Do you tend to keep eating long past the point of fullness ?

The inability to know when to stop, can lead to eating more than you should.

And of course, eating more than you should, does more than just give you severe indigestion. You also need to loosen the button on your trousers, just to stay comfortable.

Long term comfort, requires the trouser button to be permanently shifted, so you end up buying a bigger pair of pants.

There is nothing wrong with your willpower

Researchers from Monash University have confirmed, your need to eat that second slice of cheesecake has nothing to do with willpower.

You ate slice number 2, because a couple of brain cells, deep in the control centre of your brain, didn’t hear that you had already had a slice.

The lapse in communication causes these brain cells to be slow to make the switch from “I am hungry” signals, to “I am full”.

Insulated brain cells are isolated

Brain cells living in a brain of plenty get to loaf off a bit.

Normally, the melanocortin system or POMC neurons, have to be on their toes. A hungry brain quickly progresses to a brain in crisis, so these cells keep a constant vigil on energy levels.

Fat body chemistry causes some of the cells in the melanocortin system to fatten up. The extra insulation surrounding the cells interferes with normal signalling. The cells become isolated from the body, so they don’t flip the switch to begin burning up the cheesecake.

Indifferent circuits cause obesity

The sensitivity of the circuit regulates how much you eat and how much energy is used.

Sensitive circuits keep the energy equation balanced, but unresponsive circuits, create imbalances in the energy equation.

Your circuit sensitivity is hard wired by your genes, so some people are wired towards obesity even before they take their first bite.

But the fatter you are, the less responsive the circuit becomes, this makes it harder to control appetite. And harder to lose weight.

Appetite control requires counting

Skinny people know when they’re full – and stop eating.

If you’re struggling with your weight you can’t rely on your brain to tell you when to stop. You have to help out.

Count those calories.

PS. If you stick with it, these cells eventually take the ear muffs off and hear the food being dropped off. So you won’t have to count the calories forever.

Synaptic input organization of the melanocortin system predicts diet-induced hypothalamic reactive gliosis and obesity. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 2010; 107 (33): 14875 T. L. Horvath, B. Sarman, C. Garcia-Caceres, P. J. Enriori, P. Sotonyi, M. Shanabrough, E. Borok, J. Argente, J. A. Chowen, D. Perez-Tilve, P. T. Pfluger, H. S. Bronneke, B. E. Levin, S. Diano, M. A. Cowley, M. H. Tschop

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