Gastric Mind Band Therapy, Session Four

This past Sunday I had my fourth and final GMBT session. I was so excited! Julie began this session by providing information, just as she had done in the other three sessions. She told me about different kinds of gastric surgery, and the side effects and risks. The risks range from constant heartburn to lifelong diarrhea to, as with any surgery, possible death. She gave me information on the success rate with gastric surgeries, which actually made me sad. I can’t imagine how hard it would be to take the huge step to have surgery in order to control your weight, only to find yourself gaining the weight back a few years later. And you already had the surgery, so what would your next step be? My heart goes out to anyone in that position.

She talked about the specific gastric procedure that the hypnosis would be mimicking, the adjustable gastric band. A hollow band is looped around your stomach and then filled with saline. The saline makes the band expand so that it constricts around your stomach, leaving room above it for about six tablespoons of food or liquid. Following the surgery you are on a liquid diet for several weeks, and after that can move on to solid foods. She showed me actual video of the procedure being performed, then a computerized animation. And then it was on to the hypnosis!

The big comfy chair I usually reclined on during hypnosis was covered by a sheet. I took off my shoes and laid down. She covered me with another sheet and put a “Mind Band” wristband on my arm. She attached a heartrate monitor to my finger and told me to close my eyes. She began with the relaxation stuff and she used scents this time as well. I could smell the jasmine in the field she was describing. Then she moved on to the surgical part of the session. The music was gone and I heard the hustle and bustle of a hospital in the background as Julie talked. I could smell the antiseptic. I heard a heartrate monitor beeping in the background. She later told me that she observed my heartrate changed to match the recorded one during the session. That is pretty damn cool. She talked me through the procedure and then described a tightness I would feel in my abdomen when I began to overeat. She described an uncomfortable sensation that would appear when I overate but would vanish when I stopped eating. She talked about how I would eat small, sensible, healthy meals. I would eat only when I was hungry and stop when I was full. My weight loss would accelerate now and I would continue to lose at a healthy rate until I reached my goal weight. And then I would stay at that weight forever. Hallelujah!

As always, I woke feeling refreshed, confident and energized. I will miss those sessions. Julie gave me a golf ball with Gastric Mind Band written on it, to remind me of the new suggested size of my stomach, and a 9-inch plate to help me continue to eat smaller meals. She also gave me a binder that contained recordings of each of the hypnosis sessions, plus one recording about motivation and one for relaxation. The binder is also full of helpful information about the procedure, the therapy and weight loss.

It’s only been a couple days since the fourth session. As of that day, four weeks since I started down this road, I lost 5 lbs without even trying. I can’t wait to see how easy it will be to continue to lose. I’m already appreciating the help the hypnosis gives… this evening I was so tired and busy.  I’ve been running on empty for several days now. I had a couple errands to run and no time to go home and fix dinner, so I knew I was going to have to pick something up before I turned into a big hungry grumpy bear. At least, that’s what usually happens when I’m hungry for very long; I don’t think the hypnotherapy was designed to fix that particular problem. So I pulled into a fast food chicken place and ordered a four-piece chicken strip basket. It came with a biscuit and fries. I was S-T-A-R-V-I-N-G! And I was absolutely stuffed after two scrawny chicken strips, the biscuit and less than half the fries. If you know me, you know that I can put away the grub and there was no way a few meager handfuls of food would satisfy me. But it did. I could not eat any more. Well, maybe I could have, but I was as full as a tick (as my grandma used to say) and had no desire to eat any more. I had just experienced a minor miracle. Wow. This is really going to work.

FTC disclaimer: Since I am blogging about the experience, the service is being provided at no charge.