“If you want a quality, act as if you already had it.” — William James

One of the great secrets of success is to act as if you have already achieved your goal.

How would you act if you were already thin, rich, happy, in a great relationship, at peace, relaxed and successful in your career?

When it comes to losing weight, many people focus so much energy on the process of dieting with all its strictness, ridiculous eating plans and lack of fun that they lose sight of the actual goal, which is to feel good about the way they look and be healthy.

However, if you take time observing people who consistently maintain their ideal weight, you will observe that none of them actually diet.

Instead, they have a specific way of behaving that has nothing to do with deprivation and everything to do with appreciating their body, valuing their personal energy and planning ahead for long-term, life-long wellness.

If you follow these behavior patterns and act like a naturally slim person you too could find yourself looking good and feeling healthy.

Here are 6 important ways you can drop the diet mentality and act as if you are already thin:

1. They know which foods make them feel good. If you observe naturally thin people, they generally do not avoid major food groups (e.g., fat, carbs, white foods). Instead, they have an intuitive understanding of which kinds of foods give them consistent energy throughout the day. You won’t find them eating fast food because you don’t have to explain to them how they would feel if they ate so-called “food” sold from a drive-through window. They seek out whole, unprocessed actual foods, including fruits, vegetables, nuts and high quality meats.
2. They have found ways to move their bodies consistently on a daily and weekly basis. They have discovered ways to exercise that they enjoy, pure and simple. That may be gardening, hiking, participating in a yoga class where they love all the other people, weight lifting or getting up first thing in the morning and performing body weight movements before they go to work. They exercise regularly because they know if they don’t all other aspects of their life will suffer. Working out in some form or fashion is part of their daily routine. You don’t have to explain to them why.
3. They never overeat. They eat for enjoyment but not as a form of self medication. If they’ve got a problem, they talk it out, visit a healer, make an appointment with their medical doctor or address the issue head on. They do not stuff their feelings. On special occasions such as Thanksgiving and Christmas they still eat the same amount of food they would on other days.
4. They wear beautiful clothes that accent their best features. Thin people do not have so-called “fat clothes” in their closets. They do not keep a reserve of sack-like outfits to fall back on should they gain a few extra pounds because they never even imagine that would happen in the first place. They enjoy looking their best and their wardrobe reflects that.
5. They don’t count calories because they don’t need to. No, it’s not because thin people can eat whatever they want, as if their lives were full of bananas foster, ice cream sundaes and endless cans of soda. It’s because they have a good mind-body connection. They stop eating before they are full. If they put something in their mouth that doesn’t agree with their body they stop immediately.
6. They don’t diet. I know this sounds outrageous, sacrilegious, pollyannaish and even impossible to people who are significantly overweight. Many fat people think that they have to adopt a strict regime or their dream of looking good or feeling healthy might never come true. If you are reading this, you may be so turned off by this suggestion that you dismiss the idea completely. Don’t get angry, get smart. Instead of setting yourself up for failure by starving yourself, discover how to eat as if you were already at your ideal size. That means learning the amount of calories and the kinds of foods required to maintain the ideal weight for your body.

As you prepare for 2017 and set your goals for the coming year, instead of planning yet another crazy uncomfortable diet, spend significant time hanging around people who are consistently thin and and make detailed observations of how they act.

Only by acting like a naturally thin person on a consistent basis will you actually become one too.

What to know more? Set up an appointment with me, Catherine Carrigan. I’m 57 years old and wear the same size dress that I did when I was 30. I don’t diet, I teach people how to be thin naturally without deprivation, dieting or insanity. Email catherine@unlimitedenergynow.com or call 678-612-8816.