Thin secrets: How I became thin without dieting

I started to notice that slim people had certain approaches towards their weight which were different to those people who tended to gain weight. It amazed me that there were actually attitudes which helped to keep people slim, but more importantly, there were other ways of thinking which seemed to keep some people trapped with weight issues. I recognised many of these in myself and realised I had actually been holding myself back from weight loss. Gradually, I forced myself to let go of these and started to adopt some of the attitudes that I could see were successful for thin people.

Over time, I got to grips with this new 'slim' thinking and I began to try and act like a slim person as well. This was when my journey became really interesting. On a day-to-day basis, many slim people do not seem to be very different. This strengthens the idea that they are just naturally slim as it is not immediately obvious what keeps them from gaining weight. However, when I began to really look closely at people's lifestyles, I soon started to spot some small differences. These small, seemingly insignificant things add up over days, weeks, months and even years, and eventually result in quite a substantial weight difference between two people.

At first I wasn't convinced that just making a few small changes to my lifestyle would have a big impact on my weight, but my new slim thinking and my determination not to diet helped me to give it a go. I began to make little changes here and there, starting with tiny things such as not having sugar in my coffee. I built up gradually, really noticing all my old habits; for example, I used to always have cheese on my pasta dishes, now it's a treat every once in a while. It worked - over time I slimmed down, not by dieting, but by adopting some of the little habits that I had learnt from slim people. Eventually, I reached a very healthy weight which I have maintained over the past few years without dieting. I had finally cracked it, I had 'learnt' how to be a slim person.

A little while ago I had a (rather large) dinner with someone who made the comment, 'it's alright for you; you're just naturally slim.' I nearly choked on my chocolate fudge cake. It became clear to me that it was time to start sharing and from that came Thin Secrets - just in case there was anyone else out there who wanted to be slim without dieting.

Dr Lizzie Kingsley's book, published by Bubbly Publishing Limited, is available from www.thinsecrets.com or from www.amazon.co.uk