The Secrets of Thin People

How they get there, how they stay there.

Thin people do what works.

Perhaps nowhere does the frequently cited definition of insanity―doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result―apply more aptly than with weight loss. The math makes this clear: By one estimate, one-third of Americans are on a diet, but 64 percent of us remain overweight or obese. Something doesn’t add up.

The biggest difference between the permanently thin and everyone else might very well be this: Those who don’t gain (or regain) have come up with effective, specific, and often personal ways to keep their weight in check.

Becky Grebosky, age 38, a children’s-clothing and gift manufacturer and a mother of two in Albuquerque, New Mexico, makes a smoothie when she feels like having a treat. “I mix up yogurt, a bit of juice, some water, ice, and whatever fruit is around,” she says. “It tastes like a milk shake.” Other thin people can’t live without dessert, so they shave calories elsewhere or “pay” for the indulgence with extra time or intensity at the gym. “Thin people get out of the mind-set of being ‘good’ or ‘bad,’” psychologist Stephen Gullo says. “It’s about doing what works.”

This practice may account for the single most annoying trait of the always-thin: that their achievement seems effortless. But it’s not. “People think you never have a fat day―I do,” Holly Johnson, age 45, a co-owner of a Sarasota, Florida–based marketing and public-relations firm and the mother of an eight-year-old, says. “I have days when I feel awful. But I spend a lot of time and energy on fitness and cooking. And I have to work really hard, especially now that I’m over 40.”

But when good habits are integrated into your life, something shifts. There’s no need to count calories, agonize over an order of fries, track miles walked, or (worst of all) talk endlessly about what you’re eating and not eating. For the thin, feeling strong, healthy, and, yes, slim are powerful rewards―and their chief motivation to continue, as Anne Fletcher, a registered dietitian, has heard from dozens of people. “More than 90 percent of those who have mastered weight maintenance feel like they’re not dieting,” she says. “It becomes a way of life.”