Case Study: Diet Dilemma

Situation:

Family friend, not a paid client. Late-30s, gained weight gradually over the years while prioritizing young children and the family business over herself. She insisted she’d tried everything: cutting carbs, long walks, calorie tracking. Nothing worked. She knew the mechanics of weight loss, but nothing seemed to work for her. Could I stop her eating late at night, as she felt this was her weakness?

Breakthrough:

We talked through everything she’d tried. As she listed them off, I could see her slipping into a light conversational trance, the way people do when they’re reciting a familiar story they’ve told themselves many times. So I deliberately interrupted with a simple question: “How does a smart, resourceful woman like you, who knows exactly how to lose weight, fail to lose weight?”

Silence. The trance deepened, then giggles. Then roaring laughter. Then sudden calm.

“I know what to do,” she said. And she did it.

Outcome:

Lost her target 6kg over the next few months, smooth steady weight-loss. No new diet plan, no accountability partner, no app. Just… found her inner resources to do what she already knew how to do.

I never asked what she realized in that moment between the laughter and the calm. That’s the point – whatever she saw was hers, not mine. The breakthrough happened inside her own head, privately, and it stayed private. That’s how it should be.

How this maps to shopping:

The answer was already in her head. It just needed the right question to unlock it. Same with shopping addiction – you already know why you can’t stop, even if you’ve been telling yourself (and others) a different story. Your conscious mind just can’t access the real mechanism yet. That’s what the session does: asks the questions to bring your subconscious into sync with your conscious mind. Working against yourself, the subconscious will always win, because it’s always there; the moment you’re tired or weak it takes over. Working together, you’re unstoppable – for exactly the same reason.