Affective-Endocrine Integration: The "Expand-Accept" Operator Fusion in Obesity and the Mechanistic Convergence of Therapeutics within the Core Emotion Framework

Clinical obesity is reconceptualized in this manuscript as a structural affective–endocrine disorder emerging from a chronic fusion of two Core Emotion Framework (CEF) operators: Expanding and Accepting. This maladaptive “Expand–Accept” fusion produces a passive coping metabolic phenotype characterized by boundaryless somatic openness and involuntary yielding, described in the text as “a boundless receptivity and a total relinquishing of somatic control.” This affective configuration disrupts hypothalamic regulation, flattens the diurnal cortisol rhythm, and drives visceral adipogenesis through synergistic cortisol–insulin signaling. At the neural level, the fusion collapses the functional gradient between the Default Mode Network (DMN) and Executive Control Network (ECN), generating intrusive cue driven simulations known as “food noise.” To reverse this attractor state, the manuscript formalizes a seven step somatic detangling protocol that isolates, de-escalates, and re pairs operators to restore system flexibility. A cross modal analysis demonstrates that GLP 1 receptor agonists, structured exercise, and caloric restriction achieve parallel mechanistic outcomes—attenuating DMN hyperconnectivity, normalizing HPA axis oscillations, and re-establishing metabolic boundaries—thereby functioning as pharmacological or biophysical analogues of specific CEF operators. Finally, the manuscript outlines a proposed multi phase empirical validation program integrating psychometrics, endocrine profiling, fMRI connectivity gradients, and state space modeling. This program is conceptually aligned with the existing OSF preregistration for the CEF operator scale but represents a new, future preregistration specific to obesity. Together, these findings position the CEF as a unifying architecture capable of predicting, explaining, and therapeutically reorganizing the affective and metabolic dynamics underlying obesity. Keywords: Core Emotion Framework (CEF); operator fusion; Expand–Accept fusion; affective–endocrine integration; HPA axis dysregulation; diurnal cortisol flattening; Default Mode Network (DMN); Executive Control Network (ECN); food noise; GLP 1 receptor agonists; visceral adiposity; somatic detangling; metabolic boundary formation; state space modeling; affective architecture.