Does anyone feel like their body has a "set" weight?
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I think this is common. I tend to get stuck around 137 pounds and 132 pounds. I am 5'6"
Although it seems like it is difficult to drop below these weights...it is also relatively easier to maintain these weights at maintenance. I haven't had a ton of success maintaining lower weight....but I am going to give it a shot.
I find that switching up my exercise a bit helps the process along. Adding in some track workouts or HIIT.0 -
A "set" weight would mean you can't gain or lose. I can promise anyone if they eat more than they need, they'll gain weight and vice versa.
What's actually happening is people are eating to where they don't feel stuffed or hungry and stay at a certain weight for a long time. Basically for most this would be close to maintenance. CICO is still very relevant.
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So would you say it's more likely a "paychogically" set weight than anything else? I tend to plateau and follow the plan within 100-200 calories and might go down a pound or two, but if I just let it go and go over, I gain weight like always. So we plateau when we feel comfortable enough with what we are eating and with out activity level? I've has this argument with others eho say it's age. I mean it is but I think it's more likely lifestyle changes related to age that we don't notice and not just age itself.0 -
Yep, I feel like my "set" weight is about 147lbs. That has gone up over the years - in my early twenties I would always stay at 126lbs. I've always eaten badly and not exercised though, my body just can't take the rubbish I feed it like it used to be able to. In some ways, perhaps not such a bad thing - at least showing on the outside now I'm actually trying to do something about my health!0
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well it HAD a set weight because that was what i was eating at LOLOLOL
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What's weird for me is that between intermediate school and now (my 30s), regardless of what foods I ate or how much activity I do (I have gone to extremes - super healthy eating w/ lots of exercise to eating whatever I want and being sedentary) my body does seem to have a certain weight that it always wants to stay at. It's at the higher end of the healthy range for my height, but I want to be at the lower end. I've always had to try SUPER hard to stay below that weight, no matter what my age was. Strange. If I'm not making an extreme effort to eat healthily and move a ton, I'll always fall back to that weight. Could be worse, but I've thought that it's kind of weird that I've been like this all my life.0
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It's a set weight determined by your habits. Nothing more. Then yes, everyone will have a weight they'll naturally stay around by eating the same way... but if they start eating more, they'll gain, and if they start eating less, they'll lose. I was stuck at 200 pounds for years, for example, but eventually the weight started creeping up again.
I have noticed though that every time I get under 133 pounds, I get way hungrier. Frustrating as hell and it's made it impossible to maintain under that so far. But I could easily gain weight if i wasn't careful, so I don't really think it's a set weight either... just the weight my body seems to be the most comfortable at I guess (infuriating as so many women my height seems to easily be able to go down to 125 or below).0 -
Set point theory sounds a lot like an excuse to stay at a certain weight.0
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My "set weight," if you will, is 270 lbs, but the way I get there is that I gaze all day on calorie dense foods. Between my activity level and the amount I eat if I don't pay attention, 270 is the point at which I stop without gaining additional weight. Currently, my weight is 217. This week, I've been eating less than I intended and exercising more than usual. If I were to keep this up, my "set weight" would be about 190.
There are a few people who have a medical condition that causes them to feel like they must eat more than they should. For the rest of us, other conditions are the primary reason we weigh what we weigh.0 -
I think it's a habit thing, based on what I generally eat on a day-to-day basis and my avg activity level....so, if I'm not being super strict, I always seem to settle on ~130. I guess that's the amount of calories my brain/body just wants to eat, so unless I consciously override that, that's where I end up.
I also seem to do a seasonal thing where by March, end of winter, I'm around 135 and then by the end of the summer, I'm about 125. Again, I think it's just eating habits (starting with Thanksgiving-Halloween-Holidays-New Years season and then ending with a summer spent riding my bike everywhere, being active outside and eating lighter summer fare). This has been my pattern for close to a decade.
This year, I want to try to maintain that "natural" summer loss.0 -
I think it's a habit thing, based on what I generally eat on a day-to-day basis and my avg activity level....so, if I'm not being super strict, I always seem to settle on ~130. I guess that's the amount of calories my brain/body just wants to eat, so unless I consciously override that, that's where I end up.
I also seem to do a seasonal thing where by March, end of winter, I'm around 135 and then by the end of the summer, I'm about 125. Again, I think it's just eating habits (starting with Thanksgiving-Halloween-Holidays-New Years season and then ending with a summer spent riding my bike everywhere, being active outside and eating lighter summer fare). This has been my pattern for close to a decade.
This year, I want to try to maintain that "natural" summer loss.
That sounds a lot like me. This winter, I decided I was going to ride my bicycle through the winter months. I didn't quite make it, because I ran over a dog an injured myself, but I discovered that there are things to enjoy about riding in the cold. I think I would've been able to maintain a deficit, even if I hadn't continued riding, but riding helped.
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I used to think that, but now I wonder if it's my appetite that has the set point
When I eat 'intuitively', it's actually too much, it's the maintenance calories for a body size that's bigger than is healthy for me, so I tend to creep up to that size and say there. 0 -
This happens to me as well. But I do not believe its because my body has a set weight, but because my habits are set.0
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set weight = eating habits. Change your eating habits and your "set weight" will change.0
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No, but I do find that it's very hard to maintain my weight any lower than the approximately 118 pounds I usually maintain at, but that's just because it's the point where my TDEE just gets slightly too low and I'm still hungry most days eating at maintenance for a 110 pound body. Those extra 8-10 pounds aren't that significant, I know, but I find it does make a difference and it's easier for me to maintain that weight.
I'm at 112 right now for my wedding in a couple weeks and it requires pretty strict attention to stay that way. It's not a way I'd like to live long-term. I don't mind keeping an eye on my intake but weighing and measuring every little thing for the rest of my life isn't sustainable for me, so after the wedding I'll let myself put on a few pounds again.0 -
Did research after posting this and there is a TON of research out there backing up my observation. Medical research shows that human body weight is remarkably stable even in obese people, I am not sure why ninerbuff seems to think I am wrong because "people regain more after they lose" as all the research I have seen shows that isn't true. People can lose 20, 50, 100 lbs and if they "let go" and stop tracking their calories they will slowly regain back to the point they were at before but not much over. The research shows this isn't so much "lazy people are fat" but that certain people have a higher "set point" for body fat (therefore body weight) and if they do not eat enough calories to sustain that set point their bodies will increase hunger and cravings to get back there. Interesting to say the least.
http://www.obesityaction.org/educational-resources/resource-articles-2/weight-loss-surgery/body-weight-set-point-what-we-know-and-what-we-dont-know0 -
Did research after posting this and there is a TON of research out there backing up my observation. Medical research shows that human body weight is remarkably stable even in obese people, I am not sure why ninerbuff seems to think I am wrong because "people regain more after they lose" as all the research I have seen shows that isn't true. People can lose 20, 50, 100 lbs and if they "let go" and stop tracking their calories they will slowly regain back to the point they were at before but not much over. The research shows this isn't so much "lazy people are fat" but that certain people have a higher "set point" for body fat (therefore body weight) and if they do not eat enough calories to sustain that set point their bodies will increase hunger and cravings to get back there. Interesting to say the least.
http://www.obesityaction.org/educational-resources/resource-articles-2/weight-loss-surgery/body-weight-set-point-what-we-know-and-what-we-dont-know
If body weight "is remarkably stable" how did they get obese to begin with then? They didn't come out of their mother being obese.0 -
Did research after posting this and there is a TON of research out there backing up my observation. Medical research shows that human body weight is remarkably stable even in obese people,
Yes- this is what I have read several times also. Thebody is used to having a certain amount of body fat, depending on the individual and will increase hunger signals as thoses reserves are depleted. It is certainly possible to maintain below that amount but you may have to struggle with hunger. What I'd like to know is when , if ever the hunger signals will subside and the body 'accept' the lower body fat level. ( obvuiosly I'm talking about a healthy lower amount here)
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Did research after posting this and there is a TON of research out there backing up my observation. Medical research shows that human body weight is remarkably stable even in obese people, I am not sure why ninerbuff seems to think I am wrong because "people regain more after they lose" as all the research I have seen shows that isn't true. People can lose 20, 50, 100 lbs and if they "let go" and stop tracking their calories they will slowly regain back to the point they were at before but not much over. The research shows this isn't so much "lazy people are fat" but that certain people have a higher "set point" for body fat (therefore body weight) and if they do not eat enough calories to sustain that set point their bodies will increase hunger and cravings to get back there. Interesting to say the least.
http://www.obesityaction.org/educational-resources/resource-articles-2/weight-loss-surgery/body-weight-set-point-what-we-know-and-what-we-dont-know
"All of these imply that..."
"Body weight regulation (or control) appears to be..."
It's ultimately just someone throwing out observations and guesses, much like you are.
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Did research after posting this and there is a TON of research out there backing up my observation. Medical research shows that human body weight is remarkably stable even in obese people, I am not sure why ninerbuff seems to think I am wrong because "people regain more after they lose" as all the research I have seen shows that isn't true. People can lose 20, 50, 100 lbs and if they "let go" and stop tracking their calories they will slowly regain back to the point they were at before but not much over. The research shows this isn't so much "lazy people are fat" but that certain people have a higher "set point" for body fat (therefore body weight) and if they do not eat enough calories to sustain that set point their bodies will increase hunger and cravings to get back there. Interesting to say the least.
http://www.obesityaction.org/educational-resources/resource-articles-2/weight-loss-surgery/body-weight-set-point-what-we-know-and-what-we-dont-know
There's a couple of things going on here. First, when you stop restricting calories after a loss of weight, your habit from losing weight will keep you from eating a lot more than you were during weight loss and since you are getting enough to operate your body, your body isn't crying out for more food. But as you return to your habits before weight loss, your calorie count will increase to pre-weight-loss levels. That could be just a few hundred more calories per week than you need, but those calories accumulate. That number of calories will sustain a "set" weight, so if you don't increase your calories as you gain weight, the increase in calorie burn that happens as you gain weight will keep you from going over the set weight. If you want to change your set weight, all you really need to do is change your habits so that you eat less and move more.0 -
Whitezombiegirl wrote: »Did research after posting this and there is a TON of research out there backing up my observation. Medical research shows that human body weight is remarkably stable even in obese people,
Yes- this is what I have read several times also. Thebody is used to having a certain amount of body fat, depending on the individual and will increase hunger signals as thoses reserves are depleted. It is certainly possible to maintain below that amount but you may have to struggle with hunger. What I'd like to know is when , if ever the hunger signals will subside and the body 'accept' the lower body fat level. ( obvuiosly I'm talking about a healthy lower amount here)
Very interesting... this would be my curiosity as well...
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