08:02
@Eff Sorry for going silent, I just got back from vacation (great time, but the wifi was unreliable). Anyway, that result isn't surprising. The more interesting question is "can we use those differences to understand the weight mechanics better". It's plausible that they result in different people experiencing hunger to different degrees of magnitude, similar to what we see in sensitivity issues WRT other sensations (pain, sound, etc), but that's supposition on my part.
@Eff Either way, a whole bunch of stuff gets transmitted on those pathways, so it doesn't really help much. It could support the hypothesis that hunger is all in your head, or it could support the hypothesis that hunger is more like pain - you can ignore it for a while, but once you pass a certain point physical changes occur (organ shutdown for pain, metabolic throttling for hunger).
@Crowley I didn't "need" to eat Peeps for any reason other than that they were there, I tend to graze and they happened to be on my dest. My point was that (for a calorie-deprived individual) the brain would manufacture a need strong enough that, eventually, all the willpower in the world won't be able to keep them out of that box.
@Crowley WRT "boring food" - This appears to be highly subjective. It's mentioned all over the place as a part of successful weight management, but I can't seem to find any place which explains why. Hazarding a guess, choosing food which is not (or at least less) intrinsically rewarding may cut down on the number of sensations a person attempting to change their eating habits needs to keep track of.
@Crowley It's much easier for me to listen when my body starts signaling "full" when eating boiled chicken than when eating a juicy steak. This standard will, as you point out, change over time (I have a relative who cuts out all sugar for a month each year to reset their understanding of "sweet", which appears to work for them) - but by that point a person would have probably gotten into the habit of paying attention to their body so it probably wouldn't matter much.
@Crowley WRT occasionally eating massive amounts: that's well within what the body can handle that, competitive eaters are usually thin like that. I haven't looked into it much, but if you were to have someone track what you ate it would likely average out every couple of days. Losing weight is also a pretty common reaction to stress, similar to how gaining weight is a common reaction to depression.
@Crowley WRT willpower - it's useful, but rather overrated. Systems are far more useful, as they make it easier to do the right thing (whatever that thing may be). That being said, I knew a guy who stopped drinking by putting a bottle of his favorite whisky in the door of his fridge and telling himself he wouldn't drink it. Most people can't do that.
@Crowley On the other hand, tweaking the environment can't guarantee a particular choice will be made, but it can help tip the balance (
theoutline.com/post/2205/…)
@Crowley In this case in particular, learning about the mechanics (as best we understand them) helps lessen the need for willpower - though not remove it altogether, as it helps us make "eat until just full" more pleasant than "eat until your belt is tight".
@Crowley I've seen all sorts of tricks: smaller dishes, serving food from a counter so you have to get up to refill your plate, spicy over sweet flavoring, etc. As dogma, they're pretty terrible. As filters to help you learn to listen to your body, they're pretty clever - provided you know what they're for so you don't end up resenting them.
