Hypnotherapist Patrick Fox will reach a milestone in Galway on December 20 this year when he treats his 50,000th client for smoking and weight loss, in his 21-year career.
Mr Fox says that with the budget this week there has never been a better time to quit smoking. He claims that higher earners on the top rate of tax smoking 20 cigarettes a day need to earn around €7000 a year just to pay for their habit, while he reveals, the largest number of cigarettes he has weaned someone off is 120 a day.
He says there are also sound financial reasons for losing weight; it currently costs around €600 a year for every stone a person is over weight. All you have to do to work out your own waste is to calculate how much you spend weekly on Biscuits, chocolate, minerals, alcohol etc. Not to mention the extra cost of buying clothes. You can buy a fabulous size 12 dress in almost any shop for as little as €50 or less, when you go up to size 16 and over you may well have to shop in specialist stores or it could cost you €120 and there is still no chance that you will look as well as the woman in her size 10 or 12.
“The largest amount of weight I got someone to lose was 17 stones,” he says proudly. “The lady went from 26 stone to nine stone and has maintained that weight ever since”
When taking the cost of smoking and overweight into consideration one must also consider the cost of extra visits to doctors and for medication. Smokers are prone to more simple health issues such as asthma and chest infections while people who are overweight are more prone to high blood pressure and cholesterol problems, not to mention pressure on joints and internal organs. We will soon be seeing a reduction in the cost of insurance policies to reward those who are their correct weight for their height and of course the fewer health ailments you have or if you are a non smoker you will already be paying less for your policy.
Mr Fox says smoking and weight loss each account for 40 per cent of his business, with confidence issues, unnatural fears or phobias and sexual dysfunction making up the other 20 per cent. He works with many sports people, from footballers to top golfers, on confidence building to ensure they play to the peak of their ability.
On Monday and Friday, Mr Fox sees clients at his offices in Bective near the hill of Tara in County Meath, while on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, he is on the road, travelling to clinics he has set up in every county in the Republic. He has a regular clinic in Galway every month, which has been running for the past 21 years.
Many of Mr Fox’s sessions are done over the phone and he can hypnotise clients as they
lie in the comfort of their own bedrooms. Mr Fox provides specially designed CD’ of their sessions to each client, which they can listen to at any time especially when sleeping.
Mr Fox can be contact on Lo-call 1890 300 007 or 086 2542316 www.patrickfoxhypnotherapy.ie
