Heidi and Christina welcome you to join them for a 10-week Thin Within small coaching group experience!
Weâre giving away a scholarship to the upcoming Coaching Group session!!!
A $350 value! đ
(Actually, we think that it is worth way more than that! At least to US as we LOVE LOVE LOVE our coaching group participants!)
To qualify, please comment below with your answers to the following questions.
Why do you need this coaching?
How will this coaching change your life?
What food, thatâs been on on your âno-noâ list, will you be able to enjoy freely?
Please be sure to scroll on down and answer these questions in the comments to be considered as our Grand Prize Winner! đ
WHY do we consider Thin Within Coaching Groups the ultimate Thin Within experience?
Consider:
1.) Two coaches join together with 8 students for an intimate, deep dive into Thin Within for 10 weeks. We will provide you with more inspiring input and supply more effective strategies than Heidi offers even in 1-on-1 coaching!
2.) The other 7 students will contribute to your journey just as you will have insights and wisdom that may shed light on theirs!
3.) Heidi Bylsma works with Judy Halliday extensively, having collaborated on the writing of the Thin Within book and also the Thin Within Workbook series. In 2006 to 2007, using the Thin Within principles, Heidi released 100 pounds and kept a healthy size for 7 years. Heidi has joined you in the trenches, now, as she seeks to release weight that has returned to her frame due to a lack of diligence to renew her mind during a health crisis, and all that has been entailed in the dismantling of her 33-year marriage. She wrote the Fresh Wind Fresh Desire curriculum to share insights gleaned on her 18-year Thin Within journey.
Heidi – Before
Heidi – After (She has temporarily gained weight since this photo was taken!)
4.) Christina Motley has coached others with Heidi Bylsma for the past 2 years. Christina has been involved in Thin Within for a long while and uses her experience and enthusiasm as well as her brilliance đ to contribute to the Fresh Wind Fresh Desire curriculum and to our small coaching groups in a powerful way. Her “Porch Chats” provide continued encouragement and inspiration to our coachees–all new content created each week, often in response to questions or concerns raised during our group coaching calls. Learn the tips, tricks, tools that both of these women use for victory.  Discover (and avoid) the pitfalls that keep you from victory on your journey. (Heidi has learned the hard way that when she stops using the tools, over-eating becomes an issue again…even after 7 years of maintaining a healthy size!)
5.) Facebook Group support all day every day where the 10 of us meet:
Use the group for accountability by checking in each day if you like!
Share prayer requests and praises about your journey specifically.
Ask questions and get feedback from 9 others, including at least 2 veterans (the coaches are veterans, but many of the people who sign up for the coaching groups are veterans as well)
When you need immediate prayer support and encouragement, you can post to our Facebook group.
Porch Chat videos by Christina available and uploaded 2x a week.
Heart 2 Heart videos by Heidi available and uploaded once a week.
Other helpful files made available in the Facebook group
6.) This is the closest thing we have to an “Insider’s Club!” đ All of us in the coaching group will become great friends with one another over the 10 weeks together. Many of our participants so far have continued to meet together!
7.) You WILL experience victory if you participate! We know this will UNSTICK you! If you haven’t seen ALL the details, including a video or two to show you what’s up, visit this page.
What questions do you have about our coaching groups? Christina and Heidi will be hosting a Facebook Live event on Thursday, March 29th at 10am PDT, 11am MDT, 12pm CDT, 1pm EDT. Visit Heidi’s profile page and keep refreshing until you see a live video. If you miss it, you can always catch the recording.
Remember! To be considered for a full scholarship in a coaching group this Spring, please answer the questions at the top of this post by typing your comments below and we will be selecting a “blessed winner” who will get free access to be in a coaching group from the week of April 2-June 3rd.
We continue to ask (and answer) questions here at the blog in a new seriesâŠcalled our FAQ series! These will be questions that are relevant to you. In fact, we would love to hear from you! If you have a question about Thin Within, chances are, someone else has the same question! Please share your questions with us using the form at the very bottom of this blog post and we hope to get an answer out very soon!
Question from Marcia (Thank you for your question, Marcia!):
I am brand new to TW and do not yet have any of the books or workbooks. Where would you recommend for a newbie to start? I am hoping to join the next FB group in maybe May, but right now I am just gleaning from the blog and videos. Thank you!
The absolute best place to start is with the Thin Within Jump Start Training! It can be sent to you via email or you can access it at the Thin Within Academy. We are upgrading it a bit (version 2.0, don’t ya know! :-))  and I think that is the best way to go personally. But click this link to find the Jump Start Training at the Thin Within Academy. Or you can click the photo at the top of this blog post!
The Jump Start training is a great way to get your feet wet in Thin Within. So that is the best place to begin. We have 30 days of emails (or posts at the Academy) that you can do. It breaks down some of the basics into the most manageable bite size pieces. We cover a bit about mind renewal, about the mechanics of eating the Thin Within way, activity and it’s place, ways to think differently about food, eating, emotions, etc…and more!
Why not join us by starting with this easy-to-do beginners training? Or, if you are a veteran who needs a “refresher” course, you could try Jump Start as well!
What questions do YOU have?
We are eager to continue this FAQ series with questions that you have and would like an answer to. If you have a question, please use the form below. No one else will see your question or email address.
Welcome to our series of “Frequently Asked Questions” about Thin Within.
Over the next few months, we will be asking (and answering) questions here at the blog in a new series…called our FAQ series! These will be questions that are relevant to you. In fact, we would love to hear from you! If you have a question about Thin Within, chances are, someone else has the same question! Please share your questions with us using the form at the very bottom of this blog post and we hope to get an answer out very soon!
What is Thin Within?
First:
Thin Within is not a diet.
Thin Within is not an endorsement for severe restriction.
Thin Within has no rules and no off-limits foods lists.
Thin Within is not a “quick fix” for extra weight or to cure eating disorders–please be sure to check with your medical and/or mental health professionals before starting this program.
Thin Within does not work well in combination with a diet.
Thin Within is not for the person who wants to keep their spiritual life separate from their eating and emotional life.
What Thin Within is…:
…a non-diet approach to lasting peace with your body, food, eating.
…a mindful, intuitive method for eating each meal (ANYtime food crosses your lips it is a “meal,” an opportunity for delight and nourishment!).
…liberating, as you enjoy any food you desire between the parameters of physical hunger and satisfaction.
…a refreshing way of being drawn into closeness with God.
Thin Within…
…requires no weighing and measuring of your food, no counting points, blocks, grams, calories, and absolutely no purchasing or preparing special foods for an event or on vacation.
…leaves label surfing behind forever.
…teaches you to begin to notice how different foods make your body feel when you are physically hungry and have a small portion and, when hungry, to select more and more of the “whole body pleasers” that you enjoy and that are beneficial for your body.
…encourages being adventurous in trying new recipes, new foods, new ways of preparing wholesome foods that you select!
Heidi “Before” Thin Within
Heidi – “After” Christmas 2007
Since 1999, when I stopped dieting and exercising obsessively, I have learned wonderful tools for teaching myself to think differently. This has had a huge impact on me as I act on what I BELIEVE and what I BELIEVE is drastically impacted by what I tell myself all the time. So, if I speak TRUTH to myself ALL THE TIME–that my body is fearfully and wonderfully made, that my body is remarkably efficient and needs less food than I can imagine, if I tell myself the truth frequently that I am being strengthened by the Holy Spirit to do “all things” through Christ, including stopping overeating, then I will begin to believe it and if I believe it, I will act on it.
I need to speak the TRUTH to myself and reject all LIES I tell myself. // The more I speak the TRUTH, the more I will BELIEVE the truth.// I will then ACT on what I BELIEVE.
So, while Thin Within is very much about an alternative to dieting, it is so much more. It isn’t an “eating plan” like many other programs. It is, more accurately, an entire discipleship program! If you want to connect with God, this is a great choice whether you have food, eating, body image issues or not!
We have a number of resources:
Thin Within Academy – has 4 programs available (a 5th–our “vault” will be opened soon and it includes all of Christina’s Porch Chats and all of my Heart 2 Hearts).
Think Thin Within – a digital program about how to think differently so you can act differently
Thin Within Book Digital Companion – a fresh spin on a tried and true presentation of Thin Within from the 2002 or 2005 edition of the THin Within book.
30-Day Jump Start Training – our free introduction
Thin Within: Fresh Wind, Fresh Desire – Currently available only for our small coaching group participants, this curriculum brings anything and everything about Thin Within and puts it all in one place!
Books –
Thin Within – A Grace-Oriented Approach to Lasting Weight Loss
Hunger Within –Â A Biblical Approach to Weight Management
Raising Fit Kids in a Fat World – Written by the founder of Thin Within, Judy Halliday, and a pediatrician, the “Fit Kids” book is written for parents of kids to teach them how to pass on Thin Within eating and principles to their children.
We are eager to continue this FAQ series with questions that you have and would like an answer to. If you have a question, please use the form below. No one else will see your question or email address.
One of the biggest challenges I have discovered in my third trimester with Thin Within, is that I am having a very difficult time finding and waiting for 0. Such a basic concept. Iâve been doing this for years, but suddenly now, I feel like a newby and needing to get back to the basicsâback to Square 1, or Square 0 as the case may be.
I realize that there are a few factors in play here. One is decreased space. Remember the illustration in TW about your stomach being the size of a fist? WellâŠmy fist-sized stomach has gotten squished by this beautiful growing baby boy! Secondly, indigestionâa companion of many pregnant women, especially in their third trimester.
What I found was that the difficulty waiting for or finding zero was wreaking havoc in my heart and in my walk with Jesus. Much of this problem was not physicalâŠit was a heart issue that I was âblamingâ on the changes in my body. As a friend from our Small Thin Within Coaching Group âFresh Wind Fresh Desireâ saysââOne of the enemyâs favorite tactics is giving me great justifications for breaking my boundaries.â So here was a great justification, when the Truth, I know deep in my soul, is that zero WILL come, when my body is ready and that my eating rhythm* may change, but it is still Godâs design for me to wait until I feel physically hungry. This is best for so many reasons. (*Technical note: I have found that my rhythm looks like smaller meals, more frequently)
It all started with difficulty waiting for 0.
Itâs been a challenging month. Health-wise, Iâve had a mean case of bronchitis. Iâve had sick kids. My husbandâs work schedule is at a fever pitch.
Nothing like throwing a pity party for yourself to poison your thinking and sneakily lead you down a road you donât want to be. After two major eating episodes in one week, I got the message:
Wake up my child! Your mind and your soul need tending.
 But Lord, I donât know where to start!
Create in me a clean heartâŠ
 Oh Lord, cure my heart of this ungratefulnessâthis âtake takeâingâthis entitled attitude. It sits heavy on my soul like so many unenjoyed cookiesâscarfed greedily and without a thought. I have done the same with the gorgeous view hereâyour gift of creationâdevouring it without a thought toward you. Or with the precious moments with my children. So sweet. So valuable. Meant to be savored with a grateful heart and a song of praise. But Iâve just devoured them thanklesslyânot enjoying and wanting âmoreâ, wanting âwhatâs nextâ.
When I hear these gritty, real thoughts coming out of my mouth, I feel so unlovely. Yet you say your love for me wonât ever stop or give up. When I feel like everyone (including me!) is tired of my short-comings, you remind me of your Faithfulness that doesnât grow weary of me or walk away.
Donât we all hear these self-condemning, doubtful thoughts at times?
I found this in an old journal entry from last year:
âIâm so imperfect, LORD. Iâm struggling with this over and over again and the weight of my own short-comings, failures and sinfulness is crushing.
This was never going to be about your righteous life anyway, Emily. There is glory in perseverance, sanctifying shades of transformation as you look to me, again and again. Keep coming to me, coming back, coming closer. As I peel off layers of your human nature to reveal my glorious new creation in youâŠit may be painful. It may seem messy. I have eternal eyes. And in my sight, you are beautiful and your heart that loves me is precious.â
So another layer of my human natureâyouâre asking me to trust you with this season, this challenge, of finding 0 with a baby stuffed inside of me, this dying to myself again. And you have promised that when I do, you will not waste a single struggle, a single stumble.
Now, itâs down to the dirty work. I need a quiet moment to ask GodâWhat is this really about? What is the emotion, the aching emptiness that Iâve avoided addressing? And thenâŠwhat do YOU say about that?  What is true in this moment LORD?
God, this is tough work. And Iâm really not sure Iâm up for it. Iâd much rather sit here with my coffee and my Reesesâ peanut butter cup and read a book about someone elseâsâ journey finding freedom from her besetting sin through real connection with herself and you.
Thankfully, God did not leave me there. Itâs been three weeks since that conversation with the LORD. He actually has used that good book to work in my life as well! But mostly, itâs been my cooperation with His Spirit in me, that has peeled back new layers of callous around my heart. It has felt messy, and been a bit painful, but God has drawn me closer to him, renewing that âright spiritâ within me and reminding me that I WANT to find and wait for 0.
Emily lives in South Korea with her husband and 2.8 children. She enjoys being the token American in her neighborhood and baking for the Korean neighbors. She is grateful for the chance to lead worship in their small âexpat church.â Like most mothers, sheâs also good at multitaskingâlike cooking and putting on bandaids, rubbing four feet while reading two books and driving while chewing gum and talking on FaceTime with family back home.Â
Thanks, Emily!
If you are a pregnant mom, wonât you post here and let us know? We would love to have a little support community right here on the blog for you all who are hoping to navigate the waters of your pregnancy (and after) while applying the Thin Within principles. Not only does Thin Within âworkâ during pregnancy to minimize weight gain, but many women LOVE the way they feel when they do this! EVEN when pregnant!
Hi my name is Kay and I live in New Zealand. I found Thin Within in July last year (2017) âby accidentâ when in desperation and crying out the Lord for deliverance and help He led me to Heidiâs TW videos. They were water to my thirsty soul! Since journeying with the Lord and learning TW principles, i.e. devouring the TW book and workbook, as well as the amazing website, Iâve found the freedom and joy Iâve always desired.
Iâm 53 years old and have walked with the Lord since the â80s. I love Jesus and am so thankful for having a wonderful loving Heavenly Father who speaks to me daily through His Word. I have a long history (since age 14) of suffering with severe/persistent eating disorders (EDs) â anorexia and bulimia (non-vomiting but purging with exercise) for many years up unto recent times. My journey with the EDs (initially anorexia â severe food restriction, obsessive weighing and exercise) began in Fourth Form (age 14) when I began to develop and experience puberty. This triggered off a lot of painful emotions, deep shame and fear. I felt ashamed of my bodyâs changes and felt utterly betrayed by it. I wanted to hide it away and starve it back âinto childhoodâ… so I did. I began to research diets in the American magazines in our library and became secretive about how much I ate, existing on a pathetic amount of food each day. I became dangerously thin as I carefully and obsessively calculated my food and calorie intake down to a very minimal level. Ironically, I was already thin, having been a very thin child and High School student. I definitely did not have a weight problem and did not need to diet.
But one careless remark during a lesson one day with our Gym Teacher (to the entire PE class) had triggered off the fear/shame and the ED obsession. She had simply said âSome of you girls need to diet and lose weight!â She was from Helsinki â attractive, fit and athletic â everything a self-conscious teenager admired; she was a past Olympic-class Gymnast who was also underweight and very body-conscious. Of course I now realise she was not at all talking to me â I was already thin, and to diet would have been unhelpful. However, due to my low self-esteem and because of my past history which I detail briefly next I was filled with self-hatred, rejection and self-loathing.
Iâm a survivor (and overcomer in Christ) of severe abuse (physical/sexual) since the beginning of my life and but my clearest and earliest memories of the worst of the abuse were from the age of three. Our home was sadly one of pain and dysfunction. Iâm so thankful that with the Lordâs help over the last 10 years I have processed (with professional assistance) the worst of this. It has been a long, and at times daily, journey of forgiving and blessing my offenders, and then releasing them into the Lordâs hands with His help and grace. Our Lord is so amazing. In light of His forgiveness of me, I can do as His Word commands me and that is to forgive those who have sinned against me. God promises me that His ways are the pathways of peace and life, and I have certainly found this to be true.
On my TW journey I have experienced the freedom from weighing (I no longer weigh myself at all â yay!), and I havenât binged since July 2017 with the Lordâs help. I no longer count calories nor do I weigh and measure my food. My focus now is on âfeasting on the Lordâ, spending time with Him daily, praising and thanking Him for His goodness, and meditating on His Word. I certainly do not do the journey perfectly, and at times still struggle with 0-5 eating but I try to just âobserve and correctâ and move forward daily. After decades of starvation, I find it hard to find â0â at times, and also find it painful/challenging to stop at â5â because of the fear of deprivation which has long been entrenched in my mind. But God is amazing; He encourages me and is teaching me how to renew my mind daily with my truth cards, TW readings, watching/listening to TW resources, and participating in the TW Facebook groups. Iâm so thankful for Thin Within and its wonderful resources and leaders; it has been such an integral part of my healing journey with Jesus!
Kay P lives in the lower North Island of New Zealand. She’s 53 years old, and lives with her hubby and their wee Bichon Frise dog called Ollie. She and her husband both love the Lord, enjoy walks and spending time in the great outdoors (in the bush). She describes herself as a fledgling writer…. and has begun writing her personal story in the form of an Autobiography. Kay is a qualified English Teacher and works for herself as a Freelance TESOL Teacher in NZ teaching English to children with learning disabilities and literacy challenges. She also works with adult immigrants. She and her husband are a childless couple but Kay has been privileged to work for the last decade with children which she really enjoys. Ollie-dog is her furry blessing from the Lord…
I have noticed that there are two types of people in Thin Within:
Those who stay on the fringes of the ministry, dabbling here and there, reading some, participating in a group or two â which I did for years! And there’s absolutely nothing wrong with it! I was welcomed, accepted, and loved, and I received much in the way of encouragement and resources. And I learned and grew. But there was no “connectaccountability” â meaning no one knew when I was coming or going, or how I was doing with the program, other than what I chose to reveal in a group.
Fringe-stayers; comfy, but you don’t go anywhere (at least I didn’t!)
But I personally could just not get to a place of fully embracing the Thin Within message or implementing it into my life. That’s why I was SO glad when Heidi and Christina began their small coaching groups, as this was the opportunity I needed to be part of the second type of Thin Withinner:
Those who jump in to the program head-first, with heart in tow, and become participants in a much deeper, real-time, connected way!
Woo-hooooo!!! So glad I jumped in!
This is now ME, too!!! And I like it much better than being in the first group! (Don’t worry, it’s much easier than doing the above jump would be, but it felt almost as scary right at the beginning!)
In fact, I love small group coaching â and Heidi and Christina(!) â so much, I’m now in my fourth group!
Perhaps you have made the jump into joining a small coaching group, and started out, but then got cold feet part way through and opted to pull out.
Or maybe you stuck it out, but didn’t feel you got out of it what you hoped.
No matter what boat you’re in â or not in â I have a few tips that will help you get the most out of your involvement with a small coaching group. Note that many of them are decisions.
1) Decide right up front â as in right now ~ that you will jump in to this program, specifically into your group, with your whole heart, and that you will give it all that you can! This isn’t just about Heidi and Christina giving to us, although they do much of that! It’s about what you bring to â and give to the group. In fact, if you decide to GIVE more than you receive, you will be even more blessed, because, as we all know, âIt is more blessed to give than to receive.â Part of what they do is facilitate us connecting with and blessing each other!Â
I’ve often gone to a call just feeling grimey, like I’ve failed (cuz I actually had!), and like I need a good cleansing. But after each of our calls, I feel like I have been washed fresh and clean â by the Word, by sharing my heart and being showered with encouragement, love, and compassion. My focus gets changed from being downward-focused, to being , focused on Jesus’ cleansing grace, excited to jump back in whole-heartedly and right-heartedly.
2) Do your prep work for the call each week, as much as possible, not as a legalistic or performance-based thing, not just so that you can check it off your list (which, as confirmed âTo-do-a-holic,â I do LOVE checklist-checking-off!), but rather, simply because these assignments are part of the work that God is doing to bring us out of Egypt and into his promised land! In our case, it’s the Promised Land of FREEDOM FROM EMOTIONAL EATING AND BONDAGE TO FOOD!!! I SO look forward to this, but, thanks to these coaching groups, I am much closer to it than ever before!
3) But, even if you are not able to do all of the assignment, or even any of it ~ and there will be those times â decide right now â this very moment(!) â to come to every single call that youâre able to, even, if not especially, when you you don’t want to come! Heidi and Christina are sooooo gracious â ALL of the time!!! Even if we have been unable to do the assignments, we are still just as welcome on the calls! We have ALL been there, and there is no condemnation, and we have still gotten much out of our time on the call, with noone thinking less of us for it!
4) Show yourself GRACE ALL through the process, because that is absolutely the theme of this ministry, and at the very core of Heidi and Christinaâs hearts! There have been many times that I have felt like I deserved a little bit of scolding, but that has NEVER EVER happened! I have received nothing but encouragement, grace, and love!
5) Determine that you will discard any and ALL thoughts of self-condemnation! This includes being down on yourself, feeling like a failure, or entertaining any ideas of quitting. Since what we are doing in these small groups is really part of our walks with the Lord â in an area we have heretofore kept in a dark closet of our hearts â thereâs really nothing TO quit! This is very much part of our journey with God! We are just bringing an area of our lives into a place of allowing God to have access to it â to heal us, and bring us out of that darkness and into His wonderful light! Sometimes that light can be blinding and uncomfortable, but itâs the only place weâre going to get fully healed!
6) Decide, instead, that when you fail or âblow it,â you will âobserve and correct,â and focus only on what you can learn from any failure. And we get plennnnty of practice at this with Heidi and Christina, who simply don’t accommodate any attempts to beat ourselves up!
7) Likewise, decide right now that, when the Holy Spirit shows you any sin, you will repent quickly! No groveling, no retreating from Him, no justifying, no pummeling yourself for doing it again, no pity party. Just quickly come into agreement with the Lord (about your sin) and REPENT! Respond to His loving conviction and come back quickly to Him. Do not allow it to keep you away from Him. He is our only hope for transformation anyway, so staying away from Him will only cut us off from our Source of power and change!
Jesus’ arms â and those of Heidi and Christina and everyone in our small group â are wide open to receive us and swiftly get us back on the path to peace, healing, freedom and victory!
This is actually more like what it feels like sometimes!!!
And finally…
8) Come to each call ready to be vulnerable and share what is truly on your heart! This is not the place to come with a happy-face mask and act like everythingâs fine when it isnât. This is truly a loving, caring, gracious group of ladies, under the loving and wise leadership of Heidi and Christina, and you can be totally yourself, totally vulnerable with them! You will absolutely FALL IN LOVE with these amazing people!
Itâs like being part of a living, vital, growing, fruitful vine! We are all connected, all growing together, and in many ways producing sweet fruit together because of the input we all have into each othersâ lives on this inter-connected leg of the journey. Yes, it’s difficult but we are in it together!
So â can you see why I am sooooo deeply grateful to be in a Thin Within coaching group with Heidi and Christina?!?
I know weight numbers are not a focus, but just so you know this really works from not only a spiritual angle, but from a physical one as well, I have lost about 30 pounds since starting this Thin Within journey! And I have another 20 or so to lose, which will put me at my natural God-given size, not necessarily âskinny.â
These small groups help me keep âwalking in the lightâ where it’s much more difficult to hide in the darkness than when I’m “Lone Rangering” it! â which is SO easy to do when I am struggling and failing and sinning!
So if you are still on the fence, I encourage you to take this to the Lord, ask Him if this is something He wants you to be part of, and if so, donât wait another moment to sign up and jump into this! It might feel like you’re about to do this…
…especially when you first join and come to your first group phone call. But I encourage you come to the water, LET GO of the rope â whatever is holding you back â and JUST JUMP IN!!!!
To qualify, please comment below with your answers to the following questions.
First:
What Thin Within is…:
Emily lives in South Korea with her husband and 2.8 children. She enjoys being the token American in her neighborhood and baking for the Korean neighbors. She is grateful for the chance to lead worship in their small âexpat church.â Like most mothers, sheâs also good at multitaskingâlike cooking and putting on bandaids, rubbing four feet while reading two books and driving while chewing gum and talking on FaceTime with family back home. 
