Tag Archives: method

The TGIF! Diet — Why It Works

Group of friends having lunch with glasses of wine at table, smiling

No, we’re not talking about the restaurant. We’re talking about how I lost 140 pounds 30 years ago and kept it off with what has been called the TGIF diet. I wrote the book about it! The Anderson Method

I teach a lifestyle where five days a week we are quite austere, like people on a diet, and then, for two days, we are more relaxed, eating more normally on the weekend. I had tried and failed to lose my excess weight for 25 years until I discovered how to succeed with this method. So can you. We win every day, every week and every weekend, work hard M-F and then it’s “Thank God It’s Friday!” It’s a great way to live.

On the weekends we are able to do the things people normally can’t do if they are trying to lose weight. On the weekends we go out to dinner without denying ourselves, have drinks and deserts without guilt, and we go to parties while not denying ourselves a good time. Then, Monday, it’s back to work, nose to the grindstone. And when Friday comes, it’s TGIF! I lost all my excess weight doing this, 140 pounds in 18 months, and I’ve kept it off for three decades.

I’m not talking about bingeing on the weekend or having a free-for-all on weekends where anything goes, and then feeling lousy about it afterwards. They are not “cheat” days. They are carefully formed habits of eating everything I like and want in ways that prevent me from being overweight. It’s a matter of training and reprogramming, like becoming addicted to healthy eating instead of overeating. Also, I am enjoying the food more than ever before, guilt free! All of the eating habits I’ve developed have been carefully created so that I’ve learned how to eat all the foods I like and want in ways that have allowed me to lose all the weight I wanted to lose, and keep it off.

In order for this to work, you need to learn about the metabolic rate you’ll have at your goal weight (there is no mystery to this) and then learn about the caloric values in all the foods that you like to eat. Instead of learning how to diet and lose weight (only to gain it back when we go back to “normal”), we learn how to eat what we like in a way to become and stay at our desired weight for the rest of our life. We actually train and reprogram ourselves to eat what we like in the quantities that will fit into our caloric budget (low on weekdays, then up to our burn rate, but not over, on weekends) and we practice this until it becomes habit. I’ve found there is almost nothing I need to cut out of my life to succeed. Everything I like can fit into the plan somewhere.

In this way, we avoid the experience of losing weight while we punish ourselves, only to become worse overeaters when the diet is over. In the typical diet approach, people do something strange for a while, lose a bit of weight, get sick of the dieting and then go back to the habits that made then overweight, only worse. They regain more than ever, returning to unstructured, unconscious eating of incredibly caloric foods without knowing it and without realizing what they are doing. Immediately after losing weight, most people begin literally training and programming themselves to become chronically overweight and addicted to overeating.

Needless to say, there is more work involved than having a shake or prepared meal that some company sells, or simply starving yourself for a while. We have to actually learn about the food we really eat, and train like a musician or athlete to act habitually in ways that keep us fit. We develop a kind of “muscle memory” of the mind with our eating habits. And like people who become skilled in sports, it’s a mental game, where the mental techniques to master will, motivation and execution are the most important aspect of the sport. But oh, the glory and pleasure of the victory.

Here’s the link to the article as published on The Huffington Post:      

                          The TGIF! Diet — Why It Works

 

 

Bill Anderson on The Suncoast View!

 

Bill Anderson, LMHC, teaching about permanent weight loss on The Suncoast View.

Bill Anderson, LMHC, teaching about permanent weight loss on The Suncoast View.

I visited with Linda Carson and the rest of the ABC7 Suncoast View today to help Linda Carson with a refresher course in The Anderson Method. Linda had lost 73 pounds 10 years ago with my method and kept it off “easily” for years. Then life threw her some challenges that knocked her off course, and, as happens with some who have used my methods, she literally forgot what she did to be successful and gained some back. “What happened?” she said. So, we “rebooted” the Key Behaviors and she is feeling good again, losing weight and learning the value of the techniques she had lost touch with. Sometimes, we learn more from a relapse and recovery than we learned from the initial success.

 

Bill Anderson will appear on “Health IQ with Heidi Godman”

LISTEN AND CALL IN! (all about WEIGHT LOSS)

Next Monday, 4/15, I’ll be on “Health IQ with Heidi Godman“, her new one-hour talk show, to talk about permanent WEIGHT LOSS and The Anderson Method for Permanent Weight Loss.

Please listen in and CALL IN TOO! Appearing with me will clients who have “gone public” to talk about their experience with The Anderson Method, people who have been practicing my method for years, having taken off 50 and 80 pounds, permanently.

You can listen and call in, EVEN IF YOU ARE IN OTHER STATES, or even other countries, by listening to the show live on line by going to the website: WSRQ website, home of Health IQ with Heidi Godman

Heidi is a highly respected medical journalist, currently the Executive Editor of the Harvard Health Letter, former medical editor for ABC7, and a journalism fellow for the American Academy of Neurology.

Please listen and call in to ask questions and wish Heidi success in taking her show into national syndication. The show will be live, Monday 4/15, 3-4pm EST, so if you are in another time zone, you need to account for that.

Why Now is the Perfect Time to Lose Weight

 

Here is my latest article on the Huffington Post:

I think spring 2013 is absolutely the best time in history for you to permanently solve your weight problem. Here are the top five reasons why:

5) Summer is coming!

If you start now, you can lose 25 to 50 pounds or more by the time your summer vacation starts. Whether you usemy method or some other science-based approach, count on a much happier summer, feeling slim with a new outfit or two, a spring in your step and vacation photos you feel good about. Don’t put it off. Make a list of what to do to get started and make this the best year of your life. Put it off and you’ll miss a great opportunity.

4) There are more low-calorie, great-tasting foods available than ever before. The marketplace is exploding with new products to make weight loss easier.

The food industry has stepped up to the plate (no pun intended) and done………………………………

Click Here to Read the Entire Article

Welcome, Maureen Harper, LMHC!

 

Our newest therapist certified to provide The Anderson Method is:

Maureen T Harper,LMHC

4400 Marsh Landing Blvd. Suite 6
Ponte Vedra Beach, FL 32082
904.280.3324
maureen@mtharper.com
www.mtharper.com

This is from Maureen’s website:

“I am a Licensed Mental Health Counselor working in a private practice setting at the beaches.  My sessions are comfortable and open.  I utilize traditional and solution-oriented therapies with my patients.  I will help you to resolve trauma, eliminate feelings of anxiety and depression and deal with emotional conflicts.

As a Certified Practitioner in Clinical Hypnosis, I specialize in an exciting new form of treatment pioneered by Jon Connelly, called Rapid Resolution Therapy.  When something is traumatic it slams into your awareness and leaves a lasting impression.  This therapy eliminates the negative behavioral and emotional influence of traumatic events by leading the patient to the realization that past events no longer need to affect the present situation.  People stop clinging to thoughts that do not exist, and start living in the immediate present with clarity and hope. Rapid Resolution Therapy can help eliminate anxiety, depression and the feelings caused by traumatic events in as little as one or two sessions.

I am a certified practitioner in the Anderson Method for weight loss.  The Anderson Method is a weight control program that will help you to achieve long-term weight loss.  The techniques taught in the Anderson Method will help you to understand the dynamics of how to make life changes to begin to enjoy guilt-free, healthy eating.  You will achieve weight loss and a new feeling of being in touch with your true self.

I have tremendous respect for people who come to see me.  I work collaboratively with children, adolescents, individuals and couples.  I conduct both individual and family therapy sessions to help people feel at peace and develop new levels of personal freedom.”

Welcome, Maureen!