Michael, I recently bought into this whole fasting thing. Check out a book by Brad Pilon called Eat Stop Eat.

I started this method and stopped counting calories and nutrient macros. I have still been able to lose weight. I have been able to eat more freely. I can eat what I want when I want where I want. Of course I do not go out of control with this I normally eat very healthy, just as I would if I were counting calories. But if I want some cheese, bacon, or ice cream I won't have food guilt afterwards. This method also works for maintenance.

In fact while most people fought and lost the battle of the bulge over the Christmas holiday, I lost 2 lbs. And I was having Christmas potlucks and cookies.

I think if there is such a thing as a "naturally thin" person, it's a person who maintains a healthy weight without having to constantly remind themselves to move their body or to pay attention to what they eat.

I have a friend who is in her 50's, and is envied for her slim, athletic figure. She says she never exercises
. But one thing I've noticed is that she is always on the go. She moves through life like a bee or a hummingbird, from one task to the next. She can't sit and relax for long before she needs to get up and "do" something, and can't stand the physical sensations of being still for long. When she prepares dinner, she moves quickly from fridge to counter, and always seems to have a certain amount of muscle tension in her body.

I'm the opposite. I can sit in my chair and knit for hours, then go sit in another chair and use the computer. I rarely feel any need or desire to move my body. I'm nothing like a bee or a hummingbird. I'm more like a hippo. (And I don't mean body shape, although my body resembles a hippo's far more than my friend's does.)

I've discovered that in order to lose weight, I have to make a conscious and constant effort to move. It's not so hard once I've established a habit, but establishing the habit is a bitch, and so easy to let go of.

Another thing about my "naturally thin" friend is that, although she doesn't pay much attention to her calorie intake, she doesn't enjoy foods in the quantities that I do. Example: Years ago we were at a child's birthday party. One of the husbands cut slices of cake, and my friend and another "naturally thin" woman, both laughed at the size of the pieces. They said, "Only a man would cut the cake into such ridiculously huge pieces! Who could possibly eat all that?" Well, it looked like a reasonably sized piece to me! I had two slices and wished I could have more.

So what makes them different than me? Neither of those women were "on diets", or trying to force themselves to eat a certain way. What was natural for them was not natural for me. Is it genetics? Maybe. I'm the only one with obesity running through my family. Is it habit? Maybe. But why is it easy for them to make and keep that habit for a lifetime, and so hard for others?

These are just some thoughts I thought I'd throw out there, in my first post since falling of the wagon and gaining back all the weight I had lost.

You guys who are "dieting," go for it if that's what works for you and gives you the results you want. As for me, I like my results with "the anti-diet." I know more people who have dieted and gained back all their weight than people who have long term success with calorie restriction. And as Einstein also said, "Insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results." Every famine ends with a feast. It's science. It's biology. Go read about hunger hormones.

elderwanda, I've been both of the characters in your story about the chocolate cake. I'm not in diet famine any more and as for chocolate cake, I can take it or mostly leave it. Thank you for a thoughtful post. I was a diet counselor once upon a time and I had many many clients like you. One of the comments I heard often was "I'm successful in other areas of my life so why can't I do this?" Diets? "Been there. Done that. Didn't work." I'm all about results. "How To Become Naturally Thin by Eating More" is what worked for me.

Happy New Year! Good luck! I'm another one who didn't gain any weight over Christmas.

I agree--"diets" are short-term affairs. I don't consider keeping track of nutrition (including calories) to be a diet.

Have a great day everyone!

Regards,
Michael

PS No weight gain over the holidays here, either. :)

I have been on both sides of the "chocolate Birthday cake" as well, and I'm not even a huge fan of cake. How crazy is that? I'm also trying not to "diet" so much as give myself the tools to make good decisions. If I let myself take whatever piece of cake I want (and let's face it that would be the biggest piece with the most icing) but eat it without trying to figure out how many calories are in it. Then let myself eat whatever else I wanted throughout the rest of the day, including whatever craving popped up at the end of the carb crash, then I would probably be a pound or two heavier by the next day. On the other hand if I say to myself "Self we can have the cake and eat it too so long as the piece is not more than 200-300 calories", then my outcome for the day is a whole different story. So I do a little math in my head, and take a piece that is around 4" square with a thin film of icing, or maybe a slightly larger piece and scrap the icing off, and it's all good. The knowledge of how much I ate, helps to keep me from going overboard. I used to think the process of watching every bite you ate was exhausting, and maybe it is a little, however; the increased energy I have totally makes it worth the effort. So my overall goal is to lose the weight and at the same time give myself the mental tools/habits to stay somewhere in the "naturally thin" category. I'm not there yet, I may never be, but I've gotten a lot better than where I was a year ago.

Another thing I do now that really helps me is to eat ice cream out of a 1/2 cup measure with a small baby spoon. It sounds crazy, but I can seriously eat a mountain of ice cream. For a long time after starting this healthy living business I didn't touch ice cream, but then I found some that was 90 calories for 1/2 cup serving and I allow myself to have it occasionally.

I consider that being cognizant of one's diet. Learning where one's setpoints are is not deprivation, it's enlightenment.

I used to be "naturally thin". I used to eat whatever I wanted, whenever I wanted. I had a vegetable garden, and I walked for hours every day, 2-3 hours just because I could. Walk to the store, walk b/c I'm bored, walk in the middle of the night when I couldn't sleep, walk to class when I was in college. I didn't "exercise" much. But I walked for miles.

Then I had kids. At first, I could put the baby in the stroller and go, but not for hours like I used to, there was too many other things that needed to be done. I only lost 10 of the 30 lbs I put on, because it wasn't worth the effort since I planned on having another one anyway. About the time we were ready to try, my father in law passed, so that got put off by about a year. Put on 30 with the second, so up a total of 50 lbs from my "naturally thin" self.

But aside from not walking anymore, I also was eating a lot more. I got used to larger portions when I was pregnant and needed it, and had a hard time adjusting back to smaller sizes. I can't binge like I did even 6 months ago. My stomach physically can't handle it, like it couldn't when I was "naturally thin".

My dad died about the time I graduated college, and between my husband and I, we went to at least 3 funerals a year over a 7 year period, honestly I don't think I could list them all from memory. And I've developed arthritis and tendonitis issues between the time my daughter was 18 months old and now. So there's definitely some comfort eating in those years. Exercise is much harder than it used to be. I still miss the ease of walking, the stress relieving effects and the enjoyment of being outside. I hope to get back to my "naturally thin" habit of walking for hours on end when the kids are grown and I'm more free than I am now. In the meantime I'll be paying attention to what I eat and forcing the exercise as much as I can.

As for "every famine ends with a feast", there is some truth in that, and I think this is why extreme calorie restriction does not work long term. Starvation leads to binge eating. Mild restriction over a longer period leads to more sustainable weight loss IMO because you don't get that starvation-feast survival mechanism triggered. My two cents.

I am so grateful to everyone for weighing in (pardon the bad pun)!!! These posts are so interesting to me.

And thank you so much, Lizzy, for sharing and I am so sorry you have gone through such a tough time and still have so many challenges.

Honestly, I don't know the answers regarding the issues discussed here. All I know is that I put my scale in a hard to reach place in the basement today because I was too obssessed with weighing myself and I have not been tracking this past week or so. I am going to try to eat in a healthy sensible reasonable manner. So far, this has resulted in a little more eating, weight gain of about a pound but since I don't feel well eating so much (and especially a lot of foods I have trouble tolerating, including lots of dairy and sugar) I have a feeling it is going to level off. I just can't keep doing the same things waiting for different results, as in the Einstein quote.

On the other hand, I will be honest and say that the P90x infomercial looked damned tempting to me this morning. But since I know I am dealing with certain disabilities I will just take my baby steps, trying to eat right and keep moving. Also I have decided to try and trust myself, a scary concept indeed for me.

Happy New Year all! I hope you make postitive healthy choices, no matter what that means for you!!
Peace,
Hope

One more note: I was "naturally thin" not skinny but slim to average as a child. Sure I ate junk food but I ran around a lot too. Then puberty and incredible personal loss struck. I have been dieting since age 12. If there was a permanent solution in dieting I think I might have found it in 38 years, especially considering how focused I was (am) on it. So I will try the trust-myself-"anti-diet"-diet and see how that works.

BTW that does not mean overindulging myself; it just means I will eat when I am hungry stop when I am not and will do exercise that will challenge but not damage me.

Challenge but not damage me, I like that :p. It's sometimes hard for me to tell if I want to not hit the gym because I really do need to step back and rest, or I'm really able to do it today but I just don't want to. The balance is hard to find.