Hmmm. See, I could never do that. Does she stop because she's had enough, just doesn't want anymore, she's satisfied? Or because she knows what eating more will do to her weight?

Again, is she satisfied with less. Or does she make a conscious decision to take (eat) less because of the caloric consequences?

You see, I would tend to think she just wants "less then most", no? Certainly less then me.

Either way, she sounds quite remarkable.

It is my impression that she eats 2 nuts and stops because that's all she wants. As far as I know, she's never stopped eating due to worries about calories. I don't even think she would know the calorie count of any food - there was never any type of calorie book or guide in our house growing up.

She has to my knowledge, never worried about her weight her entire life (until after age 60). She has never mentioned her weight, calories, dieting, stopping because she might get fat, needing to exercise, getting fat, "ohmygod, I'm so fat," "do these pants make me look fat" - nothing. She never mentioned her weight, worries about her weight - so I don't know if she didn't really worry about it or she just didn't mention it to her family!

It's hard for me to tell if she really eats less than most or if she has a really great metabolism. Sure she does the eat two almond thing, but she also does stuff like polish off a huge plate of fajitas with tortillas and rice and beans.

This is good stuff though, I will just call her tonight and ask her!

Classic family story:

My mom is at the dentist and the dentist tells her she has the littlest mouth he's ever seen. We giggle at this, because my mom is so talky and just plain loud. Then, she's got some stomach pains* and she has to have an upper GI. The doctor tells her she's got the biggest stomach he's ever seen - "just like a Christmas stocking!" Much family humor ensued - littlest mouth, biggest stomach - that's Mom! "Just like a Christmas stocking" is still used quite a bit at Casa Glory's Mom.

(she ended up having an ulcer)

I read this yesterday and was pretty disgusted. "Effortless"?!? I have known a few naturally thin women with incredible metabolisms in my life, but in the great scheme of things it has been a deprivation scenario. We are all wired differently and some of us are like the old Lay's potato chip commercial "can't have just one"- not because we are weak, but I truly believe there is a metabolic difference. Notwithstanding that I still think most thin women work at it in their own way and "effortless" is an affront.

I think they are oversimplifying the phrase "effortlessly thin". I'm not quite at maintenance yet but am close enough that I'm trying to start gearing my mind in that direction. At this point I really don't see making much in the way of changes in my "program" at all - and I am doing pretty much everything on the list.

The difference between now and when I started out back in January is the whole thing is actually very much easier. DH can have "stuff" in the house now and I don't worry about it because I just have no particular desire for it. And, now I can eat 10 almonds or a few little Kashi TLC crackers and feel perfectly satisfied - and stop eating (wow - never would have thought that I would be saying such a thing). But I also just can't see ever relaxing and relying on that satisfied feeling alone. I don't see ever being able to stop actually counting out those 10 almonds, or checking the side of a box for the serving size, measuring it out, and making a note of the number of calories (I sort of keep a running total in my head now).

Maybe the difference between someone like me and someone like Glory's mom is that all of that wonderful "stopping when satisfied" is a natural behavior for her and a learned behavior for me. Which puts me at a big old risk of "unlearning" it and slipping back into the mindless eating habits. Quite honestly, I hope I never even think I want to try.

This reminds me of something that someone said to me just yesterday and I swear I had to use every ounce of my strength not to rip into her.

She asked me mind you how I lost the weight and have been able to maintain it. Okay, you all know me by now, no secret - I eat well and exercise. That's what I told her. She wanted more details, so I told her the some specifics - veggies, veggies, veggies, protein, protein, protein, exercise, exercise, exercise, planing, planing, planing, avoiding certain foods all together (vast majority of the time) yada, yada, yada.

And then she said to me, "You're so lucky that you can do that". Lucky? I'm lucky that I can do that? There is no luck involved here. This is work. HARD work. I know you all know that.

Cute story Glory. You're mom sounds like quite the character.

I will say though that there are times when people really see me "chowing down". I have all (most) of my splurges at parties and the such. When people see me eating "that stuff" they often comment, (I am often "policed") how they can't believe I eat like that and lost the weight and now have kept it off. Of course it's a rarity that I do this. If I were to eat like that often, well.........

The only "effortlessly thin" women I've met who never had to work really hard at it are several of my in laws who use cigarettes and coffee as their weight control devices. And they are not a healthy lot.

Dagmar

I actually liked the site. Good basic stuff. Yeah, it has a lot of the "effortlessly" thin blah blah that is almost mandatory with "diet advice" type sites, but it is better than most, and worth a look.

Anne