I thought someone had posted this article here somewhere already, but I don't see it, so here it is. It's the Wall Street Journal which sometimes puts things behind a pay wall after a couple of days, so the link is to a summary blog post with a link to the article in it. It's basically about how that chocolate cupcake or leftover pizza in the fridge (or even a picture of it in a magazine!) can "call" to you even when you're not actually hungry. Eating to Live or Living to Eat? (WSJ Health section, July 13, 2010)

Brain of obese people reacts differently to high calorie foods

Direct link to the WSJ: Eating to Live or Living to Eat?

My (lifetime skinny) mom was reading the article the other morning and said, "Wow, I'm glad I'm not like that." So it might be handy to show to some of your significant others who don't understand about leaving their junkfood around.

I would think that if you use food as comfort/reward, or your parents did for you, you would train your brain to work that way.

Someone at Jenny Craig once said that if you had to pee every time you saw a yellow light, you'd be annoyed, and that it's a matter of training yourself not to make that association. Like I have trained myself to want high calorie (delicious) food. Easier said that done, of course.

Gotta love this, from the WSJ article above:

'Some of the most intriguing imaging studies have peered into the brains of people who have lost significant weight and kept it off through diet and exercise alone—although researchers say they're hard to find.
"They are very controlled individuals, and they are very rare. We had to fly some in from Alaska," says Angelo Del Parigi, a neuroimaging scientist who finally located 11 "post-obese" subjects who had dieted down to the lean range.'

I guess they don't know about 3FC! I love reading the success stories of the many and lovely "very controlled individuals" here!

[My emphasis added in boldface.]

This has been my conclusion, too, regarding myself. It's so controlled that some view it as an eating disorder. Which worries me sometimes, because I've been down that road. I think that's going to be my life's struggle, actually & so it's not just about food -- it's how to continue that very controlled lifestyle without it shading into dysfunction.

I agree with Saef.

I have also concluded that keeping the weight off is all about controlling impulses. This is one of the reasons why I Always recommend therapy to people who are trying to lose massive amounts (over 100 lbs) of weight, the natural way (ie not through WLS).

I really do think that morbid obesity is an addiction issue, and needs to be treated in therapy. There is just no way that I was eating 4 large potatoes, 3 eggs, a half a pack of kraft cheese, 4 slices of bacon, two sausages, and three pieces of toast, because I was hungry. I know for a fact that food, its taste, texture and smell is like a drug for me, and through therapy, journal writing and lots of introspection, I have come up with strategies that have helped me reduce cortisol: the stress hormone that is more likely to make you impulsive and emotional enough to over eat, and increase my dopamine: the relaxation hormone.

I sleep as much as possible,
I get regular massages after a tough week,
I play harp (which is one of the most relaxing instruments you can play)
I have lots of "me alone" time.
etc.

I would show progress photos, but apparently I have too little posts on these forums to put pictures here.

When you have the Weight Loss Surgery, of course you are chemically different. Anytime a major organ is damaged or "worked" with there are bio-chemical consequences. I am sure, the amount of tissue removed from removing the stomach effects the amount of leptin (the satiety hormone) produced and basically cures the addiction issue. This is one of the reasons I always argue that WLS makes weight loss easier at first, but then, when your body repairs itself, and the leptin comes back.. if you don't handle the emotional/addiction issues you are ...screwed.