Think yourself slim: imagine a slimmer you
Visualisation is the bedrock of hypnotherapy, retraining the brain to get rid of negative thoughts and images and replace them with the positive kind. The brain takes from 10 to 21 days to let go of an old belief and lock on to a new one, and it can help you slim.
Hypnotherapist and author Marisa Peer says: "It's not about imagining yourself as Cameron Diaz in a thong. It's all about repeating positive words and images - it takes practice but what the subconscious is told it accepts."
What's the trick? The key is repeating positive visualisations for 21 days.
Make a list of negative things you say and make them positive. "I will always be fat" changes to "I am changing my shape".
Take time every day to visualise and repeat positive affirmations. Marisa suggests: "I can eat healthily and love it. I can be a dress size smaller. I will find ten minutes a day to exercise."
Every time you visualise, make the picture exciting, and increase the duration and intensity. Add positive words. "The more you visualise the more you'll believe your visualisation is possible," says Marisa.
You Can Be Thin - The Ultimate Programme To End Dieting Forever (Sphere, £12.99) comes with a hypnosis session CD.
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