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Like many people who spend a lot of time on the Internet, I follow

a number of youtube vloggers. I am a  little old to comment - it would be 

spooky to read retired folk in the comments section - but I do have opinions.

Notably on Amberlynn Reid and her inability to loose weight. A young woman 

in her twenties who has managed to get her weight to 560 pounds while

failing at weightloss regimens does invite a lot of concern. Me, on the

latest.

Perhaps the most striking feature for someone from Canada is the immense

sociological difference privatized health care can make . A. takes no guff from the 

health care system, goes from one emergency department to the other, indeed

owns the show. Weight loss surgeon, weight Watchers lady, all the same...

She pays for health care out of pocket. Here, true North, emergency rooms are 

packed and a twenty hour wait just to see someone on the week-end is not surprising.

There is triage everywhere. We get one shot, and we take it. For better

or worse.

We are not, for that reason, braindead. I know if I see a male doctor I will be

mansplained...or parentsplained. If I am told beef jerky is a great appetite suppressant,

I will smile politely. Rather go to Mars, but I will smile politely. We are beholden

to our professionals, but in our own way. He is not making money by having me back, 

but rather by processing me through as quickly as possible. So the parameters of the 

situation are different.

This said, A. needs to better appreciate her own situation; as well as spot where

negotiation is meant to happen. Obesity is now considered an illness not

because the body is ill - it might or might not be, depending on age and other factors - 

but because the fact of having become obese indicates an illness of the brain.

Note ‘of the brain’, and not the mind. Your childhood trauma might be at the root of it all,

but it is not of immediate concern.What is problematic is that down-regulation

has occurred to the point where a box of cookies is dessert. Like with an alcoholic

who needs large amounts just to feel halfway normal. If reasonable weight is ever

to be achieved, the brain - ie the brain’s chemical response to food - needs to be 

re-calibrated. And for that, it’s whatever works. Keto, WeightWatchers, grapefruit 

and eggs...even beef jerky.

So a possible scenario would be to go back to the WL surgeon and negotiate

a free 100 calorie snack, everyday. Which can be the jerky, or some berries, or

whatever is a (non-triggering) treat. He provided a modular diet, 200 calories

for breakfast, 400 for lunch, 500 for dinner, 100 for a snack.That’s 1200. He

made it easy by defining it without needing to count calories. He made one meal 

ready-made and the other homemade. Clever of him.

There is one immediate goal, and that is to SEE IT THROUGH. For three months.

Sanity with respect to food should have returned by then...