The workplace is one of the key areas where we see our hypnotherapy for weight loss client’s new healthy behaviours put under pressure. Things like cakes on birthdays, drinks after work, colleagues bringing in their bakery efforts and often vending machines offering sugary sweets are just a few of the workplace ‘treats’ that are usually in plentiful supply.
These so called workplace ‘treats’ come with significant peer pressure. To refuse a piece of birthday cake or the muffins that Sally has baked especially for the office is tantamount to an insult. If you respond with “No thanks I’m on a diet”, your new behaviour is challenged with phrases like “Go on, one won’t hurt you”, or “But it’s my birthday!” which only add to the pressure to destroy those new behaviours.
It’s not just cakes in the office but often biscuits and chocolate are in plentiful supply as people share their ‘treats’ in a generous way around the office.
However, the latest figures in a report from The Academy of Medical Royal Colleges show that two thirds of adults are obese or overweight (BMI over 25). So the chances are that two thirds of your colleagues would be better off not eating the ‘treats’ either.
The report does not put blame at any one individual or body. Instead it says that we all have a responsibility to tackle the problem urgently through collective action. Obesity related illness costs the NHS £5.1 billion per year and the scale of the problem starts to become apparent.
The report describes the problem as “the greatest public health crisis facing the UK.” One of the consequences is heart disease and the report states that people are dying needlessly from avoidable diseases.
Paul White, Institute Director and Chairman of the National Council for Hypnotherapy, said “Hypnotherapy for weight loss is very effective at changing your behaviours around food and can, to a certain degree, help you avoid the subconscious sabotage of colleagues, friends and family. However, sometimes the continual barrage of temptations in the office can threaten to overwhelm the client’s new behaviours.”
How can you avoid the office ‘treats’?
- Stay firm by remembering that if you just eat a donut or a cream cake with say 250 calories a day, that can equate to a yearly weight gain of 26lb, nearly 2 stone. How would you look 2 stone heavier? Visualise that and all of a sudden it becomes easier to say “No thanks” firmly.
- Help to start establishing new behaviours in the office. As the summer progresses, delicious fruits start to become available and although fruit has a high sugar content it is a natural sugar and it is a far more healthy option. You have to eat a lot of oranges, apples or strawberries to equal just one donut.
- Plan ahead if you know that there is a special occasion in the office. Bring in your own healthy ‘treats’ and share them around. If you’re already eating something it’s much easier to refuse unhealthy options. For example, if you are eating an apple it is easy to say “No thanks I’m fine with this”.
Our hypnotherapy weight loss programme is different for every client. We look at your individual triggers and temptations and help you to change the behaviours associated with them. We aim to help you make the changes permanent so you can live your life with a much healthier relationship with food. This allows you over time to be much more relaxed about food.