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Notes -
This reminds me of an experience I had. I was on a cycling trip. We were riding all day, every day. I was eating approximately all of the calories, and I saw that it was good. Then one day, I banged up my knee enough that I was going to have to stop riding, potentially for the remainder of the trip. I realized quickly, "Uhhh, damn, my appetite is still yuge, but I just ain't burning that much anymore." Thankfully, I had a pretty deep experience with counting my calories in the past, so I just forced myself to cut back, basically immediately, all the way to where I would have been without all the activity. Also thankfully, I was still spending all my time with a really positive group that I really liked, so my mood was still good, and I was able to just make the switch without too much agony. I'm exceedingly grateful that I wasn't stuck at home by myself or something, because I can imagine the psychological effects wouldn't have been nearly as pleasant.
I think this is perhaps one of the biggest divides between the people who say, "We're not morally judging; we're just saying that this is reality and that you have to find ways to make plans, enforce those plans, and have a proper support system to succeed," and those who think that the first category is simply morally condemning them. Like, no, I feel like most of us genuinely understand that there are strong psychological factors at play. There are strong psychological factors at play when people like, become alcoholics, too. Lots of people can tell stories of how this or that setback led them to the bottle spiral. I get that. But that it doesn't mean there isn't a path out. It doesn't mean that you have zero agency or ability to climb out of the spiral. Nor does it deny the real physiological damage of alcoholism/obesity or the physical effects that can contribute to the spiral. We just want people to succeed. We want them to win. We want them to learn and to overcome. We don't want them to believe the lie that they are totally and completely helpless in the face of some magical force that like, causes some bodies to consume 500cal/day, feel the physical/psychological effects of being in a deep cut, and yet still somehow gain weight. The more that people tell that lie, the more hopeless they will feel, and the worse the psychological spiral will be.
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