Lily Allen has dropped from a UK size 12 to a size 8 (from US dress size 8 to 4) and is certainly proud of her achievements. Lily has always been in good shape but now she is really slim and elegant with it. Lily is now a mother-of-two and has done great to lose her post-baby weight.
Hypnosis
Lily was first hypnotised in 2009 and described the process as having her brain reprogrammed to enjoy healthy things. For a while Lily was bulimic, but she realised that this was not a healthy way to control her weight so took more positive action.
Many people treat hypnosis with suspicion and would not consider it as an option for weight loss or fitness – stage hypnosis has probably given it a bad name. However, hypnosis is a professional method and is used for all manner of reasons, from helping people to give up smoking and overcoming fears to building confidence and managing chronic pain.
Lily said: “After the hypnotism, I want to go to the gym every day, otherwise I feel really bad. I just want to get more toned and healthy. I’m really good about everything at the moment – I’ve never been happier.”
Lily’s hypnotist is Susan Hepburn who has a clinic on Harley Street in London. She specialises in weight loss and quitting smoking, although Lily has not had success with stopping smoking.
For Lily, Susan Hepburn helped to reprogram her mind to develop a healthier attitude to food and exercise by boosting the enjoying Lily has when eating healthy foods and also raising happiness levels when going to the gym.
Self-hypnosis can also be an effective way to help manage problems. For weight loss some tuition in self-hypnosis can be valuable as people are more likely to slip back a little many weeks after first attending a hypnotherapy session.
How does it work?
Hypnosis is a complex topic and we do not really under how it works, but we do understand what works. For Lily’s weight loss, Hepburn implanted subconscious messages to remind her to stop eating when full.
Many people fail to lose weight because they eat too much food. This is itself often due to programming – parents spend years telling their children to clear their plates, which can develop an unhealthy relationship with eating. Hypnosis can help to reverse this problem.
Hepburn enjoyed working with Lily, saying: “Lily was great, a really nice girl. I’m glad I could help.”
Hypnosis is not a magic cure though, you need to be prepared to work hard, both in terms of exercise and controlling what you eat. However, if you struggle to remain positive or have failed to stick to a plan before, hypnosis can help cultivate a more positive attitude.
Diet – Fish and Kebabs
A few years ago when losing weight with the of fitness trainer David Marshall, known as the “Body Doctor”, she followed a lean diet that consisted of fish, lean meats and steamed vegetables. Lily called David Marshall the “Jamie Oliver of exercise”.
Some evidence that hypnosis does not always work was seen on the night after the 2014 Brit Awards; she stopped on the way home to have a kebab. She Tweeted: “Night guys, that was fun, had a kebab on my way home.”
Exercise
In 2009 Lily said that she “I hate going to the gym”. She told Elle magaine: “I’m really lazy. I like sitting or lying down. I don’t care about endorphins or looking better. Actually, that last bit is a lie. I do want to look better, but I’m not going to torture myself about it. I just don’t think girls or women should hate themselves for not living up to the ideal.”
However, Lily seems to genuinely enjoy the gym now, it seems that the hypnosis really worked.
She has been tweeting about her trips to the gym for years. In 2010 she wrote: “for now though, i’m off to the gym. Went to india over xmas, and the clarified butter has made its way from my tummy to my thighs. eeuuggh.” – 10:32 AM – 2 Feb 2010
In Jauary 2014 she even dreamed about gym, and Tweeted: “I had a dream that I was showing Jay Z and Beyonce round my house and my husband had built me a gym in the roof but you could only access.”
Lily is not one to share her trips to the gym though and does not like it when others do either. In August 2013 she Tweeted: “Thin people who incessantly feel the need to post pictures of themselves ‘working out’ you are smug, not inspirational. Stop it. #living ugh”.
She describes fitness selfies as “smug and vain”.
The bottom line is that if you want to lose weight and stay slim like Lily, you need to cut food intake (reduce calories) and get active to help burn off some fat.