I do apologise for the essay that follows!
Happy holidays everyone, lets a have a real glass of 
. Cheers!
Thank you so much for introducing me to your blog, Will. I read a little more.
You make some fascinating and very important points.
I couldn't agree more about dieting is not about willpower but behavioural changes, particularly when it comes to retrain Amy brain (love the name!)
Losing weight is, of course, also about how to eat. I disagree slightly with you about we know what we should eat. I have had children coming to my house not knowing what a real potato looked like! And I've helped a lot in schools to know children are often not exposed to real food: it has become the schools's responsibility to teach about food rather than a parental one. A lot of those children are adults now, some are even parents.
There are constant conflicting messages thrown at people, between the traybake (as you say) and health messages. People are genuinely confused and the vast majority don't realise that all carbs=sugar; so they may well know that sugar is bad for you but they don't realise that the body sees ''a bagel the same as a packet of skittles'' as mentioned by J.Stanton in his blog www.gnolls.org/. Most people don't even realise that sugar substitutes -with exception of erythrol and xylitol- elicit a similar insulinergic response to 'real' sugar.
We have been bombarded with the low fat mantra that most people would avoid all fats not realising that the body needs fat to absorb vital fat soluble vitamins.
How about the constant attack on animal proteins? Only the other day I was reading an article about a geochemistry Professor advocating to ditch all dairy -because of the oestrogen in them- in favour of soya which is high in phytoestrogen which mimics human oestrogen!
You are absolutely right! How is Amy suppose to resist the millions of pounds spent by the Traybake Industry into tempting her, if not by retraining her?
After ~ 5 years of not eating gluten, the deli cakes and bread isles smell so rancid to make my stomach wrench. The rare times I have accidently come across sugar, it tastes worse than saccharine and makes my mouth feel on fire. (Don't take me wrong: I still enjoy a square or two of 85-99% chocolate!)
I echo what you say about Amy be programmed for immediacy and the pleasure reward being so appealing and appeasing. Every time I regained weight, it's because I have given into the temptation of starches.
However, I find the 'fast, burn, reload' a bit simplistic (I don't know if you adress some of the following points later) and I hope you don't mind a little banter. :)
Fasting is not that easy. I have fasted most of my adult life, bar the 5 years of my emotional eating, but I couldn't sustain it if I had an ulcer attack or low blood sugar (which is all gone since going primal a few years ago).
Burn and subsequent reload could potentially implicate in and out of ketosis and for a lot of people could be difficult to handle. Plus 'all the pure protein' can be a real issue, especially for people with impaired kidney function or gout.
Releoad is possibly the most complicated of the subjects. Again the possible in and out of ketosis can be an issue for some people but I would also like to introduce the concept of people with metabolic disorders would really struggle with this. When you become obese (or even overweight) you increase the chance of become insulin and/or leptin resistant and carb refeed would only exacerbate the problem; eating Traybake for a type 2 diabetic could be catastrophic; reloading for someone whose thyroid is underactive will only lead to weight gain. Reloading with anti-nutrients, such as in a muffin, could lead to differing levels of malnutrition for someone with Chron's disease or IBS and inflammation for people with autoimmune disorders (such as the eczema mentioned upthread, arthritis, asthma...)
The 'fast, burn, reload' routine could also be stressful enough for some people to raise their cortisol to skyrocketing levels, driving the body to store fat, fat, fat in a similar fashion to the one you describe in starvation, especially in people with endocrine, immune or neurological problems.
I concur with you that avoiding temptation is paramount and learning how to fast can be a key to successfully avoid such temptation, alongside planning. Maybe the discovery of being coeliac, has led me to a different solution where planning is vital: my son and I have to be super careful when eating out. Knowing how to fast or eat a big meal before going out is essential, we had people cooking for us with ''a little flour, so there won't be much gluten'' before!
And yes, yes, yes to stop worrying about a little yo-yo'ing of weight, after the amount of weight we have lost, a few pounds are not an issue. The only codicille is that this year I have seen jumps as big as 6-7lbs on overnight and not coming off easily, but then again I was increasingly eating more carbs, more proteins, less fat and less calories. And calorie is not the same as another calorie, the Krebb's cylcle teaches us that; there is a lovely explanation by Peter Attia on youtube in ''Readressing the dietary guidelines'' video.
I really like your idea of eating mindlessly. Some aspects of how I eat and indeed shop have indeed become second nature, so I no longer have to be mindful! :)
I share part of your philosophy about food-porn. Food-porn is here to stay, so I feel like you that we need to address the issue. I find the tought, passion and love I apply to cooking and shopping allows me to avoid every temptation. When the food I cook at home is delicious and tastes better than anything I can buy, why would I buy it pre-prepared?
I wouldn't dream to buy cream cheese, after I tasted my own homemade; I would still buy a brie but the home-made is far more appealing; salami, hams and bacons are immensurably superior... I'd better not start on the topic feeding home-grown food to feed us! 
When home cooked is full of flavour Amy, as you address, is super happy and she couldn't care less about Traybake. As an half Italian, however, food is an an omnipresent thought: I can't have a conversation with any member of my family or Italian friend without talking about food or ingredients at some point. We talk about food/ingredients in terms of flavour, colour, smell, freshness, provenance, quality, properties (culinary and medicinal), how to cook to it but the presentation is rarily a topic for discussion because food is not served on a plate but brought to the table for people to help themself -this teaches you how to be mindful about food and other people, what is their favourite meal...
I suppose you could say, I had to learn to be akin to the alcoholic working in a bar or the ex-smoker around smokers or cigarette quitting adverts!
Yes, it is unfortunate that a lot of recipes, images and presentation of food over promise and lead to disappointment: indeed I made the case about presentation and recipes, if I were to start a food blog, upthread. As a passionate cook with many mistakes under the belt, I use recipes as ideas and, like you say, I don't see the point on being too hung up on them.
I shall enjoy reading some more of your blog and I hope my commentary is useful to you. :)