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If you are one of the many millions of people who struggle to maintain the proper weight, you are probably aware of the generally accepted groundrules of weight management.

The rules say that you need just two things to keep to the correct weight: proper diet and exercise. These two factors are expounded in books and programs worldwide that are the center of a billion-dollar business.

Unfortunately, that business is failing, at least in having an effect, if not in making money for its principals. The proportion of the population who are overweight, and in fact obese, is growing at an alarming rate.

And it's not just the United States, by the way. Obesity worldwide is such a concern that the World Health Organization has coined a new word "Globesity" to describe what they see as a global problem.

For many of us, "proper diet and exercise" is not a simple or an easy answer - instead, it represents a total and challenging lifestyle change. Resistance to the required change in personal eating and exercise habits and practices is what dooms many individual attempts to lose weight.

In other words, proper diet and exercise are only half of what is required to maintain a healthy weight - the physical half. It's the other half: the mental and emotional challenges, resistance to change, and difficulty in breaking habits and routines, which keep us overweight.

And, seeing that "proper diet and exercise" is fairly simple in concept, and it's the emotional and habit issues that are the sticking point, it's therefore those latter issues that we should be focussing on. This is where hypnosis can help.

Let me comment, by the way, that all this is the reason why programs like Jenny Craig, Weightwatchers, and even Overeaters Anonymous are so effective. Using meetings and counselors to allow you to interact with others, they address your emotional needs as much as the physical aspects of diet. However, the use of hypnosis can be a lot cheaper, faster, and easier.

For example, most of us have become accustomed (conditioned) to eating particular types and amounts of food on a particular schedule. It's not easy to eat less, or differently. Our tummies are used to feeling full, our brains are conditioned to eat at particular times, and we are used to particular foods, often those which are "not good" for us.

Exercise is also not that easy to insert into one's daily routine. It seems straightforward but humans are strongly resistant to it. Plus, in today's society, who has the time?

This is where hypnotic techniques can help. Hypnotherapy is about habit reconditioning and behavior modification. A course of hypnotherapy can help you modify your existing behaviors and habit patterns (in other words, the mental and emotional challenges) so that you more easily adjust to the new lifestyle required to achieve the two physical cornerstones of weight management - diet and exercise.

But, hypnosis or not, you still have to embrace the diet and exercise part. Hypnosis helps you do this.

Now, here is the good news - a good hypnotherapy program can greatly influence good weight management behavior and make a substantial difference in the adjustments required to a new diet and exercise regime.

First, hypnosis can teach you relaxation. Many of the triggers that cause people to overeat are caused by stress-related factors. The kind of relaxation learned during hypnosis techniques can greatly reduce stress, making the adjustment to new habits much easier.

Next, a good hypnotherapist will work with you to identify triggers. These are that are sabotaging good diet and exercise habits.

You may be one of those people who find yourself standing looking inside the fridge, just looking for something to eat. Your hypnotherapist will help you change those behaviors so that you only snack at fixed times, and then you only eat something good for you, such as a protein snack to prevent hypoglycemia, or low blood sugar.

We describe certain foods as comfort foods - food which is tasty to eat and filling, and generally bad for you. For some people, their entire diet is comfort food. Maybe their parents fed them comfort food at a young age when they were upset.

Whatever the reason, those bad eating habits are now engrained. Your hypnotherapist can give you suggestions to change your automatic responses when you have an upset or a "stress moment".

In fact, hypnosis can help alleviate the pangs or cravings that we tend to feel even when we are not hungry, and do not need nourishment. Often we eat because we are just used to eating at a certain time, or because our tummies are used to feeling full.

The problem with this is that over the years, we need to eat more and more to maintain that "full" feeling. Hypnosis can reverse this behavior to allow you to let go of the hunger pangs at all the wrong times.

Your hypnotherapist can also help you to change your mental patterns so that you feel better about yourself. Self-image is a big issue when it comes to weight and dieting issues.

Dieting is not difficult, as it happens. There is a huge variety of different options, including for those who want bigger portions, those who like particular foods, and so forth. It's making the adjustment to stick to a plan that makes the difference, and that's the key to success.

So, what's the game plan? First, when entering into any form of diet, exercise, or other lifestyle change, it's always a good idea to visit your doctor and get his advice on what to do and the limits. For example, if you have not exercised forever and you are 50 pounds overweight, it's not a good idea to suddenly try running 3 miles a day. You need to start slowly. So, get a diet and exercise plan from your doctor.

Next, understand that you have to take it slowly. Weight loss of 1-2 pounds a week is a standard goal, and this requires both diet and exercise. You can probably lose more in the short term by taking more extreme measures like starvation dieting. However, this will not last.

Second, understand that even with hypnosis, you are going to have to exert a little bit of will power. Hypnosis will help you greatly by making you aware of the urges and reframing your automatic responses. However, at some point you are going to have to just say "no". It's at this point that a hypnotic refresher, such as an MP3 recording, will be very effective.

There are many "Hypnosis weight loss" programs and CDs available. The best kind of program, however, is one which offers personalized individual sessions, backed up by recordings to be listened to between the sessions. Hypno To Go provides such a program, for example. Individual hypnotherapy sessions, which can be performed over the phone, are directed towards your specific weight loss issues, and can also be tailored to support the specific diet and exercise program that you have chosen or that your doctor has recommended.

Finally, know that you are not alone. Millions of people are overweight and even obese as we stated above. However, this does not mean that you can not make a difference for yourself.

Take the right steps, take them slowly, and commit to the long term, and a return to a lower weight will surely be in your future. I wish you the very best of success with your weight loss endeavors.

For more information, please see http://www.hypguy.com/weightloss.