I'm glad somebody else posted what I've been saying. I know you need to watch "calories" but I swear, so far just going back to the gym has lost me 30 lbs., exercise makes all the difference in the world.

It is so true, we think thin people eat whatever they want all day because we see them eat something unhealthy once in a while. So not true. Most if not all people work at it. It's just such an unconscious part of thier life for so long they aren't talking about it all the time.

Reminds me of a very slim fit late 40's gentleman I know complaining about people who spent all of thanksgiving dinner talking about what they couldn't eat or how many calories were in desert. His answer? why not pay attention to the crap you are eating the rest of the year so you can enjoy those rare special occasions that revolve around food.

Oh and I took it as just the opposite. Funny.

I took it that it was his dedication to preparing his food, not merely the gym alone, that was responsible for his fit body.

Emphasis on Most. I have definitely known thin people who really DO eat ridiculous quantities of food (I stayed with my step-FIL for 2 weeks as part of a business trip - yoga once or twice a week, not even a particularly large amount of NEAT movement, ridiculous quantities of food, huge breakfast, huge lunch, gigantic dinner, 300 calorie "snacks" 2-3 times per day, etc...and he's small. Really small. My FIL isn't so lucky, so they'll cook Weight Watchers meals to eat for dinner...he'll have 1 serving and go to the gym to maintain his weight, and his partner will eat the other 3 servings and stay small). Still I believe that for every person like that, there are two or more slim people who definitely DO work to maintain that slimness.

Yes, I meant something more like this. Seeing this fit guy at the gym is one thing - you sort of expect to see buff, fit people at the gym. But I saw him prepare a healthy snack that he'd obviously put so much thought into - bringing several different fruits and vegetables from home, putting them in the office refrigerator, standing there slicing and peeling them. All the same time-consuming attention and planning that for so long I didn't make time to do, and that (I reluctantly admit) I still sometimes resent having to do.

It's a little hard to articulate, but it was just nice to see someone like that doing things I associate so strongly with trying to lose weight. It helps me associate them with being that fit strong person I want to be. Let me put it this way - I have never been fit or trim. For me, vegetables and yogurt are the snacks of a fat woman on a diet, because every time I have eaten them that is what I have been.

My experience yesterday evening drove home the point that these are not just the snacks of a fat woman on a diet. They are the snacks of the trim, fit, strong person I want to be.

Does that make sense?

that makes total sense

great realizations!

I'm glad you saw it, because I had a light bulb moment that was similar too. All my friends are thin, and even though I had a friend who I knew was constantly dieting (she did the Jenny Craig thing all the time), I had made the assumption my other friends were "naturally" thin.

They weren't. I started to REALLY SEE what they were eating and the exercise they did and I realized that they aren't eating Kit Kats and McD's every day and sitting on the couch watching TV.

They can have high calorie meals, but they are planned in advance and they go right back to healthy eating and exercising. They don't binge and they do make hard choices between eating this thing today versus something tomorrow.

I realized that I had to be careful about what I was putting in my body too. I couldn't stay mad at my body for being fat or having PCOS. I had to take responsibility for having gained the weight and to accept that I had make similar healthy choices if I wanted to have a healthy body.