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A WEIGHT MY OFF MIND; It's the weirdest weight-loss idea ever -a hypnotist makes you think that you've had gastric band surgery and will never be able to to eat as much food again. This sceptical woman tried it... and she was utterly astonished by the amazing results; I've lost 71bs in just 10 days.

Article Excerpt
Byline: by Claudia Connell

LYING on a hospital trolley, feeling pleasantly woozy from the recently administered pre-med, I am about to be wheeled down to theatre to have my gastric band fitted.

I can hear the noises of a busy hospital and am aware of that very distinct clinical smell.

Despite what lies ahead, I don't feel in the least bit anxious as the anaesthetist puts me under and the surgeon prepares his scalpel for that first incision. Perhaps my calm state of mind is because I am relieved to finally be addressing the weight problems I have struggled with for two years - but, in reality, it's due to the fact that I am not in a hospital at all but reclining on a comfy chair, under hypnosis and in a state of deep relaxation, in a therapy room on Spain's Costa Del Sol. You see I'm not actually having a gastric band fitted., I am being hypnotised into believing it as part of an innovative new weightloss treatment.

As obesity rates soar, demand for gastric band surgery has never been higher. The success stories of celebrities such as Fern Britton and Sharon Osbourne have encouraged thousands to follow in their footsteps.

Some desperate dieters will happily pay thousands in order to lose weight. But there is no denying that the procedure is complicated and risky and often leads to many unpleasant and painful side effects such as vomiting, diarrhoea and acid reflux.

Now, two Spanish-based therapists are convinced they have hit upon an ingenious way to help overweight people shed the pounds without undergoing any dangerous surgical procedures - by hypnotising patients into believing that they have had their stomachs reduced.

WHEN the Mail ran the story of Marion Corns, who had undergone the procedure called the Gastric Mind Band, showing how she had shed three stone in four months, the clinic was inundated with calls from people all over the world wanting treatment.

But can an overeater like me really be tricked into believing that my stomach is the size of a golf ball and that I will no longer be able to eat the gluttonous portions I'd previously been gorging on? The Elite Clinic in Fuengirola is run by a married couple - Martin and Marion Shirran, both therapists with ten years' experience of helping patients conquer addictions and disorders, from drug use to panic attacks.

When an overweight patient remarked that she was terrified of surgery and wished she could be hypnotised into believing she had a...

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