I just finished reading the Change your receptors, change your set point
http://gettingstronger.org/2010/10/change-your-setpoint/ article and the theoretical effects of reduced dopamine sensitivity on obesity. Given that masturbation also results in a dopamine release upon orgasm I was wondering if there was a link between masturbation and obesity. If a person was interested in upregulating their dopamine receptors but continued to masturbate would they see no dopamine receptor upregulation? Also, would the act of masturbation decrease dopamine sensitivity and therefore cause a person to overeat, which would in turn cause obesity in the first place?
I am not trying to impose a set of values but while reading this article realized that my issues with obesity started when I was in Jr High / high school, which happen to be the same time that I began masturbating. I was never able to stick to any diet (vegitarian, low carb, etc.) for an extended period of time. I would lose 20-25 lbs on any diet I tried. Then 6 months later I would always gain back any weight that I had lost plus more. I have always had a huge appetite and consistently ate three very large meals per day. I always knew that eating was a pleasurable experience for me. To me, eating was more about pleasure and less about sustenance. I have also had an addiction to masturbation as well since Jr high / high school. I knew my wife was never happy about it and I would try not to but eventually the urge would get so bad I wouldn't be able to help myself. I could never go more than a couple days without masturbation and every time I ate I would eat until well after I was satisfied. Both of these actions would result in dopamine releases that I believe caused my addiction.
Then about six months ago I decided to start intermittent fasting. I was over 300 lbs at the time and I needed something to help me lose the weight. I figured IF would at least let me eat one really good meal a day rather than starving myself at every meal. If it worked, I figured that was something that I could live with. It was a few weeks after that that I made a renewed commitment to myself to stop masturbating as well. In terms of masturbation I have fallen off the wagon a couple times in the begining but not for the last three months or so. I just realized today that the urge to masturbate is almost non-existent.
I have also noticed that during my one meal a day I no longer eat the volume of food that I was eating when I first started IF. I am now able to eat to to satisfaction and then stop even knowing that I will not eat again for another 23 hours. Before I would have gorged myself knowing that there was a fast ahead. I have also lost over 70 lbs in the same time period.
In retrospect I think that my body has been upregulating its dopamine receptors and I am regaining dopamine sensitivity. I obviously didn't know that going into IF, I just put it together in my mind today while reading this article. I was wondering if anyone else thought that this is a plausible mechanism and if anyone else noticed the same in their experience. As it stands now n=1.
