In the mood for chocolate

To all of those non-chocaholics out there, the curse of being totally addicted to chocolate is that one is restricted to consuming either A LOT of chocolate, or nothing at all.  No real chocaholic would be able to stand the torture of consuming one small piece of chocolate every day.  Addicts like myself are doomed to yo-yoing between the two loops below.  

The situation starts when you realise 'Oh, it's time I lost some weight!' Being perfectly aware of the calorie load that can be chopped off simply by abstaining from chocolate, you decide 'OK! No more chocolate, starting TOMORROW!' (one always embarks on such a difficult quest tomorrow, and never at the instant at which one commits to the decision) .  So far so good.. cutting out your main calorie source, you begin to lose weight and feel happier about yourself.  This is the balancing feedback loop, no pain no gain - there never was a truer phrase.  Yes, no chocolate is one of the worst kinds of pain for the chocaholic.  

There's just one problem - after a while you begin to wonder about how chocolate tasted back when you used to eat it.  You drool at the sight of anyone eating a chocolate bar, you begin to find difficulty in restraining yourself every time you open the fridge, or every time you pass in front of a shop packed with chocolate goodies.   If that wasn't enough, you KNOW you've been truly defeated when you begin to dream about eating chocolate in your sleep! You wake up the next day and the FIRST thing you do is march right out the house and come back with 4 bars of chocolate.  You find a dark corner inside your house, curl up and munch away with glee.  You are reacquainted with the joy that is chocolate, and now you find it hard to stop.  Your weight goes up again and you are back to where you started.  This is the reinforcing loop titled 'chocolate love affair', and as with all love affairs, one that is very hard to stop..  once you are stuck in this loop it is often a while before you gain enough weight to signal 'stop eating chocolate' again.  

It is obvious that cutting out chocolate from one's diet is not the answer to losing weight.  This is the inadequacy of the approach in this example.  I suppose that putting in an exercise loop somewhere in the causal loop diagram below would serve to balance out the unintended consequences that accompany complete abstinence from chocolate.  Other variables I know contribute to this problem are lack of time in which to exercise as well as the pressure of other duties such as school or work that keep one stuck at a desk - chocolate is a cheerful sight to the overworked student.  

I have kept the diagram simple as requested, however I really think there is potential for it to expand further.  All this talk about chocolate has got me wondering.. surely one little piece won't hurt.. or would it?!