How the Virtual Gastric Band Program has helped me
After struggling to shed 20 pounds without dieting (going from borderline obesity & back to my healthier weight), I was feeling pretty good about myself.
My next goal was to shed another 5-10 pounds but at that point, my weight completely plateaued.
My weight stayed constant for over 12 months.
I was perplexed and I figured I just needed to do more Healthy Weight Mindset work.
Instead, I started sabotaging myself.
I found endless excuses to NOT do a little homework and journaling around my Healthy Weight Mindset work.
I was either way too busy or found numerous other things that were just far more important.
After all, I was only a “little” overweight.
I justified those extra pounds of fat on my weight and hips with statistics that people whom are 10 to 25 pounds "overweight" are healthier and live longer.
But I knew from my coaching work with my clients that these rationals and excuses were distractions that my subconscious mind was using to keep my consciousness off the track of losing those last pounds.
Enter the Virtual Gastric Band Program
In August of 2014, I read about a hypnosis program called the The Virtual Gastric Band.
As a hypnotherapist, I had studied several hypnosis approaches to release excess weight.
My experience with clients was that different approaches worked better with different people.
But none of these approaches were working to shift me off my weight plateau.
If they weren’t working on me, how could I feel confident to continue using them on my clients?
When I first saw the information about the Virtual Gastric Band, I just knew this could help me and many of my clients.
I became fascinated and intrigued with the concept of convincing my unconscious mind that my body had experienced a gastric band procedure and my mind-body believed that my stomach became the size of a ping pong ball.
I had a friend that was a successful nurse hypnotherapist that used hypnosis as a replacement for anesthesia for surgeries.
The VGB info seemed like a similar concept.
I did more research.
In 2014 there were only 4 certified course instructors in North America for the most successful version of the VGB program.
Sheila Granger in Great Britain had a perfected a VGB program that had a 90-95% success rate in two double blind medically supervised studies.
A course to become a Virtual Gastric Band practitioners was being held the next month in Seattle, Washington.
I was actually more excited for myself than I was about using the training for my Healthy Weight Coaching clients.
Plus, a dear friend had moved to the Seattle area and I would get to visit with her.
I couldn’t wait to sign up.
My Virtual Gastric Band (VGB) Experience
My experience was with a weekend intensive version of the VGB program.
The first day, I sat with a group of other hypnotherapists whom were also training to be VGB practitioners. The Practitioner Training Program began with a morning long introduction that covered the background and details of Virtual Gastric Band Protocols about the entire 5 hypnotherapy sessions in our weekend intensive program.
After lunch, the class was lead into hypnosis through 2 of our planned 4 hypnotherapy sessions. We ended that first day with the Virtual Gastric Band Surgery hypnotherapy session, I remember thinking very negatively to myself,
“This doesn’t feel or seem real at all. All my other hypnosis experiences have been so intense and felt transformational. I don’t feel any different. This had better work after all the money that I have spent to learn this program as well as for travel and hotel. What an expensive endeavor this will be!”
When I joined my good friend to dine at one of Seattle’s delicious fresh seafood restaurants at a that evening, I ate as usual and my stomach did not feel smaller at all.
I held my disappointment at a distance with “let’s wait and see”.
After all, I had another day with 2 more sessions to complete.
The next morning we went through the third hypnosis session.
Again it was not what I expected.
I found I was having more doubts about the monies I had spent for this trip.
We went to lunch.
After I ate about 1/4 of my plate of food, I started feeling pleasantly full.
Because it was going to be a long afternoon and I didn’t want to be famished at the end of the long workshop day,
I keep trying to finish eating all of my meal, but I lost all desire to eat more and started feeling very full.
For the remainder of that afternoon, I didn’t just feel full, I felt stuffed and bloated like I had over eaten at Thanksgiving dinner!
I was not hungry late that afternoon like I usually am.
My friend and I went out to dinner at one of her favorite asian restaurants.
I was disappointed that I could only eat about 1/2 of my tasty dinner that evening!
Still, I was also really delighted that the program was working!
Over the following 2 months, I lost 6 pounds without any effort.
I was off my weight plateau!
After proving the effectiveness on myself, I couldn’t wait to help clients with the VGB Hypnotherapy!
When I began to offer the Virtual Gastric Band Program in the Fall of 2014, I only offered my program as 6 weekly sessions, with not as a weekend intensive with 4 sessions as I did.
I had 5 private clients, all had similar experiences as mine.
Over a 6 to 8 week period, all except one reported they were having
an effortless decrease in their appetite,
a decrease in desire and ability to consume a large volume of food,
their cravings decreased or had totally gone.
All 5 clients lost weight of 5 to 25 just by attending the 6 sessions.
The Virtual Gastric Band Program worked! and worked very well.
In spite of the fat that 4 out of my 5 first clients were completely satisfied with the VGB Program,
I felt really disappointed that I wasn't able to help that one like I had the others.
Part of the Program is adding subconscious support to help clients desire healthier food, choose to eat less unhealthy food and beverages and encourage clients to feel more like doing some exercise by moving their body more.
I retrospect, I realized neither me nor the VGB program could not be responsible for changing anyone.
The VGB Program simply provides you with the mental-emotional tools that clients can choose to use to enable themselves to help them become their healthier weight.
I realized how very resistant & non-compliant this client was to doing any of the required follow up homework from our first session.
Yet, in spite of her non-compliance & dissatifaction, she actually did lose five pounds without trying over the 6 weeks of her private sessions.
She also made several very profound & positive life awarenesses, leading to her in making shifts at work and in her relationship with her boyfriend towards her having healthier self boundaries.
I really felt this client just had greater Fat Mindset Programs that needed more awareness of how her past issues were still keeping her safe by keeping her obese.
I offered to give her another 6 sessions free of charge, but she refused with the excuse that the sessions took too much of her time for poor results for losing weight.
All my other Virtual Gastric Band clients were absolutely delighted with the entire process and their results.
In a follow up contact with them one year after they completed the program,
all reported they were able to maintain their healthier habits by occassocially listening to the support CDs.
PS
They all all continued to lose weight without struggling with will power.