“TextToVoices” interviews Nadia Giordana, Author of THINKING SKINNY
TonyB’s Introducton: Nadia Giordana is an author, editor, and a publisher. She is the author of the newly released book, Thinking Skinny (available at Amazon.com). Nadia went from weighing 215 pounds to 127, losing 88 pounds in a period of 14 months. To meet her goal, she used a combination of healthier eating, calorie reduction, creative focused visualizations, and a daily dialog with God as her primary tools. You can get more information about Nadia’s book at her website, ThinkingSkinny.com. She also edits and publishes the Minneapolis small press print publication, Mississippi Crow Magazine that showcases emerging writers and artists. You can learn a lot about Nadia’s current endeavors on her blog at NadiaGiordana.com.
Tony: How did you come to write the book, Thinking Skinny?
Nadia: At first, there were no plans for a book. In August of 2007, I decided to take responsibility for my health; for me, that meant the first order of the day was to lose the weight I had gained over the last several years. I didn’t announce it to the world, I simply worked out a program I felt would be right for me (based on some good habits I used to follow, but had strayed from). I began making those changes in my life and eating habits—and I kept copious notes. By the next spring, I had surprised so many people with such a significant loss of weight, that they began asking questions like, “What’s your secret? How did you do it? Can you write it down for me? Tell me what you did!”
In the beginning, I didn’t intend to write anything more than personal entries in my journal and maybe an article or two about my weight-loss endeavors for my blog. But because of all the questions, I decided to pull my notes together into a booklet or ebook that I could make available on the Internet and share with my friends. It wasn’t a quantum leap from there, to see that I had the makings of a complete book—one that, because it focused on mindset first, and eating habits second, I felt, could serve as a companion to almost any good weight loss program.
Tony: So is this a new diet? Is it complicated? Are there recipes to follow?
Nadia: No. I wouldn’t call this a diet book in the trendy sense of the word. There are already plenty of those on the market right now. Thinking skinny is more of a perspective on weight loss based on my personal experiences as I went through it and how I structured my program to fit my dietary likes and dislikes so I ended up with something I could follow permanently without ever feeling like I was on a diet. Thinking Skinny outlines the techniques in such a way that you won’t feel overwhelmed, or feel that you will have to balance fats, carbohydrates and protein with the precision of a pharmacist.
I also didn’t want this to become known as a recipe book, but there were a number of recipes that helped me get through the rough spots and they are included in the book. For the most part, I prefer to keep the foods I eat simple and uncomplicated.
Tony: How much weight did you lose and how long did it take you to do it?
Nadia: Tony, I lost 88 pounds over a period of 14 months, and because of a leg injury, I lost the first 60 pounds or so without benefit of exercise. I think that is what surprised me the most—that I could lose steadily for several months before I brought exercise into my routine.
Tony: How did your family and friends react when you told them you were going on a diet—or did you tell them?
Nadia: As I mentioned before, I really didn’t say anything in the beginning except to a few because I was afraid I might fail. It was around four months into the program when people close to me started to notice. At six and eight months, I was creating quite a stir. For family and friends who had known me all my life and remembered me from when I was thin, this was a welcome return to normalcy and they were excited and encouraging to me.
Tony: You mention a daily dialog with God, and you also talk about using visualizations. Is this a Christian book or would you say it falls into the category of new-thought we hear so much about? Can you give us a clear picture of your personal philosophy?
Nadia: The visualizations I use are faith-based, with emphasis on involving God in your daily life. It’s another way to use the power of prayer. I can honestly say that once I gave it all up to Him, I knew from day one that this was going to work.
I do refer to the law of attraction in the book because it’s so popular in our culture now, and I talk about why some people claim that the results they get when using it are inconsistent. I think that is because they may be missing the point and attempting to draw from a source of personal power and not giving it up to a higher power. My personal leanings are clearly Christian, but even in that community there is room for disagreement about the use of visualization techniques. I can talk about this with a certain authority because I was a student of the new-thought philosophies for a number of years before finally devoting some time to studying the Bible and becoming a practicing Christian. I’ve seen it from both sides, and it’s my personal conviction that if you give it up to God and let Him do the work, you have a greater chance for success.
Tony: Are you a nutritionist or a dietician or are you in the medical profession?
Nadia: I am not, though I have studied nutrition and healthy eating independently for more than 20 years. I do have an association with a registered dietician who I consult when I have a question. Her name is Laurie Beebe, and she wrote the foreword for my book. It’s my habit to defer to trained experts like her when I have a technical question that needs answering.
Tony: What about goal-setting Do you address that in the book?
Nadia: Yes, I set down an easy-to-follow, three-tiered approach that begins with setting a realistic goal to get the reader started, then raises the bar once they know they are well on their way. It ends at tier three with what I call the “Showstopper”. Essentially that means I want to pull the participant through to a full completion. In too many cases, once a certain amount of weight has been lost, a person begins to think to themselves, “Wow! I did it. This is great. I can get on with my life now. I look pretty darned good—better than I have in a long time. This is about as far as I thought I could go and I’m pretty happy.”
This is when I offer them the showstopper philosophy: Why not go all the way? Why not lose all the weight you need to lose? Now is the time, its right in front of you, within your grasp. There is a quote I love by Bob Proctor that sums it up for me, and it goes like this:
“Set a goal to achieve something so big, so exhilarating that it excites you and scares you at the same time. It must be a goal so appealing, so much in line with your spiritual core that you can’t get it out of your mind.”
Tony: Did you have setbacks or prolonged plateaus?
Nadia: No, not really. Following this method, my weight loss averaged around 2 pounds per week with only minor ups and downs. I believe the nightly visualizations helped keep my efforts consistent.
Tony: We hear a lot about the recommended 2000 calories per day diet for women. What are your opinions on that?
Nadia: I’m particularly glad you asked this question Tony, because calorie intake is the bottom line, pure and simple. If you eat more calories than you burn each day, you will gain weight, and if you eat less than you burn, you will lose. The 2000 calorie per day guideline is just that and as I do in the book, I will use myself as an example. I was a petite, (5’2”) mature woman with a sedentary job. In the beginning, I was eating more than 2000 calories per day, but even 2000 calories is too much for someone like me. I include a detailed formula in the book for readers to calculate their true daily calorie needs. It’s an important section, but there are numerous websites on the Internet that offer digital tools to calculate this for you.
Tony: I see at one point you mention watching the TV program Biggest Loser. What is it about that program that helped you and was there anything about that show that didn’t click with you?
Nadia: I couldn’t relate to the extreme exercise regimen the contestants were put through. Though I recognized the importance of exercise, I had a leg injury that prevented me from doing weight bearing exercise until after I had lost more than 60 pounds. I did, however, relate to the personal stories of the contestants, their enthusiasm, determination, and desire to change their lives. I picked out one gal, Ali Vincent, who was about my original size and weight and I tracked along with her, comparing my progress with hers at the weekly weight-ins. For me, watching the weekly weigh-ins acted as an anchor point to renew my resolve, and even though my weight loss wasn’t as dramatic or as rapid as for those contestants, it nevertheless kept me motivated to finish what I started.
Tony: What are some of the other tips and pointers you include in the book?
Nadia: To name a few, I talk about how to find healthy, lower calorie replacements for desserts and treats, delaying gratification, learning how to read labels, tips for dining out (like eating off the appetizer menu and sharing entrees with your companion), knowing your triggers and literally dozens of other things I employed to make this happen–things I still do today to maintain my weight without dieting.
Tony: I see a chapter called “Relationships: Four Critical Factors That Could Derail Your Success”. What can you tell me about that?
Nadia: You’re going to need a support system, and you’re going to need true friends and family around you for encouragement and support. In this chapter, I cover some of the surprises and pitfalls you may encounter with regard to relationships. For example, fear–and the grief and loss response on the part of others, and also your own.
Most of my current friends had never seen me as a thin person, and from them, came the surprise. Overall, the responses were on the positive side, with a few who seemed uncomfortable and uncertain how to interact with me—as if I was a person they had just met, while others reacted or responded in a manner that could be compared to some of the well-known stages of grief and loss:
First comes denial. For example, “She’ll stop this sooner or later and things will get back to normal”
Then anger. They might think, “Things were just fine the way they were. Why is she doing this?”
Bargaining might sound something like this: “If I ignore this, she won’t keep it up.”
And often, depression/confusion will make them think, “I don’t know where I fit in her life now,” or “She probably won’t want to hang around me anymore. I should probably just move on.”
Finally there’s acceptance: “Maybe this isn’t so bad, and maybe things will be okay. I may as well accept it.”
These stages can be applied to any major life change, and it doesn’t necessarily have to be something negative. Getting a great job for example, even though it’s a positive thing, can upset your familiar routines enough to cause a grief-like response. Losing a significant amount of weight falls into this category, and it can affect not only the people around you, but you too! In my case, for a few weeks towards the end as I neared my final goal, I experienced a sense of deep personal loss—not unlike an amputation. I lived with those extra pounds for many years and in a matter of months, they were gone. I was mourning the loss of 45 percent of my original body mass. Some of my friends and family are mourning the loss of the shy person they knew who has been replaced, relatively suddenly, with someone who is happier, more confident, more outgoing and who looks completely different. It’s been tough for me and for them.
Tony: You mention that you kept notes. What does that mean, did you keep a food journal?
Nadia: At first it was just notes and things, but as I went along, I began to record the calories in the food I ate each day. That was really helpful to me and I made a point to include two important tools at the end of Thinking Skinny so readers can do the same thing: A five-day chart for them to use in determining what their eating habits are right now, and then a food journal page that they can make multiple copies of to record their daily calorie intake as they get their program under way. It has everything the reader needs to get started immediately.
Tony: What if a reader has a question? What is the best ways for them to get in touch with you?
Nadia: The best way is at any of my websites: www.nadiagiordana.com, www.thinkingskinny.com, or www.embodyyourvision.com.
Available at Amazon.com 
