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The Atkins Diet is a popular "low-carb" weight loss program, but it is often greatly misrepresented! Popular, if slightly exaggerated depictions of the plan portray dieters wolfing down nothing but huge quantities of meat and fat. Although the diet itself may not be quite that simple, many people under the plan have successfully lost weight and improved their health.

On this program, dieters follow a very specific program based on limited carbohydrate intake. Emphasis is placed on the nutritional aspects of the diet over exercise and other factors, although getting physical activity is also a key to weight loss. There are four stages to the Atkins program:

Induction: For the duration of this two-week stage at the start of the diet program, dieters can only consume up to 20 grams of carbs each day. Dieters can eat high protein foods such as meat and fish, fats such as butter and oils, and other food with little to no carbohydrates. Many foods with carbs are not permitted at all, including alcoholic beverages.

This initial phase is intended to help the body go from burning carbs for energy, as it normally does, into burning stored fat (the state known as ketosis). Most dieters begin to lose weight during this stage.

Ongoing Weight Loss: During this stage, dieters gradually increase their carbohydrate consumption by adding 5 grams of carbs into their diet each week. Dieters adjust their diet, continuing their weight loss to put themselves within 5-10 pounds of their goal weight, before moving into the Pre-maintenance period.

Pre-maintenance: Dieters use the Pre-maintenance stage to find out the maximum amount of carbs they can ingest without experiencing weight gain. During this stage, dieters add 10 grams of carbohydrates to their diet each week. Once dieters reach their target weight and can maintain it for a month, they move into the Lifetime Maintenance stage.

Lifetime Maintenance: For lasting results, the Atkins program is designed to be maintained throughout the dieter's lifetime. Using the strategies that helped the dieter reach their goal weight, the dieter develops an eating and exercise plan to stay at their target weight. Individuals can revert to previous stages if their weight begins to rise again.

Dieters who can stay on the Atkins diet are typically successful in losing weight; unfortunately, many people are unable to maintain the program and end up quitting early on in the induction stage. In general, most diets fail because dieters cannot stay committed to the plan.

Many people are unable to stay on diets because they experience strong food cravings, have problems with compulsive overeating, cannot regulate their appetites, or simply do not feel motivated to lose weight. Getting over these mental obstacles is the most challenging aspect of losing weight.

One reason why many people struggle to manage their eating is because they are emotional eaters. Such people eat in response to their emotions, such as when they are sad or angry. However, this practice programs a "conditioned response" into the unconscious mind. This means that when individuals experience the same feelings that made them initially overeat, they will feel compelled to overeat again and again.

Hypnotherapy works by helping our unconscious minds disassociate our eating habits from our emotions. To extinguish the conditioned response to overeat, a hypnotherapy weight loss program is used to break the bond developed in the unconscious mind between overeating and specific "trigger" situations.

For example, if you tend to binge eat when you get bored, hypnosis can disassociate boredom from eating in your unconscious mind. Hypnosis can then be used to replace the urge to overeat with another activity, such as exercising. This way, the next time you feel bored, instead of having an urge to overeat, you will feel motivated to engage in physical activity.

Hypnosis is an excellent stress relieving tool as well, helping us cope with our stressful emotions and relieve tension without eating. As a relaxation tool, it calms the mind, helps you develop strategies to manage stress, and boosts your self-confidence to promote natural weight loss.

Self hypnosis can also be used to eliminate the emotional stressors that keep you from losing weight. Many overweight people use their weight for emotional protection. For example, after a painful end to a relationship, people often find themselves becoming overweight so they can avoid new relationships and avoid experiencing emotional pain again. Through hypnosis, we can think more positively and focus on improving our health instead of becoming overwhelmed by our anxieties.

Not only is hypnosis a powerful motivational tool, it relieves stress, extinguishes the conditioned responses that trigger overeating, and can help you overcome the mental obstacles that prevent weight loss. Hypnotherapy techniques are tremendously effective at helping people stay on a diet program, such as the Atkins plan, and naturally lose weight.

Alan B. Densky, CH has spent over 30 years specializing in weight loss. He offers several ways to lose weight, including diet CD and NLP to lose weight DVD. Visit his hypnotism CD website for Free hypnosis downloads, videos, and newsletters.