‘My life isn’t on hold anymore’
Ellie Wild, from Plymouth, before and after she lost seven stone following work with PlymHypnos Hypnotherapy(Image: Submitted)
A Plymouth woman has lost seven stone – without taking a weight-loss jab.
Ellie Wild shed the weight without dieting or taking drugs, but by addressing the emotional causes of overeating and having hypnotherapy.
As new year weight-loss resolutions surge and about one in 10 UK adults turn to weight-loss injections, Ellie, aged 64, found a different route to becoming slimmer.
Ellie said she had spent decades trapped in cycles of dieting, weight regain and self-blame. At her heaviest, she weighed more than 19 stone, had been diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes and fatty liver disease, and was taking antidepressants.
“I felt numb, ashamed and exhausted,” Ellie said. “Food wasn’t the problem, it was how I coped with life.”
Before her transformation, Ellie had tried every well-known slimming plan and weight-loss group.
“I had certificates proving I could lose weight,” she said. “But nobody ever dealt with the elephant in the room, why it kept coming back.”
Ellie Wild, from Plymouth, before she lost seven stone(Image: Submitted)
Like many people, Ellie found that while diets worked temporarily, the emotional drivers behind her eating remained untouched.
Ellie’s turning point came when she stopped focusing on restriction and began working with Plymouth hypnotherapist Nikki Hoare of PlymHypnos Hypnotherapy to address emotional regulation rather than willpower.
She had hypnotherapy sessions and the work focused on calming the nervous system, dismantling all-or-nothing thinking, and breaking long-standing emotional associations with food.
Ellie Wild, from Plymouth, after losing seven stone following hypnotherapy in 2025(Image: Submitted)
“For the first time, I wasn’t fighting myself,” Ellie said. “I started listening to my body instead of punishing it.”
She recalled a moment that confirmed something fundamental had happened and said: “At a restaurant, I ordered an omelette instead of a huge mixed grill, not because I was ‘being good’, but because my appetite genuinely told me that’s all I needed.”
Over time, Ellie lost more than seven-and-a-half stone, reducing her weight to about 11 stone.
She said her Type 2 diabetes went into remission, her blood sugar levels stabilised, and she was able to come off antidepressants under medical supervision.
Ellie Wild, from Plymouth, after she lost seven stone (Image: PlymHypnos Hypnotherapy)
Today, she swims regularly, lifts weights, is training for a Plymouth 5K run, and is studying nutrition.
“At 64, I feel healthier than I can remember,” she said. “My life isn’t on hold anymore.”
Ellie’s story comes as reports suggest about 10% of the UK population are now using weight-loss injections.
While these drugs can suppress appetite, many users report that when they stop taking them, the familiar “food noise”, constant thoughts about eating, returns.
Hypnotherapist Nikki Hoare said Ellie’s experience highlights an important gap in the national conversation.
“Medication can reduce appetite, but it doesn’t always address why someone overeats in the first place,” she said.“For many people, food is tied to stress, emotional overwhelm or long-standing coping patterns. If those drivers aren’t addressed, the behaviour often returns.”
As new year resolutions focus heavily on weight loss, Ellie hopes her story offers reassurance to those who feel they have “failed” before.
“This wasn’t about becoming smaller,” she said. “It was about becoming free.”
“If your resolution hasn’t worked in the past, it doesn’t mean you failed, it means the approach was wrong.”
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