It’s bagel day!  I wasn’t sure we were going to be able to bike, as it looked like it was threatening rain.  However, we went anyway.  Here is my bike all locked up at the bagel place.

In the past, we didn’t really lock up our bikes at this place very often, but now I am so paranoid after mine got stolen that I want to lock it up in our garage!  Of course, we all know the lock didn’t stop the thieves before….

Anyhoo, I had a sunflower bagel.  So good!  I love bagels with nuts and seeds and things in (and on) them.

We were actually having an interesting discussion today at breakfast about losing weight and will power.  Did any of you catch that show on the other night on ABC about the brain stimulator for weight loss?

In a nutshell, it is a procedure for people who are obese and have failed at all other attempts at weight loss, including gastric bypass surgery.  The woman on the show had the stimulator implanted and it followed her progress over the course of a year while they tried to control her appetite and fullness sensations.  She said that all her cravings were gone and she did not obsess about food anymore.  However, she did not lose any weight in a  year.  What I found most interesting is that she went into a metabolism study chamber for a week and during that time, lost 10 pounds.  Was this because she was taken out of her food environment and was unable to snack and such as before?

So many people say “Just stop eating so much” when talking to obese people.  It’s not really just a matter of stopping eating.  The more and more I ponder upon this, I feel like it is the body/brain actually pushing us to eat, even when we aren’t hungry.   (I think this is a totally different thing than the emotional eater who is trying to bury some past trauma.)  The results of this are just manifesting now in society because of the easy availability of food, and poor nutritious quality food at that.  It’s not a normal thing, more like an illness or disease process – and certainly not always mental or just being lazy.

And yet, it can be conquered without heroics or medical intervention.  If I take myself for example – I struggled for so long with weight and just couldn’t keep it off, and now  I have lost and kept off over 100 pounds for 2 years.

There are still those days where I feel driven to eat – absolutely driven, even if I am not hungry.  It’s not really emotional, either.  The thoughts pop up while I am working, or watching TV, or while biking.  That’s just not what genetically ‘normal weight’ people are like.  It takes an enormous amount of control to not chow my way through a box of cereal or use a spoon in the nut butter jar.  Sometimes I give in.    I wonder why is it that I have control over this impulse (at least for now) that not a lot of people have.   And how long will I have it?  Will it just get to be too tiring after a while, like it does for the majority of people who lose weight?  The vigilance can really be tiring at times as it is 24/7/365.

(BTW – I am not asking these questions as an egotistical way for you to say “Yes, you can do it.”  Just bringing myself up for example.)

When I hurt my back and was on the Vicodin and Flexeril, I had no appetite and absolutely no desire for food.  Something about those medications squashed whatever portion of my brain it is that drives me to eat.  As soon as I went off of those and back to plain old ibuprofen, my appetite came back.  If there was a pill or something to take to make that feeling go away, I wonder if I would take it.

If you have a chance to sit and watch the whole show, all the video clips are on this site.  There is another interesting story of a sleep eater as well.  That has to be even worse, I think.

You know, I think I am going to just let you all chew on this instead of posting more eats  for the day LOL!

Question:  What are your thoughts on will power, and is it different for morbidly obese people?