This morning at work I walked out how many steps it will take to walk one of our largest rooms, back and forth. About 2000 steps is a mile. To the back of the room, (and up and down five steps) is about 108 steps. If I walk this about twenty times a day I will have walked a mile.

So I set my computer to notify me when it's time to walk again. Luckily, the ladies I work with will do this with me. I'm being selective now about those I tell about the band. Not because I'm thinking I'll fail - but because these people have shown a history of going out of their way to want to go out to eat, bake cakes, drink a lot of wine... it's easier just to pull those close to me who I know want this for me too - than it is to let all of this out to the world quite yet.

Last night I had a crazy craving for sweets - since the rest of my family had hotdogs with chili, cheese and chips - I opted for a healthy frozen dinner with a significant amount of protein. (and 240 calories) Then an hour later, I still wanted sweets so I made my way in the kitchen to find a forty calorie fudge pop. It was so yummy. Yesterday's calories equaled about 1400. Not because of the fudge pop - but because I was eating a corndog with my daughter around 2 p.m. before I realized I was doing it.

Mindless eating - drives me batty!! I'm going to have to do some research on how to combat that - the mindless eating. You see someone else eating... so you eat too. I ordered a book that I read about here (in the forums) - how skinny people think. (If anyone wants it after I read it - I'll mail it to you.)

Then I found a place online that had a pretty basic (but needed to read) take on how skinny people think. I liked it.

Are you ready for the big secret? Are you ready to find out how thin people can eat whatever and whenever they want without gaining weight? It's going to sound deceptively simple, but don't be fooled. It's the simplest and yet the most difficult thing in the world.

What makes it difficult is that it involves some basic, fundamental shifts in how you approach food, eating, yourself, and your life. As you read, imagine yourself behind that thin person's eyes, and notice how you feel.

Thin people do four fundamental things that fat people don't.

1. They hardly ever eat unless their body is hungry.

2. They eat exactly what their body wants to eat.

3. They don't eat unconsciously; they stay conscious of what they're eating and the effect it's having on their body.

4. They stop eating when their body's hunger goes away.

It's as simple as that. I couldn't believe it at first and tried to make it more complicated. It had to be the kind of food they ate or their metabolism. But I found that some thin people eat junk food, and some eat health food. Some eat an early dinner, and some eat late at night. Some eat quickly, others eat slowly. The only things they all have in common are that they eat when their body gets hungry, they eat exactly what their body wants, they're aware of every bite they take and the effect it's having on their body, and they stop when their body's hunger goes away.

If you stop and think about it, that's how children and animals eat. It's the natural approach to eating. Let's take those four characteristics one at a time.

1.THIN PEOPLE EAT BECAUSE THEY'RE HUNGRY. It doesn't occur to naturally thin people to combine donuts and sadness, as fat people often do. Their days don't revolve around food. Sometimes they say, "Oh, I forgot to eat today." The only time we forget to eat is when we're asleep or unconscious, but if thin people aren't hungry, they don't think about food. It isn't an issue in their lives, since they give themselves permission to eat exactly what they want. It wouldn't occur to them to eat for any of the reasons we do-they eat because their body is hungry, and that's it! They don't waste food by eating more than their body needs. Food is just food, not love, comfort, sex, companionship, etc.

2.THIN PEOPLE EAT EXACTLY WHAT THEY WANT TO EAT. Thin people do a funny thing-before they sit down to a meal, they usually take the time to ask themselves what they want to eat. They don't ask themselves what they should eat; they ask themselves what they want to eat. They know that if they want French fries, a head of lettuce isn't going to satisfy them. If they want a baked potato, cottage cheese isn't going to do it. If you want rocky road ice cream, a thousand carrot sticks aren't going to satisfy you! And there's one thing naturally thin people never do-they never go on a diet.

3.THIN PEOPLE EAT CONSCIOUSLY. They stay conscious of what they're eating and the effects it's having on their body. They would never find themselves with their hand at the bottom of the box, wondering who ate all the popcorn. Since they pay attention to what they're eating, they're satisfied with less and enjoy their food more. Because thin people are awake and conscious when they're eating, they know when their body has had enough. Most fat people have no idea how full they are before, while, or after they eat. Naturally thin people are ignorant about food. They don't know anything about diets, and the process of counting calories baffles them. They only know four things: when they're hungry, what they want to eat, what each bite of food they put in their mouth is doing there, and when their body has had enough.

4.THIN PEOPLE STOP EATING WHEN THEIR BODY IS NO LONGER HUNGRY. Did you ever have someone try to press more food on you, even when you told them, "I'm on a diet?" Thin people have two words that stop people dead. They say, "I'm full," and if pressed, they just keep repeating it. I've seen thin people stop eating right in the middle of an expensive meal and feel no guilt whatsoever. I've seen them wrap up and save one bite of food, or take all but two sips of a soft drink and put it back in the refrigerator. When you ask them why they don't finish it, they say, "I'm full. I'll eat it later." Doggie bags were invented for thin people. Fat people eat everything that lands on the table.

When you think about it, these are all you really need to know in order to transform yourself into a naturally thin person.

....

So here's the deal - I always got ruffled before when someone said the word fat. Welp - if it quacks like a duck and walks like a duck... it's fat.

Denial isn't a pretty thing.

Getting healthy, however, is.

Much love.