Do you find yourself stuck when trying to lose weight? Or worse, do you feel helpless as you gain weight? Are you doing all the right things for short periods, but cannot seem to stick to these things for longer periods? Do you feel like you keep trying to change your behaviors but nothing has lasting results?
If you can identify with these feelings you are probably wondering what you can do to make things better. One of the most important first steps you can take is to examine what you are currently doing that may be adding to your weight struggles. In our experience, there are certain behaviors that separate individuals who struggle with weight from those individuals who do not. There is much that can be learned from individuals who do not struggle with weight (the naturally thin). In the remainder of this article, we will discuss four of the secrets of the naturally thin.
Naturally thin individuals never diet
Diets do not work. Current research shows that for the majority of individuals, diets cause weight gain, not weight loss. In one study, only 1 percent of individuals who lost weight on a diet had kept it off after ten years. Those are not good odds. Perhaps even more troubling is that dieting can harm you by causing binge eating, emotional eating, increased appeal of restricted foods, and other eating disorders.
Diets do not work because they cause us to stop listening our bodies. In working with adults for the last nine years, Marna has heard many individual stories of weight struggle. While the stories differ greatly, one common element is that the weight struggle began when the person started dieting and/or counting calories. Following any type of restrictive eating program can cause us to stop listening to our body cues of when and how much to eat. Once an individual begins to override the hunger and satiety cues the body provides, it can be difficult to maintain their preferred weight.
Naturally thin people eat when they are hungry and stop when they are full
Yes, it is true and it is that simple. We know it is hard for people who struggle with weight to understand this completely, but we have found that the one major difference is that the naturally thin eat only when they are hungry and only up until the point of satisfaction.
Our bodies tell us when to eat by making us feel hungry, then tell us when to stop by making us feel full. These are known as hunger and satiety cues, and they are there because they are important to our survival. Obviously, we must eat in order to live, but less obvious is that we must also stop eating when we are full (satiated).
The first step in beginning to eat like a naturally thin person is to become aware of when you are hungry as well as to become aware of the effect that food is having on your body when you are eating. And, perhaps most importantly, we must listen to our bodies when they tell us they are full.
Naturally thin people eat whatever they want whenever they want
Many teens try to lose weight by cutting out certain types of foods or drinks from their diet, such as burgers, french fries, and sodas. Although this seems like a good idea, food bans and food rules can trigger harmful behaviors such as binge eating, emotional eating, and an increased appeal for restricted foods.
Enforcing food rules for yourself, such as: I do not eat anything with more than 5 grams of fat per serving, I have only a salad each day for lunch, and I never drink regular soda, can actually set you up to gain more weight than if you did not impose these rules on yourself. Naturally thin people eat whatever they want. The difference between naturally thin people and the rest of us is that they effortlessly and naturally eat whatever they want when they are hungry and stop when they are full. They do not restrict their diets in any way. They eat dessert whenever they feel like it. If they like soda and they feel like one, they have one. If they like French fries, they have French fries.
Some researchers think that enforcing food rules for ourselves causes us to override our bodily cues that tell us when and how much to eat. When we stop listening to our bodies, it becomes hard to balance our calorie intake and energy expenditure over time. Infants and young children are usually very good at balancing their calorie with their energy expenditure by eating when they are hungry and stopping when they are full. You do not need to beat yourself up for eating certain foods. Thin people do not do this and this is one of the reasons they stay thin effortlessly.
Naturally thin do not use food to cope with emotions
The forth secret we would like to share with you is that naturally thin people eat only to fuel their bodies and not for emotional or other external reasons. When we ask naturally thin people why they eat, they often get confused. They do not understand why anyone would eat except for when they are hungry. It makes little sense to them why they would eat for an emotional reason, such as, boredom, fear, loneliness, or procrastination. When we learned this about naturally thin people, we were surprised to learn that there is really only one reason to eat. Like others struggling with weight, we were eating for hundreds of other reasons, and even for reasons like food is expensive and should not be wasted, and that there are starving people who do not get an opportunity to eat meals like this so I better eat it all. If you are eating for emotional reasons, it will be imperative for you to examine these reasons in order to find a permanent solution to your weight struggle. Just like the naturally thin, you will need to find other ways, besides eating, to cope with your emotions.
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