. (For anyone who doesn't understand hypnosis there's a really useful video on my website of me interviewing one of my clients. It really is me; I just decided to go brunette recently!)
Don't eat breakfast?
Now, Vic always eats breakfast but for any of you out there who don't here's a new way to look at it. You wouldn't expect to get into a car with no petrol or oil in it, turn the key and drive around for hours would you? It simply wouldn't run and you'd do a fair amount of damage to the engine just trying. Right well, your body is your engine. How do you expect it to get you through your day without the right type and amount of fuel in it??? It’s going to cause you problems.
Session 2:
On our second session it came to light that Vic was having problems giving herself positive affirmations about her body image. Using such affirmations can make all the difference to any goal you wish to achieve in life but I won't go into that here. Gradually, as we were discussing this, Vic opened up to me about 2010, and just how many traumatic incidents she had gone through. No wonder this girl is finding it difficult; she has had SO much to deal with, and on top of that her nature is to support everyone else through such times (including her guinea pigs), and her job is to support and promote her clients. When does she look after herself???
So rather than hypnotherapy, we used CBT during the session. Put very simply; this is about changing the way you think and realising that no one else and nothing else can make you think or feel any differently to how you want to think and feel. It’s all about stopping those negative and unhelpful thoughts and replacing them with the positive. Had we had more time I would have used hypnosis to again reinforce all the messages we discussed, but we simply talked our way through the session.
Progress:
Today I hear Vic's lost over 5lbs in weight in just over a week. I'll let you into a secret too; she's eaten a slice or two of pizza and a mini bag of chocolate buttons. Not to mention her love for gin and slimline! The right, long-term approach to weight loss can really pay dividends!
Victoria is living proof!
You can follow Claire on Twitter: @claireonthewww
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