Reena,

Remember that the Naturally Thin program is not just about losing weight but about getting your life back and getting a normal relationship with food.  It takes time.  Try to stay focused on the choices you are making right now, paying attention to your hunger, eating good food, taking care of yourself.  Avoid the scale and wear comfortable clothes.  Your body knows how to recover, but you have to get out of the way and let it recover.  That may mean gaining back some weight, but it’s the last time as long as you persevere.  I know it’s scary, as it is for everybody, but you can do it!

Sincerely,
Jean

Thanks Jean

Im afraid I went off the rails yesterday night and binged, also today after a fairly good half of the day of eating well and when I was hungry. I binged on crisps and chocolate, Im not sure why I did, just eat when Im watching tv, when the kids nap, always alone.
I just wish I could control it or know why I do it, I don’t think I was undereating. I did want to do the liquid diet because I want to lose weight fast for a family do coming up but I know that’s stupid and that may have led to the last feast binge fest.
Feels so awful. Does anyone else have these episodes and get back on track eventually? I don’t know if I can :(

Hi,

I’ll add my 2 cents worth here…..Since I’ve been NTing and actively not dieting and listening to my body, I’ve discovered that certain things trigger me into eating something I shouldn’t have.  I read the book “Good Calories, Bad Calories” which basically says carbs are bad.  After reading a few chapters of it I thought well, low carb sounds like the way to go, I should eat that way.  A weird thing happened though - it’s like I rebelled at the thought and went into the kitchen and started eating carbs!  It was almost uncontrollable.  I’m not a binger and I didn’t go hog wild, but the mere thought of not being allowed to eat carbs sent me to the pantry.  I didn’t even start eating low-carb….I didn’t have a chance!

Basically, I’ve learned not to read diet books anymore and I’ve learned to listen to what I want.  That’s not so say I haven’t eaten any cookies or icecream, I have; I am still a work in progress!

-Sindy

Hi everyone.  Just want to jump in here. I consider myself a NT success story.  Started in Feb. ‘08 at probably 140#.  Wasn’t weighing at the time, but I do remember what size clothes I was in, so 140 is a good estimate.  I was a dieter for many years prior to NT, though nothing really drastic, just really low calories for the most part.  I was successful for awhile (and only awhile) then the binging started.  It’ll catch up to you sooner or later, then the struggles begin. And you are left wondering “What happened?  I was doing so good for so long!”

Okay, here I am today, back at 140, but a totally different eater.  Today I have already had 3 meals and 1 snack before 10:30 AM, but I do get up at 5 AM so my husband and I can go to the gym together.  One of my hopes when I started eating the NT way was that I could obey my hunger signals—no matter how much my body was demanding food.  So if my body wanted food 6 times a day, I was going to push all my fears aside about that being “too much” and eat 6 times a day.  I think if I hadn’t thought this way that perhaps I’d still be in trouble, maybe even cycling. 

Today, I am eating way more food than I ever thought possible to maintain my current weight, and it is not a concern anymore.  In the beginning it is hard to imagine this happening, because we all associate losing weight with eating less food, but I believe I really revved up my metabolism by eating the Naturally Thin way, and I really do let my body choose when it wants to eat because it is the boss now.

Let’s not forget the last part of the title of Jean’s book:  How to Become Naturally Thin by EATING MORE.  EATING MORE!

I eat real butter, lots of homemade casseroles (with real cheese), breads, fruits, veggies, crackers, oatmeal.  I don’t really have restrictions, I do eat meats, and I do not crave sugar.

I guess my bottom line is: don’t be nervous about eating, but rather be nervous about not eating enough.

Swan

Reena and NT-ers,
It is VERY scary.  And it’s hard not to compare myself to others who in my view seem like they have so little to lose.  Perhaps I’m a slow learner, but I gained a significant amount of weight since I started NT.  I’m not weighing myself much so I don’t know for sure, but I feel like I’m starting to go down rather than go up.  And my energy level is coming back with more motivation to exercise.

I’m really trying to heed Jean’s advice and eat only from the high quality food list.  I do pretty well most days.  I really have to concentrate on not eating too low fat diet.  Real butter is still hard for me to buy and I usually stick to 2% cheeses.  I think I like them better, but sometimes I question if I’m trying to psych myself out of the high fat foods…

I like what Swan says about the foods she listed and no restrictions.  Just listen to your body.  It really does tell me what I’m hungry for…and on the occasional time when it says I want something sweet I ask myself “what in my diet today might have caused me to have those cravings?”  Probably not enough “good” fat.

So try to be patient with yourself, especially if you end up gaining weight at first like most of us do.  It WILL come off if you stick with it, but don’t expect it to be quick.  At least it hasn’t been for me.  But this is the last time!

Munch

When I was first trying to figure out what I should & shouldn’t eat in regard to quality, I thought of the real naturally thin people in my life, those who didn’t diet but remained thin.  They did not live on low-fat cottage cheese and diet pop.  They did not live on black coffee and lettuce without dressing.  They ate real food! Pasta, potatoes, sandwiches with meat & cheese!  And I wanted to also!  I did not want to start out on NT by eating Lean Cuisines and celery sticks because I knew there would come a day when I just couldn’t take it anymore, far too diet-y, so why not start out eating the foods I really wanted (everyday normal foods, not health food store only foods) even though higher in calories and fat.  This balances out for me because I feel my body is getting all the fat it needs without resorting to desserts and junk food. 

I have been to 2 weddings recently and passed up the wedding cake both times.  In the past, I would have eaten mine plus asked my husband if I could have his piece.

Swan

Swan,
It is soooo good to hear of a successful NT-er who no longer has an interest in sweets.  I’m still not there, although I REALLY restrict them from what I used to eat (2-3 a day).  Now I have maybe 1 or 2 a week.  But I’m not to the point of not wanting them yet.  So maybe that’s a sign that I’m still restricting my fats too much.  You are right in that non-dieters eat the “real stuff.” 

I still often dream of a really good cookie or a dish of ice cream.  The other night I took one scoop of ice cream with some nuts and a little topping.  But I found after 1-2 bites it really didn’t taste that good - too sweet.  But I ate it anyway because I had made it.  Afterwards I said “what did I learn from this experience?”  I need to be better about quitting when it no longer tastes good.  I have such a “clean plate club” mentality.

I appreciate hearing there will come a day when I don’t think about having a cookie…

Munch

Munch,

I remember distinctly a time during my NT process where I really wanted a homemade peanut butter cookie, the kind with the criss-cross on top made with a fork. The thought of one just popped into my head mid-morning, and if one was in front of me, I would have eaten it. This was after I had gone awhile not wanting sweets, like perhaps a year ago.  So instead of immediately jumping to the conclusion that a famine had caused this desire for sweets (because I knew I didn’t famine at this point) I thought maybe I just needed something with a little fat in it.  There was no way I was going to bake a batch of cookies, so I thought what else can I have in place of this cookie?  I can’t remember what I had, but I did have something in place of the cookie and I never thought about it again.  I could have had a slice of cheese or a piece or two of microwave bacon, or something I had on hand that easily satisfied me.  I have not thought about a peanut butter cookie since then! 

During the first year I thought about chocolate a lot.  And sometimes I wanted a can of pop.  Occasionally I would give in, and they would become less and less tasty to me.  They never tasted as good as I thought they would.  It is just the way you described, so you are getting there. But after 2 years, I have no cravings.  I never thought it would be possible.  Hang in there, your day will come!!!

Swan

This is to Reena,

You have just begun.  Don’t be so hard on yourself.  I binged a couple times for maybe the first week or two when I started eating the NT way, but this is the result of our past dieting.  After a month you probably won’t binge anymore if you are doing your part in keeping up with your hunger—especially early in the day.  It is part of the process of getting off the feast or famine cycle known as make up eating.  The more good quality foods you eat whenever hunger strikes, the sooner you will stop binging. Soon, you will just be eating real foods, and not binging.  If you are hungry in the evening, satisfy that hunger with something as nutritious as you possibly can.  Try not to be upset by the fact that you are hungry again. Eating when hungry is the very thing that is going to straighten things out for you.  Don’t you want a metabolism that runs like a machine in perfect form?  Remember if you have been a restricter of food, and all dieters are, you will have make up eating to do, so do not be scared about it.  When I read about this in Jean’s book, I took a deep breath and just said, “Okay, this is SUPPOSED to happen”  (the make up eating.)  So if you are going according to plan, don’t worry about it.  We’re all here to help.  It helped me to go over Jean’s book(s) because the weight gain was depressing, and I had feelings I wasn’t doing things right, then I would see that Jean wrote about these very things, and it really put my mind at ease to see this in the book.  You may even feel like the book was written specifically for you.

You can do this. 
Swan

Thanks for sharing your experience, Swan.

Remember, you will not eat foods that are not there.  Conversely, you will eat foods that are.  Pay attention to the real foods list when you shop for food.  You are the one in charge, not some diet telling you what to eat and what not to eat.  But freedom comes with responsibility if you want to achieve your goal.

Sincerely,
Jean

Swan - Jun 09, 2010 01:01pm

Hi everyone.  Just want to jump in here. I consider myself a NT success story.  Started in Feb. ‘08 at probably 140#.  Wasn’t weighing at the time, but I do remember what size clothes I was in, so 140 is a good estimate.  I was a dieter for many years prior to NT, though nothing really drastic, just really low calories for the most part.  I was successful for awhile (and only awhile) then the binging started.  It’ll catch up to you sooner or later, then the struggles begin. And you are left wondering “What happened?  I was doing so good for so long!”

Okay, here I am today, back at 140, but a totally different eater. 

Swan

Hi Swan,
I am happy to hear that you consider yourself a NT success story.
I am a little caught up in numbers and weight right now, so please bear with me.  I am new to NT (started reading the books about two months ago… have read both HTBNTBEM and BOOFJ now.) 
So after a number of years of following the principles, you weigh the same as when you started, but because you eat differently, you consider yourself a NT success.  Do I understand that correctly?  I understand that this is possible.  Did you come to an acceptance that that weight was the right weight for you or are you still expecting/hoping to lose weight at this point?  Do you think this is your naturally thin weight now?
In another post (July 1, 2020 on the “Naturally Thin and Fasting” thread), you shared that in the past year, you went down from a size 14 to a size 8.  So did you drop sizes with no change in weight? 
Weight is not the primary issue for my interest in NT, but it is an issue, and I want to be realistic in my expectations.
I am looking for support and encouragement here because I think I have started to gain weight in my attempts to apply the NT principles and guilt and anxiety are surfacing.
Many blessings!
Ela

Ela,

My first year of NT I did a lot of gaining.  I was trying to stay away from the scales, but at one point I weighed in around 166 at a doctor appointment.  I’m not sure if this was the absolute highest weight I reached or not, given the fact that I was avoiding getting weighed at this time.  So it was at this weight that I fit into clothing size 14.  Then I started losing very slowly, sometimes a pound a month, sometimes nothing, maybe 2 pounds the next month, and so on.  No rhyme or reasoning—I couldn’t count on losing a specific amount in any given month.  I think there was one month I even gained a pound or two.  I just let it happen, weighing every month or so.  Before I knew it the size 14’s were too big, and I needed 12’s.  More time elapsed and I needed 10’s.  I stayed at weight 150 pounds forever, thinking this might be it for me, which I would have accepted, after all I am 5’7” and will turn fifty soon, so I wasn’t going to bemoan being 150 at all.  But then I started thinking I could really improve on my food quality.  (at first I was mainly concerned with eating when hungry, “on time”—that was a big enough challenge for me to handle at first.)  By now (at 150) I had almost no sweet cravings, so that made it easy.  Desserts don’t have any power over me anymore, and most don’t taste nearly as good to me as they used to.  Occasionally my son would have what we call here pop (soda to some of you) in the fridge, and I’d grab a can once in awhile, and then I thought how easy it would be to stop little slip-ups like that. So I became more conscientious with my sugar intake. Then I analyzed my fat intake, as I was eating lots of full fat salad dressings, tartar sauce and veggie dip made with sour cream—-all in the same meal!  So I wanted to see if I could improve on the quality of fats in my eating.  Now I feel I am more balanced with the fats.  I tried taking it too far and removing too much fat, but started to not feel right, so now I try to tune in to see if my body is really wanting something higher in fat.  And if it really does, I go ahead and eat it, without any qualms.  So after a few months of eating better quality, I decided my next step was to get back to doing some form of exercising.  (I had quit for 2 whole years, didn’t do a thing, muscles turned to jelly, in order for me to focus solely on my eating). So I have been back to lap swimming (the only exercise I truly like to do) and my weight went down to between 140-143 in the beginning, and I just recently noticed I have put on about 2 pounds, which I will say is muscle, due to the fact that some of my size 8 clothes are now loose and I had to get a few 6’s. (I wouldn’t consider myself a solid size 6 yet, but have a few pieces) And I actually look thinner being a little firmed up.  So on occasion I will get weighed, but it doesn’t matter much what the number is since my clothing size is what it is, and they fit, and look great.  Now that I am back to around the weight I was on the day I first started NT, my eating is so much better, no binging, and higher quality eating makes such a difference in the way I feel, and I am not burned out from exercising like I was back then. I’m not caught up with food journals, restricting to small portions and really low fat, and no more depression and lack of concentration.

So what I am saying is this whole process took some time, I didn’t become an expert NTer right off the bat, and I certainly didn’t eat perfect food right from the get-go. And when I felt I was ready, I did some tweaking with quality, then when I felt I was ready to get back to exercising, I took that step.

I really don’t know if I will lose any more weight, but time will tell.  I am going to keep on doing what I have been doing because I’m very happy at this weight and size and I believe I look pretty good, and I would guess most people would say I look thin.  But the important thing is that I feel and believe I am naturally thin.  I cannot believe I eat as much food as I do, when I do, and feel this thin. 

*I will update here if and when I lose any more weight. 

Swan

To Ela, and in case anyone else is confused,

Swan’s statistics:

Started doing NT somewhere around 140-142 pounds. (size 8-10)

Gained up to around 166-ish during the first year.(size 14)

Since then, I plateaued a short while, and slowly, slowly, lost a pound here & there, while applying the NT principles, and I am now back to around 142-144. (size 6-8)

I am back to edit this, to clarify some more.  When I started NT at 140-142, my weight then was the result of being on the feast or famine cycle.  Right before this I had recently dieted down to 124 by very low calorie intake (900 per day) then soon after I gained all the way up to 142 while on the feast or famine cycle.  So while 142 sounded pretty normal for me back then, and it is about what I weigh now, I was not eating right at all, I was caught in the cycle, and felt I had totally lost control of my eating.  I knew if I continued on the feast or famine cycle I would continue to gain more and more, and be totally miserable and feel helpless.  NT was my lifeline and I grabbed a hold of it.

Thank you, Swan, for your quick and detailed response.  If you can do it, so can I.  I just read in BOOFJ on page 107 under “Support Needs”:  “One of the disadvantages of the Naturally Thin Program at this point is its lack of a support network.  There plenty of eating disorder support groups, clinics, and even hospitals that are psychologically oriented.  But they can’t help you because you’re not dealing with emotional issues; you’re learning to eat.”  That is what I am doing here… learning to eat… but a mental habit that needs to fall away for me is getting caught up in the fear and guilt and shame about gaining weight when I am eating consciously with a positive intent.  It really helps to hear your story… to know you went through all that for all that time… and stayed the course.  I feel encouraged and very blessed to have this support right now.
Many blessings!
Ela

Ela,

There was nothing fun about gaining the extra weight. And I’ve said before I’m a vain person, one who cares about things like this, appearance, size, getting larger, and larger. I can totally sympathize with you and all the others here. For a woman in today’s society to devote herself to NT, knowing a weight gain will most likely happen, takes a lot of guts. Guts the size of Texas. I’m sure many are turned away from NT when they realize this is what your body must do in order for you to get healthy and recover. We all want a quick fix.  But I felt there was nothing else that would work for me.  The NT principles sounded like “truth” to me.  I cannot argue with the principles of adaption; they are what they are.  When you eat tiny amounts your metabolism slows down to match that tiny intake.  Who am I to argue that?  It’s the truth!  I believed it all, every word Jean wrote about adaption, and it made too much sense to just toss the books aside and ignore them. My comfort and positive attitude came in my believing my body would recover in its own timing, based on these principles of adaption.  And as you said, if I did it, you can too, well I told myself if Jean did it, I could too.  I really believe you can do it, Ela.

Maybe your friend will read the book and for some reason, feel NT is not for her, and will go back to dieting. (I hope this isn’t the case)  But if it is, I hope you will not give up yourself.

I had no other options left to try.  Dieting wasn’t working for me.  I was at the bottom of the pit; at rock bottom.  I think this only works for people who really believe the body works the way Jean explains it in her books.  If you are just not buying into it, you will constantly be seeking other diets, trying tricks, and NT won’t work. 

Like Munch said in another post, you really need to jump in with both feet if you believe in the NT principles, if you know in your heart they make perfect sense.  I really knew this, so I believed in NT and that it would work for me. This wasn’t just “taking a chance” for me.  It felt like it really had to work, because it made sense to me. But it still was uncomfortable not knowing how much I would gain, or how long it would take for me to lose.  Every time I went back to the books the principles were there again, still making sense, still ringing true.

Swan