Rotorua mum's transformation ‘I WAS HYPNOTISED & LOST 33KG!'

How Caroline shed a third of her body weight through “virtual surgery”

- Hayley McLarin

People who lose a significant amount of weight usually quantify it in physical kilograms, but for Caroline Back, it’s the loss of her emotional baggage that has been truly transformational.

The 47-year-old shed a third of her body weight last year, not through diets, exercise or surgery, but by having hypnotherapy that completely changed her relationship with food.

“Growing up, you could put anything down in front of me and I would pretty much eat it,” the mum-of-two from Rotorua admits. “I’ve always been the one to clear their plate first. At my heaviest, I was 97 kilos – and I’m only five foot four [1.62m].”

Through the years, Caroline had tried many diets, often with success in the early days, but she would revert back to bad eating habits and ultimately put the weight back on, plus more. “I had that whole ‘you’re useless, you’re a failure’ mentality. I’d end up miserable and emotional eating.”

Last year, Caroline felt she was at rock bottom, with her children coming home from school to find her staring into the pantry, eating big bags of chips while figuring out what to have for dinner.