The real difference between my naturally lean friends and I

We all have that one friend that eats whatever they want and always stays lean. That one friend you try and keep up with when eating but find that you gain weight and she doesn't.
For me this was my best friend. God bless her and he small physique and flat stomach but I was always frustrated with how my diet was so much more clean yet I was the chunky one and to make it all worse she never worked out! Genetics you say? Sure it played a role but surely we all heard the 'it will catch up to her when she is older', and did it? NO! she still looks amazing.

Why ow why I think to myself! These naturally thin people don't understand the fat struggles I go through, or the mental discussions I have with the my inner demons. My frustrations became worse when I started to meet those competing who were naturally thin prior and all I could think of was that they have no idea what fat struggles are, the forever yo-yo dieting, that bulge over the jeans, back fat squeezing through that strapless bra, that bloated belly after every meal and that self sabotaging binge that would happen ow so very often! For comp prep diet you had to eat more? and you found that hard? Really!! poor you...
I found that losing weight was much easier and maintaining was the hardest. All these struggles I go through while my bestie sat there downing a pack of Tim Tams.

Time and time again I would meet these effortlessly lean people and where I once silently cursed at their genetics I started to appreciate the following six habits:

1. They enjoy food but don't obsess over it.
Lean people tend to have a healthy attitude towards food. They eat when they're hungry, sometimes for pleasure, but generally not for emotional reasons. They aren't impulsive. They don’t feel guilty after eating sweets or snacks and never try to hide their eating from others.

2. Food isn't always at the forefront of their minds.
Because these people let themselves enjoy and don't obsess over food, it's not always at the forefront of their minds. Lean people don’t tend to snack throughout the day and often go many, many hours between meals. Effectively some lean people practice intermittent fasting by accident.

3. They don't diet.
It's so rare to see naturally lean people obsess, weigh, pinch and measure themselves or actively try to lose or manage their weight. Maybe this is because they don't need to, but I also think it speaks to an ability to trust and listen to their own bodies when it comes to eating habits.

4. They eat slowly.
This isn’t always true but rarely do you see a lean person scoffing down their food like a wild boar. Fast eating is typically the realm of the overweight.

5. They delay gratification.

For example during an event there is usually an hour cocktail party serving hors d’oeuvre before the three-course sit down meal. Lean people acknowledge that there is a big meal awaiting them so they take it easy on these calorific hors d’oeuvre. They delay gratification.

6. They have a positive body image.
Dieting "success" is an elusive and often futile goal. When you most desperately yearn for success is when you are the least likely to achieve it. By contrast, when you relax and make peace with yourself and your current situation success tends to find you.

There are many things I could have learnt from my naturally lean best friend but instead I was despising her for her notoriously fast metabolism.

So cheers to all you naturally lean people! Raise your glasses while I raise my bottle of water...