Looking back I guess I always lived in denial of my natural ability to be thin. I somehow managed to hide it from myself by adding extra calories to my daily requirements--masking my thin body with extra body fat. It came to some point that I had no idea I was actually a thin healthy person, naturally. So, I looked for a long time trying different "diets" and would lose weight, keep a bulk of it off and just sorta--go back to being a hidden thin girl, again.
Most of you know my story from my Squeaky Gourmet blog and
Facebook page. You know I have been hitting this hard for the last 8 years. (Wow! I just realized while writing this out that it will be 8 years in February that I stopped hiding my natural thin self!) Yet, over the last two years now it has become so easy for me to be thin. Ridiculously easy for me. Some of the readers know me personally; they know I am a lazy person. So, if I am saying it has become easy--you can trust I put very little effort or thought into it. I just am "it".
Here is my epiphany--Over the last run of winter holidays I gained nothing. Nothing. A few times doing my
panic weigh-ins I would be sure I had gained weight and ended up slightly below goal weight! I didn't know how I was doing it! I ate at the Halloween candy, I had what I wanted over Thanksgiving, my wedding anniversary, my birthday, Christmas, new year's--I ate and I drank and I was merry! How the heck was I not gaining weight, hand over fist, as it had always seemed to be for me during the winter food festivals here in the USA.
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| I like my arms in this picture--WHAT!? |
I taste everything and eat nothing. It is my motto, my goal for parties, my natural instinct. For an example--one beautiful fall day we decided to take a drive to Northern New Hampshire to visit the "World's Longest Candy-Counter." It is the world record holder, you know. Now, I love me some candy! Love it! When we arrived there the choices were fun! They had canisters filled with interesting pieces of candy I had not seen before. So, I took 2 of each piece I wanted to try. Not handfuls just blithely added to a bag that I would just be eating by the handfuls later. 2 of each and that was it--one to be enjoyed and one to share. Ha! Yeah--OK well, maybe to share but it depended on how the first one tasted. I said I love me some candy! Do you see the difference here, though? I put thought into my actions in regards to food. WHAT!? Sounds ridiculously simplistic, right? Yea--it is. It is so simplistic it is naturally how I eat--very little thought to it. Also, very little guilt to it (I know you hear me on this!) I am so balanced by this that when I do want a whole piece of something I am not riddled with guilt imagining the next pound of winter food fun to be added to my hips. I know that I will naturally balance my calories, adjusting for the food choices I make. I am aware I need to track caloric intake to the point I just, naturally, count my calories. I have graduated from "read every label" academy now and
know my calories. Just as easily as I know I did not mistakenly put a $500 bill in my pocket--I easily know if I added a 500 calorie meal to my day. It is second nature, a silent tally in my head that has become instinct for me. I do not over eat because, I do not need or want to over eat. It doesn't even happen accidentally!
I have arrived at Nirvana for the former fat girl --now-- naturally thin girl.
Wait till I tell you how I figured out I like to exercise!
