Buy Walking VideosNothing Tastes As Good As Being Thin Feels
I hear this phrase all the time. I’ve thought about it a lot. “Nothing tastes as good as being thin feels.†It’s supposed to be a really inspirational thought. I’ve heard women say it to themselves when they are tempted to overeat. I have never found it inspiring.
I don’t know what “being thin†feels like. I have no idea if it compares to lavender creme brulee or carrot cake with cream cheese frosting. Those foods taste pretty damn good, so I’m thinking that being thin must feel incredible. The problem is that I’ve never actually felt thin, so I have no idea what these people are talking about.
Of course, when I look at my old high school pictures, I realize that I was thin. I never felt thin, though. I look at those pictures and I can remember the first time I ever saw them. “Man, I am so fat.†I thought, looking at my offending body parts. Now, years later, I realize that I wasn’t so fat. I was at the upper edge of the healthy weight ranges for my age, but I wasn’t fat. I never felt thin, though. I certainly didn’t feel better than carrot cake with cream cheese frosting.
I suspect that feeling thin has nothing to do with the number on the scale. If that’s the case, can’t I “feel thin†even if I’m fat? I know that I felt a lot thinner when I lost fifty pounds. I felt so thin that I actually considered just maintaining at that weight. Even though I was still overweight, losing those fifty pounds felt so good that I thought I was happy with staying there. In fact, I did stay there for about two years.
After a while, however, I got used to it. I started to see that I was still fat. Instead of feeling good about losing fifty pounds, I started pinching fat and trying to squish it into jeans one size too small. It only took two years to start “feeling fat†again.
What if it never ends? What if I get to my goal weight and I still “feel fat� What if I never “feel thin� What if I never understand what they are talking about when they say, “Nothing tastes as good as being thin feels� Sure, the first year, I’ll “feel thin,†but after that, when I’m used to my body, will I start noticing miniscule bits of fat on myself? Will I just turn my critical eye to wrinkles or gray hair or my speech patterns?
I have no idea. I don’t know what it feels like to feel thin. I don’t know what it’s like to be a thin adult. All of this is undiscovered country for me. Exciting, isn’t it?
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March 15th, 2005 at 8:03 am
Great thoughts on this subject!
I can sympthasize totally.
March 16th, 2005 at 8:44 pm
I have lost over 100 pounds in the last year. I dropped from about 300 to 180. Ill tell you what, there is not a feel thin. I still see fat on me, it still bothers me, its something I am just learning to deal with. And i will still enjoy that carrot cake if I feel like it, it just means more time at the gym lol.
July 5th, 2005 at 4:47 pm
Have you ever been at your goal weight (since surpassing it, of course)? I know you’ve lost a considereable amount of weight before, but getting to your goal will do several things for you. Mentally, of course, you will really feel great about accomplishing something that’s made you mentally unhappy for a long time. No matter what, you will have done a great thing by being dilligent on seeing your goal through. Physically, if you find yourself at your goal weight, you will actually FEEL better. You will feel a tremendous amount of energy. You will feel light. You will feel like jumping. You will feel like running — you will feel youthful.
Imagine, if you are 50 pounds overweight. That is the same as if you were at your goal weight and had 10 5lb bags of sugar duct-taped all over your body. If you are 100 lbs overweight, that’s 20 5lb bags of sugar. How confined you would feel. Even a person at the proper healthy weight could do so very little with that many bags of sugar taped to their bodies.
Also, think about the body aches and pains that you’ve gotten use to over the years and simply have learned to live with: Back pain, Hip pain, ankle pain, feet pain… our limbs are telling us that they are stressed by too much weight. We need to listen to their cries instead of just ignoring what they tell us, day after day and year after year.
The phrase “Nothing Tastes As Good As Being Thin Feels†is most likely referring to the FEELING of our psyche, but there is so much more about being thin on a physical level that will make it so worth your while to keep fighting. You will be able to do things you just haven’t been able to in years. Good luck on getting to your goal weight and staying there for many years to come!
July 5th, 2006 at 11:23 am
This was good to read. I can relate and am not sure exactly what the answer would be. I suppose it’s different for each person as we are all different individually. I do not know what thin “feels” like, never have and sometimes feel I never will.
I am to the point I believe the best thing for me to do is try to renew my mind. I believe in God and believe in His Holy Word and there are many scriptures that talk about this on many levels. Such as our old sinful nature etc. But same applies to my weight issues as well. My mind doesn’t always see myself as the woman God created. Since I have come to know God, it is better and the closer I get to Him and read the Word I am renewing the way I think.
Because of my past, way I was raised, people, society, influences, etc. I don’t always see myself as whole, or good or beautiful and certainly not thin.
I remember my Nana telling me that a long time ago. She said it’s harder for you than your Mom, because you don’t know what it’s like to be thin, you never have. Others who have been thin still have that in their head. It’s like when you’re 80, you don’t “feel” 80. Most days you feel like you’re still young, in your mind. When you look in the mirror and have trouble getting around, etc. then of course you’re reminded, oh ya, I’m 80…
That’s the way it is for me, in my mind, I’m fat. I lost over 50 lbs and the same thing happened to me. I was good with that, I wanted more but was pleased enough that it’s now three years later and am not pleased. I am struggling with getting 20-30 more lbs off. I am also considering having a tummy tuck because I know that no matter how hard I work, it won’t get rid of the “tummy.”
I have friends that have had the gastric bypass surgery, they are no longer large or fat or whatever you want to call it. BUT they don’t “feel” much different. Sure they have those moments, one’s that I think would be awesome, to go to the different rack on actually pick up a size 7 and it fits! I would think that would be something that would help change the way you think and feel. But why doesn’t it? Becasue the mind is powerful and that’s the key, the root to the “feel.” I can’t help but think, even ater I reach my goals, will I ever “feel” thin…
I believe the answer is how we think about ourselves, then we will feel it. If we think and believe we are beautiful we will be so.
Philippians 4:4-9 “… think on these things!”
May 7th, 2007 at 1:38 pm
I prefer the modified version: “Almost nothing tastes as good as being healthy feels”. (Mmmmm, carrot cake with cream cheese frosting.) As long as I have only a small bite, I can still enjoy some of the things that taste good while losing weight. If I have a sampling, I don’t build up a craving that requires a binge. (Yes, I have to fight both excess weight and a tendency to fall into bulimia.)
If I read your posting correctly, I think you are concerned about knowing when to stop trying to lose weight. There is a lot more to health than a number on a scale or a BMI result. Many bulimics and anorexics are thin and far from healthy. Moderation is the key. Stop when it feels right. Stop when friends, family members and/or medical personnel express concern. Don’t just go by what you see in the mirror. None of us see what is real. We all see what we expect. Get outside verification.
My father was incredibly thin and his BMI was exactly where it should have been. His cholesterol was through the roof. His blood pressure was high. He also had Multiple Sclerosis and severe clinical depression. Thin does not necessarily equal healthy.
Use humour to help you recognize that you can go too far in trying to lose weight. Here’s my stab at it. “Long ago I admitted that I have a weight problem. I will never get back to my original 6 pounds 13 ounces.”
Good luck with your efforts. You are not alone.
August 1st, 2007 at 5:06 am
I lost 25 pounds a few years ago. Kept it off for 2 years, then when two tragedies hit, causing some real changes and adjustments in life, I gained it all back during that time. Now Im on Weight Watchers and my weight is on the way down again. Its much slower going down than it should be, because I tend to follow Sue Watchers more than Weight Watchers. This means that I follow MY version of the diet. It seems to be that I somehow feel unsure of myself because of the having gained the weight back once before which I had never thought that I would. So now there is a lack of confidence in my ability to actually get down to a truly healthy weight. My version of the diet includes nibbling from the time I get home from work, until after dinner. This is the only habit that keeps me from looking forward to a steady weight loss, a dramatic weight loss, and a life long weight loss.
September 5th, 2007 at 2:35 pm
Thin feels amazing. That beautiful, liberating feeling that an empty, tiny stomach gives you. Of course, everyone’s “skinny moment” is different. For my sister it was 130, for me it’s 90. Right now I’m 85 pounds, haven’t eaten in 9 days and I’m feeling great.
Food would ruin it. Everything is better than food in my opinion.
November 4th, 2007 at 6:36 pm
I’m just going to say right now, that susposedly inspirational phrase ‘Nothing tastes as good as thin feels’ issome bullshit mantra of the eating disordered. I’m still battleing with my Anorexia and Bulimia so I can tell you what thin ‘feels’ like, it feels horrible, it’s freezing limbs, aching isible ribs and no period plus serious food cravings complete with starvation headaches and passing out. So does anyone still want to feel thin? My problem with the mantra, is it’s origins, it’s come from seriously unhealthy individuals and has found it’s way into the mainstream. How about ‘Nothing taste as good as feeling healthy does’ I’ve been healthy and healthy doesn’t depend on how much weight you’ve lost, how many calories you consume or what the scales say, healthy is feeling good and treating your body well.
November 4th, 2007 at 6:38 pm
Alyssa, you know your mind set isn’t healthy. Stop looking for approval
November 17th, 2007 at 8:32 am
im 19 years old and i study psychology, thin feels like dying, and dying is such an awsome feeling, the pain of an empty stomach, the headache, its great, the feeling of emptynes as alyssa said, its lovely, i havent eaten in 3 days, planing on a 10 day fast, its the only thing that makes me feel ok, not eating, i love my body and i want to take care of it, i want it to be beautyful, and most important of all it belongs to me, so i can do whatever i want with it. i can assure you, FOR ME, NOTHING TASTES AS GOOD AS BEING THIN FEELS. thats a fact, i hate food, it makes me feel grooss, i hate the fact that we need food for living, so i want to die, i can totaly say it, i want to die and i want to starve myself to dead, i just hope im strong enough.
November 26th, 2007 at 6:37 am
I can’t believe the stupidity of the poster above
November 28th, 2007 at 8:12 pm
I’m a medical student so I know how unhealthy it is to be really thin, but i just want it so badly anyway. I wouldn’t ever do anything to harm my own body, so I still eat my three meals a day and everything. I am 5’5″ so I want to be 105, to put me at the lowest possible healthy BMI. I know BMI’s aren’t really an accurate indicator of your health. I’m currently 110-115 which is “already pretty thin” even though I feel fat every day. Marketing has a horrible way of playing tricks on your mind. I look back at pictures of me when i was 13 or 14 and I was 5’0″ and 80 lbs, and I wish I could look like that even though I still thought I was fat then. It really is a tragedy.
November 30th, 2007 at 9:31 am
Girl1 2 3, I admire your honesty. That’s pretty much how allot of us (eating disordered) think (I’m not calling you eating disordered, by the way). It is a mass of confusion, magazines and weight loss adverts has got healthy woman chasing after fatal illness and a desire to be unhealthily thin. Just look at all the TV shows dedicated to weight loss ‘celeb fit club’ you are what you eat, diet doctors. In the UK, almost every day on the news is ‘Britain’s obesity crisis’ or ‘Fat children’. We are obsessed, I read more about It girls/celebs weight loss/gain/baby bumps that I do about the crippling state west Africa i in because of it’s fragile/corrupt governments exploitation of shifting drugs.
So why is it all of us are more concerned with Amy Winehouse’s weight loss and Britneys weight gain/drug addiction? When will it not be ok for media outlets to tell us how we should hate our bodies, hate our sex, when will women decide on their own terms that health and fertility is not something to resent or be ashamed of? Why does fashion agents want us all to look like 10yr old boys?
In my mind the whole diet industry including celebs who loose weight to stay/get famous (nicole richie anyone), need to be held responsible for what I consider a mass hate crime against a generation of women. I know that if I ever have a daughter, I don’t want her to ‘learn’ like the rest of us have, to hate herself.
January 4th, 2008 at 10:45 am
Im only 13 and im a bit overweight, and i can honestly say that i can think of nothing better than feeling thin right now. Looking in the mirror makes me feel like i want to cry, because its not how i view myself. I want to look like a quirky, fun young teenager, not a lazy slob. I think that with the new year im well on my way to the process of losing that weight, but i thought i should say that in 3 months time, when im finally slender, running my fingers over my flat stomach will give me the greatest euphoria ive yet to experience.
January 12th, 2008 at 10:40 am
Oh Dani girl! treasure your healht and please don’t use any unhealhty means to loose weight, it can become addictive and I was your age when my ED’s started. You do not have to loose weight, the world and all it’s peple are not ment to come in 1 size, 1 height, skin tone or personality. I know you didn’t mention any talk of unhealthy means but still, please just love yourself, regardless of who you think you should be or look like.
February 16th, 2008 at 2:36 pm
God, look how we vacillate between various unhealthy attitudes, even on this small list of comments!
Why can’t people aim to be healthy, rather than thin? That way it IS about how you feel, and not how you look. Think about how it will feel skipping around, and running up and down stairs, and dancing, and sitting with your knees pulled up to your chin.
Remember, you don’t HAVE to listen to ‘the media’, i.e. the fashion industry and pathetic tabloids.
“If you compare yourself with others, you may become vain and bitter; for always there will be greater and lesser persons than yourself.” –Max Ehrmann
PS. Daniel Elliot- if you don’t want to look lazy, then don’t be lazy. Ouch, I sound so authoritarian. But if you focus on the exercise/activity side of things rather than the diet, you’ll lose weight AND feel a million times better about yourself. Why aim to look fun and quirky, when you can BE fun and quirky!
February 29th, 2008 at 12:19 pm
If nothing tastes as good as being thin feels, then being thin must feel like tasting nothing! …Said Randy Glasbergen in one of his cartoons…
March 12th, 2008 at 4:07 pm
I’m sick of hearing average sized girls bitch and moan about how ‘fat’ they are. Get over yourselves.
Not eating isn’t healthy. You’re supposed to eat.Being healthy is far more important than being thin. I hope someday you’ll understand this.
March 23rd, 2008 at 5:43 pm
When they talk about feeling thin its not physically, they’re talking about the mental part of feeling thin.
October 13th, 2008 at 2:48 pm
I lost 55 pounds three years ago. I felt thinner as I was losing weight. I felt happy because I was doing something good for myself and my body and that made me feel pride. I was about 3 pounds away from my goal weight when I slipped up/got busy/ blah blah blahed my way back to my original obesity.
Being thin, feels good to me because my thighs no longer rubbed together. It felt good because I could try on clothes at any store, not just Lane Bryant. It felt amazing, because when I see people I know, or people that I audition for, I don’t have to think about whether or not my stomach looks too big. I can focus on being who I am, and being a good performer instead. I recently lost 15 pounds. It feels good, but I’m definitely still fat – obese even. I feel happy that I am working towards my goal, but the fact is, I AM still fat, and will be until I get down to my goal weight. I’ll feel great when I reach a BMI of 29.9 so I can graduate from obese to overweight, then again when I get to graduate to “normal”. There really is a difference between losing weight and feeling great, and losing the amount of weight you need to to be healthy and maintaining that weight. It is great for you that you were able to keep the weight off for two years. You gave your heart time to rest from some serious weight loss. If you want to know what thin feels like, give it another go!
February 14th, 2009 at 2:41 pm
Eh… I get it… I’ve lost 10 pounds in the past 2 weeks through calorie restriction, and I can very easily sympathize with how good feeling thin feels. And honestly, this quote is probably (just guessing) meant for people who aren’t that tempted by food. Like for me, the idea of eating is repulsive, not tempting.
April 14th, 2009 at 4:00 pm
I agree. I’ve struggled with thoughts of being too fat to the point where anything over a BMI of 18.5 seems fat to me. I never felt thin, even though I am underweight. It just keeps going for most people.
June 7th, 2009 at 8:57 pm
I am anorexic. Thin does feel great. nothing tastes as good as it feels, however. I’m partially the way I am because of a number of reasons; serious history of mental illness in my family, previously anorexic father who is literally wasting away in my living room from recently diagnosed guaranteed-fatal lung cancer. I may love to not eat but it’s stemmed from something else- from the fact that I cannot control what is going on around me. This whole Anorexia/ Bulimia “thing” is different in everyones eyes and I don’t necessarily think that these phrases truly have any effect on us when it comes to how we eat. I agree with a lot of the girls who say they feel great when not eating because I do too. When I focus on how hungry I am, it’s almost as though I no longer hear my father coughing up bits of cancerous tumor on my living room couch upstairs, all I hear is my pulse and thoughts of what I’ll do when I hit my goal weight…
August 25th, 2009 at 11:43 am
The reason you guys don’t feel thin, is because you’re NOT thin. You can be a healthy average stature, but you’re NOT thin. I’ve had eating disorders as well as a good 6 month cocaine binge. And even at my smallest (5’1, 105 lbs) I looked amazing, BUT i was NEVER thin. I’m a naturally tiny girl, but I’m by no means qualified as a SKINNY girl, and I will never be. Since then, I’ve gained (at one point 45 lbs, but currently sitting at 140 lbs), and I still look fantastic. It’s not about being THIN its about being the right size for your body’s frame. If you’re loose and jiggling all over, you’re FAT and in turn, should feel like the unhealthy slob that you are. You can be 30 lbs over you’re target weight, but if it’s tight and toned and you wear it well, then that’s what matters. Myself for example, on paper, I should weigh, at most, 115. Obviously, I’m a good 25 lbs “overweight” but every girl I know would kill to have my 34DD-25-36 figure. It’s common f-ing sense, eat healthy, work out, the parts you want bigger- weight train w/ heavy weights, the parts you want smaller- weight train with light weights. If you eat sht, you’re going to look like sht. So really, the saying should be changed from “nothing tastes as good as being thin,” to “nothing tastes as good as looking good”
August 31st, 2009 at 7:59 am
I feel disturbed by briefly reading over some of the comments left here. I too have suffered from anorexia for over two years now. I have gotten down to an extremely unhealthy weight. I can tell you that you never feel thin enough. I agree entirely with Pheno07’s comments about the cold, the dry skin. As for the poster that claimed to loathe food.. it’s a myth. The starving body biologically screams out for food. It’s not the food that the anoretic (anorexic is the adjective, not the noun) despises, its all that food symbolises. I don’t intend to give a lecture, by all means. I just wanted to share my own personal response.
As to Laura, I think you are well on your way to realising that thin is an imaginary concept. Learning to truly love yourself for who you are, that must be the truly greatest ‘taste’. I hope that you get there, and I hope that I do too.
Take care all xxx
November 27th, 2009 at 8:32 am
Feeling thin is feeling empowered. It’s knowing you can put on ANY outfit and absolutely rock it. It’s that surge of energy and joy you get when you realize that people are staring at you in your bikini because you look good and not because you are one of the revolting, fat, gelatinous slobs our country is positively filled with. That’s what it feels like, and it feels good.
December 6th, 2009 at 11:12 pm
I think the best way to lose weight is to get out of your head and into the world. When I am busy doing something meaningful, developing myself professionaly, helping others, contributing in some way, overcoming my own lack of discipline to make this world a tiny bit less rotten for those who are powerless, I get out of the trap of thinking about food and weight and focus on what is important. Food in general takes a distant second and weight loss is a natural result of a fuller life. Just came from a country where some residents live in rock huts in a wasteland, all thin; young women are forced to sell themselves, all thin; children beg on the street, all thin-and all living proof that nothing DOES NOT taste as good as thin feels. Lots of time to be skinny in the grave. Little time to do what really matters.