A brief personal anecdote. For most of my adult life, I think I qualified as massively obese (5'7" and 240#). Then, about 7 years ago (long after I'd given up even trying to lose weight), I started a hobby that called for more activity and thinking about things besides food (and the obvious "other"). I started to lose without noticing. Finally, I noticed and started doing things like keeping a food diary, eating slower, portion control, stairs--no elevator, parking far away from stores--you get the idea. It wasn't easy, but I started to believe that it was possible. It took over a year, and I did have one severe electrolyte imbalance, but it was amazing how much better I felt overall--especially, in my case, orthopedic-ally. I hadn't even realized how compromised I had been. Long story short: today I weighed 119#. I watch what and how much I eat. I eat slowly. I never eat out of habit or continue to eat just because others are eating. Did I have a disease that I recovered from? For me, it seems to have been mainly in my head. Something as simple as observing my eating habits really made a difference.