Body wants to be a certain size?

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  • Christine_72
    Christine_72 Posts: 16,049 Member
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    I managed to get to my goal weight in March 2015, and stayed there for a whole month lol I then regained 5lbs which is where I've been stuck ever since.
    I've gotten to the stage of not caring if I get there again or not. I'm still eating at a slight deficit, but I just don't have much more motivation or energy left in me.
  • JeromeBarry1
    JeromeBarry1 Posts: 10,182 Member
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    There is too much evidence that bodies have what are called "set points" which change, almost always upward, during life. So, we believe it. When we believe it, we let it be true. I thought I was set at about 270. I'd been there 16 years and despite occasionally and mysteriously losing a few pounds it always managed to return to 270. I even heard an old cousin say that I looked just like, walked just like, was just the same size and shape as our grandfather who died in 1939. His nickname was "Big Daddy". Yet when I joined mfp in January of this year and started logging my food and learning about nutrition, I started eating less, being satisfied, losing weight, and losing weight, and losing weight. CICO works. Get into a calorie deficit. Stay in a calorie deficit. Re-examine your measuring practices. I know I have gotten lazy with measuring and let assumptions make my *kitten* bigger. You can master the relationship you have with food, and you can get into that calorie deficit and stay there. There's no better time to prove it than on this holiday weekend.
  • MissusMoon
    MissusMoon Posts: 1,900 Member
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    thunder1982 wrote: »
    I get what you mean, I seem to bounce back up to the same weight approx 90kg, I've gone a few kgs over but never for long. Each time I get down to 80kg I stall and slide back up again.

    I was doing a online nutritional type course and one lecture was talking about your set point, the weight your body naturally fluctuates to. It also said that fat cells deflate during weight loss but it will take approx 18mths of sustained weight loss before the body actually expels the excess cells so filling them back up is easy as opposed to having to make new cells. It did also say that you can change your set point but it takes effort. Looking back I havent been able to manage the 10kg weight loss longer than a 18mth period I have usually given up and fallen into bad habits by then so for me it does hold true, although with consistent effort and catching myself I have been able to manage to hold around 85kg over the last 18mths. Currently I am just over 85kg after a 2 week holiday and a week back of gorging myself with whatever is in sight. Time to get started again:)

    This is very well debunked.
  • DebSozo
    DebSozo Posts: 2,578 Member
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    MissusMoon wrote: »
    thunder1982 wrote: »
    I get what you mean, I seem to bounce back up to the same weight approx 90kg, I've gone a few kgs over but never for long. Each time I get down to 80kg I stall and slide back up again.

    I was doing a online nutritional type course and one lecture was talking about your set point, the weight your body naturally fluctuates to. It also said that fat cells deflate during weight loss but it will take approx 18mths of sustained weight loss before the body actually expels the excess cells so filling them back up is easy as opposed to having to make new cells. It did also say that you can change your set point but it takes effort. Looking back I havent been able to manage the 10kg weight loss longer than a 18mth period I have usually given up and fallen into bad habits by then so for me it does hold true, although with consistent effort and catching myself I have been able to manage to hold around 85kg over the last 18mths. Currently I am just over 85kg after a 2 week holiday and a week back of gorging myself with whatever is in sight. Time to get started again:)

    This is very well debunked.

    Will you please site the articles debunking this theory? I would like to know how the debunking was determined because there is a percentage of the population able to naturally maintain weight within a few pounds without calorie counting or outside weight management tools or programs.
    Thank you! :)
  • ShrinkinMel
    ShrinkinMel Posts: 982 Member
    edited May 2016
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    Yes your body has a set point. That can change. But in general when you get a set point ingrained it will be like that until changes happen and a new one is slowly replacing it. It is why not many people are over 1000 lbs. ;)
  • stevencloser
    stevencloser Posts: 8,911 Member
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    DebSozo wrote: »
    MissusMoon wrote: »
    thunder1982 wrote: »
    I get what you mean, I seem to bounce back up to the same weight approx 90kg, I've gone a few kgs over but never for long. Each time I get down to 80kg I stall and slide back up again.

    I was doing a online nutritional type course and one lecture was talking about your set point, the weight your body naturally fluctuates to. It also said that fat cells deflate during weight loss but it will take approx 18mths of sustained weight loss before the body actually expels the excess cells so filling them back up is easy as opposed to having to make new cells. It did also say that you can change your set point but it takes effort. Looking back I havent been able to manage the 10kg weight loss longer than a 18mth period I have usually given up and fallen into bad habits by then so for me it does hold true, although with consistent effort and catching myself I have been able to manage to hold around 85kg over the last 18mths. Currently I am just over 85kg after a 2 week holiday and a week back of gorging myself with whatever is in sight. Time to get started again:)

    This is very well debunked.

    Will you please site the articles debunking this theory? I would like to know how the debunking was determined because there is a percentage of the population able to naturally maintain weight within a few pounds without calorie counting or outside weight management tools or programs.
    Thank you! :)

    Appetite and habits.
    You're the weight you gravitate towards because the eating habits you learned since you were little make you eat in a certain range. If those habits change for some reason, your weight changes over the long term with them.
    I used to be almost 90 kg, it was the weight I gravitated towards. Why? Because I was eating accordingly.
    Nowadays I snack a lot less habitually and poof, suddenly I gravitate towards 70 no problem if I just eat normally without counting. Because the amounts I eat correspond to 70 kg at my activity level.
  • stevencloser
    stevencloser Posts: 8,911 Member
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    thunder1982 wrote: »
    I get what you mean, I seem to bounce back up to the same weight approx 90kg, I've gone a few kgs over but never for long. Each time I get down to 80kg I stall and slide back up again.

    I was doing a online nutritional type course and one lecture was talking about your set point, the weight your body naturally fluctuates to. It also said that fat cells deflate during weight loss but it will take approx 18mths of sustained weight loss before the body actually expels the excess cells so filling them back up is easy as opposed to having to make new cells. It did also say that you can change your set point but it takes effort. Looking back I havent been able to manage the 10kg weight loss longer than a 18mth period I have usually given up and fallen into bad habits by then so for me it does hold true, although with consistent effort and catching myself I have been able to manage to hold around 85kg over the last 18mths. Currently I am just over 85kg after a 2 week holiday and a week back of gorging myself with whatever is in sight. Time to get started again:)

    Never heard of that before. Source?
  • Maxematics
    Maxematics Posts: 2,287 Member
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    ShrinkinMel wrote: »
    Yes your body has a set point. That can change. But in general when you get a set point ingrained it will be like that until changes happen and a new one is slowly replacing it. It is why not many people are over 1000 lbs. ;)

    Many people are not over 1000 pounds because they are not capable of that much food. In general, the more you weigh the more calories you need to sustain your body. Getting to 1000 pounds would require eating calorie dense food constantly throughout the day. Also, at that point your body would no longer be able to function, as I'd imagine your skin would be splitting, your organs would be compressed, among other things. It's not set point that's keeping people from weighing that much, it's that for most people their bodies lack the capability to weigh that much.
  • ziggy2006
    ziggy2006 Posts: 255 Member
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    Don't let your distorted thinking get in the way of achieving your goals.

    In the words of Tyler Joseph:

    Tie a noose around your mind,
    Loose enough to breathe, fine, and tie it
    To a tree. Tell it, "You belong to me.
    This ain't a noose. This is a leash.
    And I have news for you: you must obey me.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ktBMxkLUIwY
  • DebSozo
    DebSozo Posts: 2,578 Member
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    stevencloser wrote: »
    DebSozo wrote: »
    MissusMoon wrote: »
    thunder1982 wrote: »
    I get what you mean, I seem to bounce back up to the same weight approx 90kg, I've gone a few kgs over but never for long. Each time I get down to 80kg I stall and slide back up again.

    I was doing a online nutritional type course and one lecture was talking about your set point, the weight your body naturally fluctuates to. It also said that fat cells deflate during weight loss but it will take approx 18mths of sustained weight loss before the body actually expels the excess cells so filling them back up is easy as opposed to having to make new cells. It did also say that you can change your set point but it takes effort. Looking back I havent been able to manage the 10kg weight loss longer than a 18mth period I have usually given up and fallen into bad habits by then so for me it does hold true, although with consistent effort and catching myself I have been able to manage to hold around 85kg over the last 18mths. Currently I am just over 85kg after a 2 week holiday and a week back of gorging myself with whatever is in sight. Time to get started again:)

    This is very well debunked.

    Will you please site the articles debunking this theory? I would like to know how the debunking was determined because there is a percentage of the population able to naturally maintain weight within a few pounds without calorie counting or outside weight management tools or programs.
    Thank you! :)

    Appetite and habits.
    You're the weight you gravitate towards because the eating habits you learned since you were little make you eat in a certain range. If those habits change for some reason, your weight changes over the long term with them.
    I used to be almost 90 kg, it was the weight I gravitated towards. Why? Because I was eating accordingly.
    Nowadays I snack a lot less habitually and poof, suddenly I gravitate towards 70 no problem if I just eat normally without counting. Because the amounts I eat correspond to 70 kg at my activity level.
    This supports set point theory. Now you have a lower set point that you established. If I can lose 10 pounds and stay there long enough my body will accept it as a new set point.
  • DebSozo
    DebSozo Posts: 2,578 Member
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    GuitarJerry wrote: »
    Set point theory was a theory and the research was never completed. It has been debunked. Why is this still floating around as fact? Lol.

    Have you seen the amount of people who lose weight and gain it back? They wouldn't have if they had been patient enough to establish a new and lower set point and work to stay there until the body accepts it.

    I do want to reestablish a new lower one! I think that exercise and recomp will help me now that I am close to maintenance and stuck within 10 pounds of goal.
  • Noreenmarie1234
    Noreenmarie1234 Posts: 7,493 Member
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    If you've been at one weight for a long time, the body fights to maintain homeostasis. It's a true fact. So there is SOME truth to set point. But once you lose weight, your body can have new set points. The human body likes to stay the same, it will fight to stay where it's been.
  • Dove0804
    Dove0804 Posts: 213 Member
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    DebSozo wrote: »
    GuitarJerry wrote: »
    Set point theory was a theory and the research was never completed. It has been debunked. Why is this still floating around as fact? Lol.

    Have you seen the amount of people who lose weight and gain it back? They wouldn't have if they had been patient enough to establish a new and lower set point and work to stay there until the body accepts it.

    I do want to reestablish a new lower one! I think that exercise and recomp will help me now that I am close to maintenance and stuck within 10 pounds of goal.

    I think this is going in circles, but if you want to call new habits "set points", then you're right. Otherwise, if you eat too much, you'll gain weight back. If you eat enough to maintain your size, you'll stay that size. If you are eating at a deficit, you'll lose weight. Those are your decisions, not your body's. People who don't calorie count and stay the same size- that's because habitually they're consuming the right amount of calories to stay that size. You get used to eating that much, so that's what you eat. It doesn't suddenly mean someone can eat an extra 1,500 calories per day because their body says "okay, I'm set now!"

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