Frequently Asked Questions

Q1: Dr. Frank, I have tried every diet plan known to man or woman, and I really feel like I gave it my best shot. Yet I'm still struggling and failing. What's going on?

A: Believe me, I know exactly how frustrated you are. Virtually all of my coaching clients also feel the same way -- because no amount of doing what doesn't work can ever bring you success. The plain truth is that dieting just doesn't work. And as you learn more about The Permanent Solution program, I hope it will become clear to you why your diets have failed.

More importantly, you'll find out what does work -- and why. You'll see how some groundbreaking research discoveries led to a much greater understanding of why we fail, and how we can consistently stick with our healthy nutrition plan and exercise program so we can finally have the trim, toned, healthy bodies we desire and deserve.

Q2: Just about every weight loss plan I've ever seen is based on making changes in my diet. Why does The Permanent Solution take such a different approach?

A: Extensive clinical research makes one thing unmistakably clear: We fail at fat-loss, not because we're on the "wrong" diet or exercise program, but because we can't seem to stick with any healthy diet or exercise program. The Permanent Solution was created specifically because the "diet and exercise" focused weight-loss programs have such a miserable track record.

Instead of "attacking the symptoms" of our problem (our unwanted pounds), we now can solve our problem at the root -- by eliminating the reason we eat too much, to often, or too unhealthfully. The result of this approach is that people who had struggled and failed for years -- or decades -- are now able to enjoy safe, struggle-free, and lasting fat-loss success.

Q3: You talk about a "Total Success Mindset™" and why having one is the key to lasting fat-loss success. What -- exactly -- is a Total Success Mindset™?

A: A Total Success Mindset™ is what you have when your mind is sufficiently free of self-sabotaging thoughts and beliefs that they are no longer automatically and habitually making your "choices" for you.

Now you are calling the shots! And as you develop your Total Success Mindset™, you begin to consistently make healthy self-care choices -- not just in the areas of diet and exercise, but in every aspect of your life.

Before you know it, doing the things that bring you success becomes just as habitual -- and just as automatic -- as doing the things that make you fail used to be. Now you are on "auto-pilot" to achieve and enjoy lasting fat-loss.

This is the key to getting to your healthiest weight and then staying there for the rest of your life. It's what makes The Permanent Solution program so unique -- and so effective!

Q4: So are you saying that NO diet program can bring me lasting weight loss success?

A: Please understand, it's not that food is unimportant. Eating the right foods in the right amounts will always be important for optimal health and weight. But it makes no difference how good your nutrition plan or workout program is if you can't stick with it!

On the other hand, if you could stick with it, then your healthy nutrition plan and workout program would bring you lasting fat-loss -- and making that happen in your life is exactly what The Permanent Solution program is designed to do.

Q5: What qualifies you as a weight loss expert, Dr. Frank? What are your credentials?

A:I have spent more than 30 years studying the science of human behavior change. In addition to my graduate degrees in clinical psychology and theology, I have also worked as a licensed psychotherapist.

But those are just my "formal" qualifications. My real expertise in creating weight loss Success Stories comes from three decades of personal, hands-on experience. Not only have I spent plenty of time on both sides of the therapist's desk, but I have also participated in and led countless workshops and seminars related to self-improvement and life-enhancement.

More than anything else, it has been these decades of personal experience that taught me how our mind determines the condition of our lives -- and the shape of our bodies. And I know for a fact that when we make positive changes on the inside, they show up on the outside as surely as day follows night -- in the form of healthier bodies, and happier lives!

Q6: But being overweight seems like a physical problem? Are you saying that's not really the case?

A: A major clinical research project recently analyzed the results of 47 separate clinical weight loss studies involving more than 14,000 individuals, and made several eye-opening discoveries.

The researchers found that less than 24% of weight loss success comes from eating the right foods (for you) in the right amounts, and less 16 % of success is the result of getting appropriate (for you) exercise.

But fully 60-70% of fat-loss success depends on a third factor which plays a more powerful role in your weight than diet and exercise combined: the "hidden" reasons why we eat too much in the first place!

This means that even the world's best diet and exercise program can only provide you with fraction of the fat-loss solution you need. One researcher summed up the problem this way:

"Trying to lose weight through diet and exercise is like trying to get rid ofdandelions with a lawn mower. You may get some temporary results, but until yousolve your problem at its root, it just keeps coming back -- bigger every year!"

Sound familiar?

Q7: Can you give me just a bit more detail on this idea of solving my fat-loss problem "at its root"?

A: This is the "hidden" key to lifelong fat-loss success. The research revealed that people who consistently struggled and failed at weight loss had certain "self-sabotaging beliefs" that were invisibly keeping them from succeeding no matter how hard they tried. On the other hand, people who got to their healthiest weight -- and stayed there -- were found to have beliefs that were much more "self supportive."

So we now understand that the single most important factor in determining our weight loss success -- or failure -- is the quality of our own beliefs. Because if our own beliefs are sabotaging our conscious desire to lose weight, we will almost certainly fail. We will eat the wrong foods, at the wrong times, in the wrong amounts -- and for all the wrong reasons!

But the "flip side" of this equation is equally as true -- because when our personal beliefs are supporting our healthy goals (instead of sabotaging them at ever turn), then fat-loss success is virtually guaranteed! The unique ability of The Permanent Solution program to make this happen is what gives it the power to create lifelong fat-loss success -- and what separates this program from every other fat-loss program in the world.

Q8: But if my self-sabotaging thoughts and beliefs are really so powerful, how come I'm not even aware of them?

A: Excellent question, and the answer is in two parts. Some of our self-sabotaging beliefs operate at an entirely unconscious level. We don't even know they exist, so we're simply not aware of how powerfully they influence our behavior.

But most of our self-sabotaging beliefs -- especially the ones we can readily correct -- are simply operating "just below our radar." So we can easily "find and fix" them, and immediately start to enjoy the benefits of our mental housecleaning, in the form of healthier thoughts and actions.

Q9: I have heard that weight-reduction surgery is the only permanent solution to my weight problem. Are you saying this isn't true?

A: This is an extremely important subject, especially since the side-effects of these surgical procedures are both numerous and permanent! So before you even think about letting somebody cut on your body, you need to understand that weight reduction surgery is really just another attempt to solve through physical means what is simply not a physical problem.

In other words, weight reduction surgery is just another way of "attacking symptoms" without ever solving (or even understanding) the real, root cause of the problem. Even worse, virtually everyone who loses weight through surgery gains every bit of it back -- or more -- within three to five years. Why? Because, they still haven't solved their problem at its root.

Instead, they have only focused on the physical symptom of their problem: their overweight body. But the real problem -- their own self-sabotaging thinking and the unhealthy eating it leads to -- remains undiscovered and unchanged.

So, even though parts of their bodies have been literally hacked off, they are still compelled to do the same kinds of unhealthy eating they have always done…and for all the same (non-physical) reasons. But on top of that, they now have a whole raft of additional health problems to deal with. Are you really prepared for that?

Q10: So are you saying that The Permanent Solution program is actually more effective than drugs, pills, dieting, and even surgery?

A: Yes! And not only is it much more effective, it's also 100% safe! You simply can't solve through physical methods (like dieting or surgery) what is really a nonphysical problem. That's why no amount of "diet hopping" can solve a problem whose real cause is between your ears! Doesn't that just make sense?

But if you will simply take the time to correct the self-sabotaging beliefs that are the real cause of your problem, then you eliminate your problem once and for all -- at the source. That's how you create a permanent fat-loss solution.

Q11: How much weight can I expect to lose if I follow your program and personal recommendations very closely?

A: The Permanent Solution program is specifically designed to help you get to your healthiest weight. So how much weight you will lose really depends on how far you are from your healthy weight right now.

But keeping it off is even more important than losing it. And with The Permanent Solution program, you will not only get to your healthiest weight, you will stay there.

Q12: I don't necessarily want to lose weight, I just want to get more firm and toned. Will you program still work for me?

A: By "losing weight," what we really mean is losing unwanted weight -- excess body fat. You do this, of course, by eating the right foods in the right amounts, and getting appropriate exercise.

But to do that, you will need to stick with the healthy nutrition plan and workout program of your choice. And making that happen for you is what The Permanent Solution program is all about!

Q13: Will the Success Exercises in this program help me with my diet and exercise routine, or are they only designed to improve my thinking and beliefs?

A: As I hope you're starting to see, there is simply no way to separate healthy actions from healthy thinking. We do what we do because we think as we think -- even when we're not 100% *conscious* of what we're thinking.

So if you have a history of struggling and failing at fat-loss, it means there's some unhealthy thinking behind it. That's why it's time to stop struggling with diets, and rid yourself of the self-sabotaging thinking that is the real, root cause of your fat-loss failures.

The Permanent Solution is the only program in the world that will help you do that. And coupled with a healthy nutrition plan and workout program, for the first time ever you now have a complete fat-loss solution.

Q14: I have trouble with binge and emotional eating. Will your program help me with these problems?

A: Absolutely! In fact, The Permanent Solution is specifically designed to freeing from you binge eating, "compensatory" eating, stress eating, and every other kind of emotional eating.

In this area more than any other, we can see why the only real solution is to find and correct your self-sabotaging thinking. Elimination your emotional eating and binge eating is something no diet can do, but it's a core focus of The Permanent Solution program.

Q15: Eating right and exercising already takes up a lot my "free time." How much of a time commitment is your program?

A: It would be ideal if you could devote 30 minutes or more twice a week to this program -- which is actually a very small investment, considering that the benefits you reap will be with you for the rest of your life.

But you bring up another very important issue here. If you really don't feel like you have enough time in your life to do the things that are truly important for your own health, that could be a big part of the reason you're still struggling and failing at fat-loss! The Permanent Solution program will make sure you make time in your life for you!

Q16: So if my "thinking" is really that important, does will power play a major role in success? Could my real problem be that I just don't have enough willpower?

A: No, but that's a great question. It's very important to understand why will power is not the key to weight loss success. In reality, relying on will power is an attempt to overpower your own self-sabotaging beliefs. But that just doesn't work!

Why? Because it literally puts you at war with yourself. The problem is that your conscious "good intentions" are simply no match for your old, automatic, habitual "programmed" behaviors.

So the minute you get tired or frustrated, or have a bad day, your so-called "will power" goes right out the window. What do you do then? You head for the fridge, do what you swore you weren't going to do -- and prove once again that will power is really no power at all!

Instead of trying to overpower your self-sabotaging beliefs, you need to replace them with self-supportive ones. That way, instead of creating yet more internal conflict, you eliminate the source of your conflict!

Can you imagine how much easier it will be to get to your healthiest weight and stay there when your own thoughts and beliefs are supporting you… instead of fighting you at every turn? Making that happen for you is just one more reason why The Permanent Solution really is a permanent solution!

Q17: You mention a Total Success Mindset™. What is that, and how is it going to help me solve my fat-loss problems for good?

A: A Total Success Mindset™ is what you have when your mind is sufficiently free of SSBs that they are no longer automatically and habitually making your "choices" for you. Now you are calling the shots.

As you develop your a Total Success Mindset™, you will start to consistently make healthy choices in your life -- and not just in the areas of diet and exercise, but in every aspect of your life, but especially in the realm of quality self-care choices.

And before you know it, doing the healthy things will become just as habitual -- and just as automatic -- as doing the unhealthy things used to be.

This is what I call being on "auto-pilot" for fat-loss, and it is the key to both getting to your healthiest weight and staying there for the rest of your life.

Q18: I hear a lot about "stress eating" these days. Will The Permanent Solution help me stop doing that?

A: It sure will! Because once again, the stress that causes us to overeat is a product of our own thoughts and beliefs. Feeling stressed can make us want to overeat, so learning how not to stress is a major factor in fat-loss success.

But there's more to it than that. The latest research shows that simply being in a state of stress produces the hormone cortisol, which tends to make us put on weight by producing more fat within our bodies. And on top of all that, the incredibly high failure rate of the of the traditional "diet and exercise" approach creates still more stress in our lives -- leading to yet more unhealthy eating.

The bottom line is that, if weight loss is stressful it won't be successful. That's why The Permanent Solution is also going to teach you how to be a world-class stress buster!

Q19: How is The Permanent Solution program actually set up? How will it help me get rid of my self-sabotaging thinking so I can finally stick with my healthy nutrition plan and workout program?

A: Achieving lasting fat-loss success is the natural result of letting go of the self-sabotaging thoughts and beliefs that have been the real (but unseen) cause of your self-sabotaging eating. This 3-step process is both enjoyable and enlightening, and allows you literally "lighten up" in body, mind, and spirit.

1. First you expose / identify your self-sabotaging thoughts and beliefs, so you can finally see what has been the real, root cause of your past fat-loss failures.

2. Then you replace your toxic, self-sabotaging thoughts and beliefs with healthy, self-supportive ones that will start taking to toward your healthy goals -- instead of invisibly blocking you at every turn.

3. Now the "hidden cause" of your past fat-loss failures is exposed and has lost its power to unconsciously derail you. And as you practice your new ways of thinking, you discover that doing the healthy thing gradually becomes just as automatic and "habitual" as your old, unhealthy habits used to be!

As you can probably see, this 3-step process has the power to bring you the kind of lasting transformation that would simply never happen if you focused only on diet and exercise. That’s why it is quietly creating Success Stories all over the world.

Q20: Will I get the personal support I need? I've joined other online programs, only to be left alone to figure it all out by myself.

A: I understand that you'll have questions, and it's important to me that you get the personal support you need to lose all the fat you want, and keep it off for good. This is why I now offer an unlimited personal e-mail consulting option with your purchase of the TPS program!

For just $9 a month, you'll get unlimited e-mail consulting from me, your "Total Success Mindset Coach." I normally charge my personal coaching clients $125.00 per HOUR, but now, as a valued TPS customer, you'll get all the help you need for a small fraction of my normal rate (less than 25 cents a day)! And you can cancel this "e-mail coaching" option any time - you're never obligated to continue.

Please feel assured, I will always reply promptly. You will almost always get a response to your message the same day I receive it, and often within an hour or two. Your success is literally my mission, and I am here to support you in every way I possibly can.

You will almost always get a response to your message the same day I receive it, and often within an hour or two. Your success is literally my mission, and I am here to support you in every way I possibly can.

Q21: So what does all this really boil down to? Sum it up for me, Dr. Frank.

A: At the heart of virtually all of our chronic weight problems is not bad diet, but bad thinking. Our own self-sabotaging thinking keeps us from being able to stick with any healthy nutrition plan or workout program.

We now understand that the only effective way to achieve safe, struggle free, and lasting weight loss is to correct the self-sabotaging thinking that is -- and always has been -- the real cause of your weight problem.

Ultimately, lasting fat-loss success is not about what's going on your plate, but what's going on between your ears. That's why lasting weight loss can never come from a changed diet, but only from a changed mind.

If you will change your thinking once, you will change your weight forever! Better still, you find that doing what works is ever so much easier than dealing all the stress, struggle, and failure that's always been such a frustrating part of the old-fashioned "diet and exercise" approach.

Q22: What is your return / refund policy if for any reason I need it?

A: Your total satisfaction is guaranteed for life with my "Any Reason At All" 100% Money-Back Guarantee. I take 100% of the risk, and you have none.

Why do we provide you with a 100% lifetime money-back guarantee? Because The Permanent Solution can do for you what it's already done for so many others. But you don't know it…yet. So to put my money where my mouth is, I will give you the entire program and all five of the Power Tools at zero risk to you, fully guaranteed.

This unconditional lifetime guarantee is also my way of showing my conviction that this program is 100% for real. So if you don't think The Permanent Solution is right for you -- for any reason at all -- you'll get a prompt, cheerful, no-questions-asked refund.

So if you're sick and tired of endless weight loss struggles and failed diets, and you're ready to get off the weight "roller coaster" for good, click here now for The Permanent Solution.

Or if you haven any additional questions or concerns, please email me now at DrFrank@ThePermanentSolution.com and be ready for a prompt reply!

Yours in total health,

Dr. Frank B. Smoot, MA, DD