A few people have written in with questions about a topic I’m excited to cover. Dana wrote, “I have lipodystrophy, an autoimmune disease, and cancer. I need to maintain or gain weight. Can this work? I’m a 10+++ on the Food Susceptibility Quiz.” Linda wrote in: “I’ve been listening to your vlogs, and they’re helpful even for someone like me who has no need to lose weight. Can you do a vlog on how meal plans can be a means of self-care and better health?”

The X-factor here, which Dana addressed, is the Food Addiction Susceptibility Score. To what extent does a person have food addiction? Some have none, some have a little, and some have full-blown food addiction. Any of those three states can be present in a person who has no weight to lose, or someone who has weight to gain. 

In my first book, Bright Line Eating, there’s a table that shows the relationship between BMI (body mass index) and the likelihood of being high on the Food Addiction Susceptibility Scale. The two BMI categories that are most likely to be high on the Food Addiction Susceptibility Scale are those with Class 3 or 4 obesity—serious obesity—and those who are underweight. Those who are underweight are more likely to be high than those with Class 1 obesity. 

Being underweight is the other side of the coin when it comes to food addiction. Research shows that a high percentage of people with anorexia nervosa or food restriction issues have an underlying food addiction. 

And then, of course, there are people who are just naturally skinny and may want to gain weight. 

If you need to maintain or gain weight, you can use Bright Line Eating by starting on a maintenance food plan. You’ll need to figure out what works for you. Some people need to eat the weight loss plan plus two or three “adds”—which are components of food that you add to the basic plan on a regular basis. So if your weight loss plan had no fruit or grain at dinner, you might add it in, and that would be an “add.”  

Some people don’t need adds to maintain their weight. Others, such as athletes or people who are very active, could have 20 or 25 adds. 

Maintenance plans vary widely, so if you’re trying to maintain your weight, make your best guess with the plan, then weigh yourself weekly. If you’re losing weight, add more food. 

What about if you’re trying to gain weight? I have an old friend who is naturally very tall and thin, who wanted to add weight and asked for my help. He was eating based on his natural feelings of hunger and satiety, and that kept him thin. He was also a vegan. 

I told him that nuts, grains, and seeds were his best friends, in consistent, steady quantities. I put him on a plan that had 10 or 12 adds, and he started gaining weight. 

So if someone wants to gain weight, the trick is the consistency and reliability that Bright Line Eating offers. If you do have food addiction but don’t need to lose weight, you’re going to be doing Bright Line Eating not for weight loss, but for the peace, freedom, and feeling of agency.

Once you find the food plan that keeps your weight where you want it to be, you’ll be like the rest of us in maintenance. You’ll weigh and measure your food, weigh yourself once a week, and tweak your food plan if your weight trends up or down from your target range.

This food plan can be a form of self-empowerment. Bright Line Eating is for those who need it, but it can also be for those who choose it. Doing Bright Line Eating, regardless of your weight status, is going to help with your health. It’s going to ensure that you’re eating way more vegetables. And not eating sugar and flour is one of the linchpins of health. 

It’s also amazing for time management. When it’s streamlined and automated, you’ll save so much time. It will become the scaffolding that makes the rest of your time management so much clearer. 

Finally, doing Bright Line Eating contributes to a feeling of mastery. Mastery is one of the linchpin components of flourishing, according to Self Determination Theory. The three components are Autonomy, Relatedness, and Mastery. The standard American diet is so defeating and deflating. Eating out of a vending machine, or succumbing to yummy but less-healthy foods, is defeating. Doing BLE gives you a feeling of mastery over the domain of nutrition and health. That lifts your self-esteem, and it spreads out into other areas of your life. 

In our society, we don’t take good care of ourselves. Swimming upstream from that toxic flow is empowering. So Bright Line Eating can work for anyone, even if they don’t have weight to lose