Thin People Are Naturally Thin – or Maybe Not

I’ve always thought there were two categories of people. Those who struggled with their weight – and those who don’t. You know the ones I mean – the ones who are naturally thin and don’t seem to worry about what they eat or drink. Most of them don’t exercise either. I’ve always envied them and wondered what life would be like to be like that.

But since losing weight, I sometimes think I’ve gained entry into a new club. A club where secrets are shared. A club of thin people who I’ve discovered actually secretly pride themselves on maintaining their weight and actually monitor it very carefully.

Here are a few stories

Friend One on a sporting weekend shared late one night, how she loves to be thin, and loves the way clothes look, and is terrified of gaining weight. She weighs herself every day, sometimes more than once, and carefully makes sure she never eats too much. She only has fruit for breakfast, then nothing till lunch, a healthy salad role, and a what ever the family are having for tea – but only a very small serve. Nothing after tea, no treats during the day. Oh - and of course she doesn’t eat things like pizza or other takeaway if that’s what the family are having– she cooks herself up some veggies instead. And she exercises (on a moderate level) daily. She says if she eats any more she gains weight. She is worried about passing on her eating obsessiveness to her daughter. She is my age, and has always been a size 8. I’ve never really noticed what she ate, apart from knowing that she liked to make healthy choices. And I’ve always assumed she was naturally this way.

Friend Two – always been a size 8, and very petite. We were at a BBQ one night and I noticed she was eating soup that she had brought with her. Why I asked? It turned out that whilst on an overseas holiday she had gained 4 kgs, and on her return, she set about losing it as quickly as possible. Of course, those around scoffed – because you couldn’t see it, but she whispered to me that she knew she had, because her jeans felt tight. And as soon as this happens – she cuts back on her eating until they fit well again. She doesn’t weigh herself all the time – but she always wears fitted clothes and uses the fit as a guide to modify her eating. I always knew she went to the gym regularly – but I thought it was for her bad hip. I’m not so sure now.

Friend Three – always been a size 8 (I seem to have a lot of these don’t I?) In talking about how much weight I had lost and how fabulous I looked (in her opinion). We got to talking about what she eats. “Oh I never eat much more than a vegemite roll during the day – and then I can afford quite a bit of wine at night”. Interesting that at the same height, she didn’t think that I needed to lose any more weight – despite being about 10 kgs heavier than her!

Friend Four – yes, another size 8 (well in my head anyway) Turned to me in a meeting the other day when we stopped for the catered lunch and said – “oh I really can’t have any of the sweets today – I’ve put on weight this week” “This week?” I puzzled to her. “yes” she whispered, “I normally gain weight on the weekend, and then lose it again during the work week” but last week I didn’t lose it like I normally do.” So she obviously weighs herself regularly to stay within some sort of limit, and then changes her eating accordingly.

These friends are all over 40 and I have known them for many years. They have ‘successfully” maintained their weight all their lives, and I have never noticed any gain. But I always assumed it was easy for them. I never realized that they were secretly – well at least not openly – checking their weight regularly and restricting their eating when necessary. And I didn’t realize that they actively worked at eating small quantities. Not all their behaviors are healthy, are some are bordering on obsessive, but I never realized that perhaps thin people (or at least some) enact some sort of control over their behaviour, that those who gain large amounts of weight perhaps don’t. I know for me there were probably years when I refused to step on the scales, and I always wore elasticized trousers so I didn’t have the same bench marks to monitor my gains. All I noticed over the years was that my clothing sizes kept creeping up and up.

Maybe there are still two groups of people, but rather than the naturally thin and not so naturally – maybe its about those who monitor and react to the checks and balances, and those who don’t. And maybe our disillusioned view of how much easier we thought maintenance would be, is based on not realizing this.