In spite of the popularity of the Atkins Diet, it is often greatly misunderstood! Popular, but slightly exaggerated depictions of the diet portray dieters wolfing down nothing but huge quantities of meat and fat. Although the diet itself may not be quite this simple, many people have used it to successfully lose weight and improve their health.

On this plan, dieters follow a very specific program based on cutting carbohydrate intake. Emphasis is placed on the nutritional aspects of the diet over exercise and other factors, although getting physical activity is also important to weight loss. There are 4 stages in the Atkins program:

Induction: During this two-week stage at the beginning of the diet program, dieters can only consume up to 20 grams of carbs each day. Dieters can eat high protein foods such as meat and fish, fats such as oils and butter, and other foods with little to no carbs. Many foods containing carbs are not allowed at all during this stage, including alcoholic drinks.

This early phase is intended to help the body switch from burning carbs for energy, as it normally does, into burning fat stored in the body (the state known as ketosis). Most dieters begin to see weight loss during this stage.

Ongoing Weight Loss: During the Ongoing Weight Loss stage, dieters gradually increase their intake of carbs by adding 5 grams of carbs into their diet each week. Dieters fine-tune their diet, losing weight to put themselves within 5-10 pounds of their goal weight, before transitioning into the Pre-maintenance stage.

Pre-maintenance: Dieters use the Pre-maintenance stage to find out the maximum amount of carbs they can consume without gaining weight. During this stage, dieters increase carbohydrate intake by 10 grams a week. Once dieters reach their target weight and can keep it stable for a month, they move into the Lifetime Maintenance stage.

Lifetime Maintenance: For lasting results, the Atkins program is supposed to be maintained throughout the dieter’s lifetime. Using the techniques that helped the dieter reach their goal weight, the dieter keeps up an eating and exercise program to stay at their goal weight. Individuals can revert to previous stages if they ever begin to regain weight.

Dieters who can stick to the Atkins diet are often successful in losing weight; unfortunately, many people are unable to maintain the program and end up quitting early on in the induction stage. In general, most diets fail because dieters cannot stay on the plan.

Many people struggle to stay on diets because they experience strong food cravings, have problems with compulsive overeating, cannot control their appetites, or simply don’t feel the motivation to lose weight. Getting over these mental obstacles is the most challenging aspect of losing weight.

One reason why many people struggle to manage their eating is because they are emotional eaters. Such individuals eat in response to their feelings, such as when they are sad or angry. However, this practice programs a “conditioned response” into the unconscious mind. This means that when people experience the same emotion that made them overeat initially, they will feel compelled to overeat again and again.

Hypnosis works by helping our unconscious minds disassociate our emotions from our eating habits. To eliminate the conditioned response to overeat, a hypnosis weight loss program is used to break the link developed in the unconscious mind between overeating and certain “trigger” behaviors.

For example, if you tend to binge eat when you feel bored, hypnosis can disassociate boredom from eating in your unconscious mind. Hypnotherapy techniques can then be used to replace the overeating response with another activity, such as exercising. This way, the next time you suffer from boredom, instead of having an urge to overeat, you will feel motivated to engage in physical activity.

Hypnosis is a powerful stress relieving tool as well, helping us deal with our stressful emotions and relieve tension without eating. As a relaxation tool, it calms the mind, helps you develop positive strategies to manage stress, and boosts your confidence to motivate you to lose weight.

Hypnotherapy can also be used to end the emotional stresses that keep you from losing weight. Many overweight people use their weight for emotional protection. For example, after ending a relationship, people often find themselves becoming overweight so they can avoid new relationships and avoid having to endure emotional pain again. Through hypnosis, we can turn our negative thoughts into positive ones and focus on improving our health instead of becoming overwhelmed by our thoughts.

Not only is hypnosis an ideal motivation tool, it relieves tension, extinguishes the conditioned responses that cause overeating, and can help you overcome the mental obstacles that prevent weight loss. Hypnosis is exceptionally effective at helping people stay on a diet plan, such as the Atkins diet, and naturally lose weight.