I want to share a success story about hypnosis for weight loss. There are so many, but this one stands out in my mind and touches my heart. I was working in the summer of 2004 with a young lady named Jen. She was 19 at the time and was scheduled to undergo gastric bypass surgery. This surgery is very drastic and involved stapling the stomach so that the person can no longer eat large meals. She also already had liposuction but regained all of her weight. Her father had died and all her mother wanted was for Jen to be happy. As they both sat in my office in tears, Jen told me that this was her last attempt to lose weight before killing herself. After her mom left the room, we began the hypnosis session. While in a trance, Jen remembered being abused by her father. It was traumatic for her to recall this, but helpful at the same time. Jen also revealed that she had "built up a protective layer" with the excess weight. She explained while under hypnosis that the weight repelled men and kept her "safe." After Jen was out of hypnosis, I invited her mom back into the office. The three of us discussed this unfortunate event. Her mom said that she had suspected that it happened, but never had proof until now. Jen returned the next week and we began working on re-building her self-esteem using hypnosis. This is very easy to do with hypnosis since the messages go directly to the subconscious mind. If you want to do this yourself, just make a tape with positive suggestions that you play in bed each night as you go to sleep. In the four weeks that followed, I was able to reframe the way she felt about eating right, exercising, and taking care of herself in general. After only six sessions, I told Jen that I had done all the work we needed to do. Last week, Jen sent me an e-mail with a picture. You see, I had programmed her to continue to eat right, exercise, and take care of herself. Well, the picture she sent looked like a model! Jen had gone from 325 lbs. to 115 lbs! The e-mail was even more inspirational. Here's what she wrote: Dear Steve, It has been a year since our last session. The pounds have been consistently dropping. I eat differently and don't even try to. I exercise three times a week and love it. Most importantly, my view of life is completely different now. I went from being overweight and suicidal to being thin, sexy, beautiful and totally confident. My mom is happier than ever and so is my husband. That's right! I am married. He's 6'4", an architect, and wants kids. I feel like I'm living the life of my dreams. Hypnosis is amazing. You taught me that I could do ANYTHING that I BELIEVE I can do. You are right. Feel free to share this letter with others. I want the world to know about the power of hypnosis and the power of the human mind! With much love and respect, Jen In my line of work I get to see this happen often. Jen is one of the many people who decided to make a powerful change in her life. Hypnosis helped, but the change was really due to her commitment to herself. I hope that the sharing of Jen's journey will inspire you to create whatever powerful change you desire in your life. There are no obstacles, except the ones YOU create in your mind. Remove those obstacles, and you will easily live the life of YOUR dreams.