There’s a new psychology getting rave reviews for its phenomenal success in helping people achieve permanent weight loss. It’s called Therapeutic Psychogenics.
Therapeutic Psychogenics is a collection of “mind control” techniques I developed that helped me lose 140 pounds over 20 years ago, after suffering through 25 years of a losing battle against obesity and all its miseries. I now teach this time-tested methodology to clients and other therapists.
Here’s a sampling:
* Hit the snooze, and keep dreaming. Instead of jumping out of bed when the alarm goes off, hit the snooze, and stay in bed another five minutes. Spend that time in fantasyland dreaming of the life you’d like to have at the weight you’d like to be. Daydream with the passion and imagination you had as a little kid. See yourself at your ideal weight, doing things you’d love to do but haven’t be doing, wearing clothes you’d love to wear but haven’t been wearing. The more details and passion you can insert into your fantasy, the better. This is actually a very powerful form of self-hypnosis called visualization or imaging, and it can trigger all sorts of abilities and powers you never knew you had. Put a picture of your favorite role model next to the bed to remind you to do it. Or cut out a magazine photo of your ideal body and paste your head on it. Images like these become your “visual goal” and are quite effective.
* Burn your body fat by “fasting” between meals. Instead of trying to not graze or snack between meals, think of yourself on a mission to burn fat between your meals, a zealot who is fasting, engaged in a truly healthy, even holy, purpose. The way our mind works, trying to not eat when the urge hits us actually tells our mind/body to eat! Why? Because your mind will go after what you think about! Instead, we need to give the mind an activity to engage in, so that you actually enjoy the burning of the calories and stored fat, fasting like a monk. If you ate something, you’d stop that process, stopping something you enjoy! So keep burning! This technique combines reframing and autosuggestion.
* When you feel hunger, remember that the fat burning causes it. This is another example of reframing, or changing the meaning of a word or experience. In the past, when you’ve felt hungry, you might have said “I’m starving” or “I should eat.” Now say, “Hey, that means I’ve burned all the calories from my last meal, and I’m finally starting to burn the fat. Burn, baby, burn!” Instead of feeling deprived and entitled to eat, you’ll feel lean and victorious. You won’t want to stop the ongoing incineration of what you’d love to get rid of.
* Talk to yourself, but stop lying. Be scrupulously honest. Your friends and family might get worried, so talk to yourself in your head when you’re not alone. Self-talk is actually a very powerful form of self-hypnosis that most of us have used destructively. When we say things like, “No matter what I do, I gain weight. It’s hopeless,” there’s actually a part of our mind that believes it, and it will work to gain weight. It’s crazy, of course. If you ate next to nothing, you’d lose weight and starve to death, just like all the other people in the world who don’t get enough to eat. But if you’ve said that kind of nonsense to yourself enough, you might just believe it, thinking that you can’t lose weight, and a part of you would act like a hypnotized zombie, working to gain weight, “no matter what.” Instead, say, “When I am able to master my habits to eat fewer calories than I use, I will lose weight. It is scientifically impossible to stay overweight if I eat less than I need. Other ‘hopelessly’ overweight people have learned how to succeed at this. Maybe I can too.” Pay attention to what you say and think, and stop the lies and nonsense. Your mind will start to work much better, like any computer, when you get rid of the “garbage in, garbage out.”
The mind is your best ally in your quest to lose weight and achieve renewed health. By using Therapeutic Psychogenic tools, think it, and you’ll soon be it.
William Anderson, MA, LMHC, is a licensed psychotherapist residing in Sarasota, Florida, specializing in helping people overcome obesity. He is author of the top-selling book, The Anderson Method (Two Harbors Press, 2009, $14.95), and trains a growing network of licensed therapists in his successful weight loss program. There are now over a thousand who have succeeded with his approach, including Anderson himself, who lost 140 pounds over 20 years ago and has kept it off. More information and inspiring success stories are at www.TheAndersonMethod.com.