Really? Ask any successful plastic surgeon or salesperson of luxury goods. I'll bet he/she would disagree.

No kidding! That's one reason (among others) that obese people get that way.

To paraphrase G. B. Shaw, the ways of our tribe (overweight/obese people) are NOT the laws of psychology. Just because you or I are not motivated by the opinions of others to lose weight, or not gain it in the first place, does not mean that other people are not.

Imagine yourself in a nice restaurant, filled with fashionably slim people wearing expensive clothes. If the waiter asks a customer if she'd like to order dessert, she's probably not going to say "I really want that Death By Chocolate, but I worry about the opinions of others," in a loud, clear voice. No, she's probably just going to say, "No, thank you." How would you know what her motivations were in that case?

I agree. And I'm not going to say that any alcoholic would be all right if he/she were motivated by the opinions of others. Alcoholics have many things going on.

Don't look at me, take that up with speakerguy. I know what I mean by motivation, and it usually doesn't have anything to do with comments like "fat-assery".

wait a second.....so alcoholics (people who are drinking themselves to death) have more "going on" than severly obese folks (people who are eating themselves to death)?

They are two different means to a very destructive end. Why does one group deserve special treatment and more respect than the other?

I don't think eating too much is that different from drinking too much, gambling too much, even drugging too much. (Who has had a tooth out, bone surgery, or similar need for drugs? They aren't bad, they can just be used for bad purposes.)

I know I always blamed myself for my weight problems. Part of it was my fault, since I had a problem with emotional eating. But part of it was also the carb cycle, making me always hungry.

Any addiction has two components like this: the emotional side and the physical side. Gamblers can get hooked on the adrenalin rush of their large bets. Because we have emotional and physical sides which interact, all addictions have these two sides.

The way society regards various addictions is always subject to change. Right now, with the physical problems with carbs not recognized, overweight is seen as something entirely within someone's control, while drinking is seen as something totally out of someone's control. The truth for both is somewhere in between.

Society thinks it's entirely okay to have an intervention with a drug addict, "You must get help!" Etc. Does anyone do that for someone with a weight problem? It's interesting.

Were you on the "Twinkie Defense" jury? Simple carbohydrates may be addictive, but they don't affect one's judgement the way alcohol and some drugs do. Have you ever heard of a young woman having sex with someone she wouldn't have otherwise after having a second piece of pie? (If you have and if she's cute, let me know -- I want to buy her some Sara Lee ) Are there any groups of alcoholics anywhere who have "planned binges" the way some of us have "planned cheats" (e.g. for Thanksgiving)? Until the police start doing roadside Dextrostix tests and taking people to jail for having an open container of Ding-Dongs on the front seat, I think alcoholism should definitely be treated differently ("special treatment" if you like) from "carb addiction."

As for "more respect," I just don't feel I have enough experience with alcoholism to draw any conclusions about it.

well, you seem to have drawn many conclusions anyway....interesting that this comment came AFTER you went on the "twinkie defense" diatribe....