Comment by tachyonbeam | Hacker News Reader

Comment by tachyonbeam | Hacker News Reader

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It's not just moods, it's also hunger. AFAIK, fMRI studies have shown that in morbidly obese people, the hunger part of their brain is constantly activated. They're actually hungry all the time, they have an irresistible urge to eat. I'm sure the large majority of them wish they were thinner, but to them, it's a painful struggle against biological urges.

I used to be overweight, lost weight, but it's a constant struggle for me to keep a normal weight. I've spoken to some very thin people, and they don't seem to experience hunger in the same way I do. These people forget to eat, get full very quickly, and when they get full, they lose all of the sense of pleasure they get from eating, they immediately want to stop. Me? I have an urge to eat quickly and I can eat way past "enough". I'm pretty sure I could eat 2000 calories for dinner if I didn't stop myself, but the reasonable mark is at about 900. I can never "forget" to eat, my body/brain doesn't let me.

It's pretty clear that some people have stronger sex drives than others. I don't understand why it's such a radical notion that some people have a stronger sense of hunger than others. If you've never been overweight, chances are it's not an active effort or perfect habits on your part, it's just the way your body/brain works, it's largely genetics.

Same, I lost a lot of weight a couple of years ago and it was hard. And it's still difficult to keep the weight off, even though it's been 5 years since I lost it and am on a regular exercise routine.

I've pretty much learned to accept it's something I'll have to deal with for the rest of my life, rather than "I was fat once, I got rid of it, it's no longer a concern, the end."

It totally pisses me off to see people who can't manage to do the same being judged in awful ways by people who were lucky enough not to have to do it in the first place or for whom it was apparently relatively easy and assume it'll be just as easy for everyone else.

I count myself amongst the lucky, I'll never say "I could do it, so you can too." It's counter productive and an awful thing to hear when you're already really trying.

It's not a radical notion. It would be radical to assume anything else without very strong evidence. I am the same way as you are btw. What changes it for me is very low-carb diet. After few days of suffering I actually stopped being hungry and went some days with one/two small meals. I forgot to eat few times until like 7pm. I imagine that people who are like that by default have it much easier to keep healthy weight.

Of course you can have a stronger hunger/desire to eat than other people. I have a high desire to eat, but I also love spending three hours exercising. I walked one hour to the gym on foot, lifted weights for one hour and walked another hour back. I could spend three hours playing ping pong or basketball. I never used to do that before, but I learned to love it. I don't do it every day, because my body wouldn't last, but I do it often enough to offset sometimes eating a very large meal.

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