Cravings stop and patients drop 10% of their weight following new therapy that requires no surgery or drugs

Patients undergoing a new weight loss ‘surgery’ have slashed their cravings and their body weight by more than 10 percent, a study shows.

As obesity becomes more and more pervasive in the US, with three in four Americans overweight or obese, few quick fixes exist.

Operations like gastric bypass, which makes the stomach smaller, require several weeks of recovery and can lead to infections, obstructions and severe bleeding.

And GLP-1 injections like Ozempic and Wegovy, while less invasive, have been linked to a host of side effects ranging from nausea and vomiting to stomach paralysis and organ failure. 

But in an ongoing study on an alternative treatment, weight loss surgeons set up an operating room as they would for gastric bypass or other types of bariatric surgery. However, they had no scalpel and no anesthesia.

Instead, a psychologist and hypnotherapist would hypnotize patients and walk them step by step through what weight loss surgery would look like without actually operating.

The researchers believe because the ‘brain doesn’t distinguish between reality and imagination,’ a person’s brain under hypnosis would believe they are having surgery when they are not, leading the mind to mimic the benefits of actually undergoing the procedure, including increased fullness and self-control. 

After five self-guided hypnosis sessions, follow-up conversations with researchers and being given printed nutritional guides, the majority of patients started losing weight in just three months.

And on average, study participants lost about 10 percent of their body weight in this timeframe, about the same amount as three months after gastric bypass. 

However, the study is still ongoing, and there is limited evidence that hypnosis can lead to lasting weight loss. 

Maya Mizrahi, a certified hypnotherapist who led the study along with a team at Hadassah Medical Center in Israel, said: ‘The brain doesn’t distinguish between reality and imagination.

‘By constructing a scenario in which the brain believes the body is undergoing surgery, the mind can recreate or trigger the same positive effects of an actual operation: sensations of fullness, self-control, confidence and motivation for change.’

The research, which has not yet been published, included 41 participants, 19 of whom previously had bariatric surgery. 

Mizrahi dresses up as a surgeon and leads patients into a real operating room, dressed in a surgical gown and connected to medical monitors, Ynetglobal reported. 

Patients receive a visual briefing outlining steps that would be taken during a normal sleeve gastrectomy, which involves removing a large portion of the stomach, before being placed into a hypnotic state. 

Then for 50 minutes, Mizrahi walks patients through each step of the procedure, including which medical equipment would be used and where incisions would typically be made.  

Early results show 86 percent of participants began losing weight after three months. Among those who previously underwent surgery, two-thirds lost more than 20 percent of their body weight, while 55 percent of those who didn’t have surgery lost a similar amount of weight.

One patient, who goes by the pseudonym ‘Rose,’ said she had bariatric surgery several years ago to help her lose 132 pounds. But over time, her weight creeped back up, and GLP-1 injections led to severe side effects.

She said: ‘I felt hopeless after I couldn’t lose weight on my own; I was truly afraid I’d have to cut into my body again.’

Rose, 69, underwent hypnosis several weeks ago and was instructed to follow a strict diet of liquids and soft food like is advised for patients having surgery as they pass through the stomach easier.

After three months, she lost 37 pounds.  

Rose said: ‘I was worried I wouldn’t handle it, but I was surprised. All my life I held myself back from eating. And suddenly, Maya played with my mind and things changed. 

‘Now I go to cafés and it’s not hard anymore to pass on the pastry next to my coffee; it’s no longer a problem. It’s magic. Who would’ve believed it? There’s hope in this study.’

Yuval Wollhandler, 45, a nurse and a combat medic in the army reserves, also took part in the study after struggling with his weight for most of his life. When he underwent hypnosis, he weighed 293 pounds. 

About five months later, he had lost 55 pounds, according to Ynetglobal reporting. 

‘The hypnotic surgery feels very real,’ he said. ‘You truly feel like you’ve had surgery, so you find yourself actually sticking to the strict dietary rules that follow real surgery.’ 

‘It didn’t feel like a struggle. Even now, eight months later, some habits from the hypnosis remain, like planning all my meals for the day in advance.’

Mizrahi notes that hypnosis may help open up participants’ minds to suggestion, making it easier for them to change their eating habits. 

She said: ‘One of the major challenges in treating obesity is dissociation, a disconnect between the person and their conscious experience. People eat on autopilot and are then surprised to find they’ve gained weight.

‘That experience often stems from a disconnection between the mind and body or between emotion and logic while eating. The intervention we created helps patients reconnect with their body, and to work on the areas of choice, control and impulse.’ 

Final results are expected to be published by the end of the year. 

Mizrahi said: ‘I hope that this research leads to real clinical change, and that it introduces a targeted intervention to help address weight regain, possibly even integrating it into surgical departments at hospitals.’