PQ – Actually, I wrote about self-sabotage back in October. You don’t read every single word I’ve ever typed?

on the other hand, she does.not.eat. when she is not hungry, and doesn’t really snack. so it does balance out – but it’s not conscious for her, it’s just what her body naturally does (lucky girl!)

of course, some of the super-thin people you see eating GIANT amounts in public are eating disordered people who are binging. at my most underweight, i binged a couple times in public and got “omg i wish i could eat like that and be as skinny as you!” comments, which were AWFUL.

My husband is naturally slender and I’m not, and our hunger systems do not work even remotely the same way. I have to have food at fairly regular intervals, or I’m sluggish and trail behind him looking pathetic.

We’re not talking constant refuelling or anything – but I can’t really decide “We’re too busy to get lunch, I’ll just wait until dinner.” He can. And if we had had a snack midmorning, he wouldn’t want lunch, but I would.

This is when he’s healthy. Recently, he’s been on antidepressants and they have messed up his hunger cues. Now he gets cravings for snacks between meals, and finds it really hard to fight off. (And he’s worried about gaining weight.)

I love him, so I don’t exactly feel schadenfreude, but… let’s just say that I’m ever more convinced that one’s hunger patterns have less to do with self-control than biochemistry, which is then reinforced by habit.

Why “pay for”? Why not “balance out”?

Could be I read too much into your choice of words, but I think there’s an important step between between seeing punishment (“pay for”) and seeing simple math (X calories a day, Y calories went to the cake, Z calories remain).

PQ – “Pay for” as in purchase, like “I paid for the Xbox by saving 10 dollars a day.” You “buy” a high-calorie meal by “saving up” by eating lower calorie meals later. Not the punitive meaning of “pay.”