What we talk about when we talk about food

Angelina is an amalgam of one patient, of all my patients. She is quick-witted, playful, introspective, and impossibly adept at deflecting any connective embrace. In our sessions, there are always problems to tackle, family issues to discuss, work crises to navigate. But the biggest problem, Angelina insists, is her weight. When Angelina entered treatment at age 27, she was 240 lb and 5’ 4”. She hoped to lose 80 lb, following bariatric surgery from which she had already lost 60 lb, and then, for years, had plateaued.