Does anyone feel like their body has a "set" weight?
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I am not saying people can't go beyond their "set" weight or below it, just that without work/attention that is where the body seems to return to.
Yes, this is true for me. If I eat without thought I typically maintain at a certain weight. To maintain at a lower weight I have to think about what I eat all the time.0 -
Yep. I've been within 5 lbs. of a specific weight for the past decade.0
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DeguelloTex wrote: »Set point theory sounds a lot like an excuse to stay at a certain weight.
How so? She didn't say she or anyone else stayed at that weight.0 -
I know from years of experience that my body has particular weight ranges that it seems to gravitate to. As another person said earlier, that weight changed dependent upon different stages in life. Looking back, I can see how my levels of eating vs. activity affected what that number is. When I was a child, I ate about 1800 calories a day and played outside all the time when I wasn't in school. I weighed around 150 then. In high school, I hovered around 250.... I still ate the same amount of food, was still active, but ate more calories because I was eating more junk food and calorie dense drinks. I stayed around that weight until I got pregnant... after giving birth I actually lost 75 lbs. because I was too busy to eat. Over the years the weight crept up... and up... and up. The past 10 years I have lost and gained and lost and gained, and when I have periods where I am not mindful of what I eat, and don't log, I get back to the same weight and stay there. And, of course, its harder to lose now that I am older. The key for me, is to recognize this cycle, knowing that I tend to eat and move to accommodate a certain weight that my body likes, and I must work against that to be to a healthy weight. I cant just lose weight, I have to completely renovate my lifestyle and keep it that way so the numbers stay where I want them to be. Its another stage of change in my life.0
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It's based upon my eating and exercise habits. If I'm not paying attention but don't go crazy, I'm always the same weight. I wouldn't call it a set weight because I can change it. I am not predisposed to being that weight no matter what. It's just what my current habits are driven towards. If I count my calories towards a deficit and monitor exercise calories, my weight goes down. I am working on better habits so I can maintain my loss.0
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My weight has stayed the same over the past 2 years - 12 stones even though I've gone down a dress size and toned up hugely!
In my late teens I was 10 1/2 stones then went up in a jump to 11 stones when I got married at 25. After 3 children I was still at 11 stones until my late thirties when I went up, again in a jump, to 11 1/2 then another jump to 12 stones. At 39 I ballooned to just under 13 stones and lost a stone to get to my current weight. 6 years later, Im still at 12 stones!! I expect to gain another half stone when I hit 50 then another when I hit 60!
So yes, I feel that unless I make myself miserable by focussing way more than I do now on food my 'natural' weight is 12 stones!!
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Obviously regaining the weight comes from eating more calories than I do while dieting, but that isn't the point. I wasn't saying that my body put this weight on without my input, just that I only regain to a certain point and without changing eating habits I will stay there. I don't just keep gaining, my weight becomes stable at its set point and my hunger adjusts so that I only take in what I need to maintain that. Set point theory is really well respected by a lot of scientists, our body does a lot of "background" work to get us to what set point it wants to be at and keep us there with cravings, hunger etc. Someone mentioned how skinny people if forced to not work out and eat more calories will fidget to burn calories as their bodies do not want to go over their set weight. Overweight people have the same issue, if we are forced to diet our bodies will do everything they can to get us to take in more calories so we don't go under the set point. Another article talking about it since somebody said the former one was a commercial for bariatric surgery (it wasn't, it came from The Obesity Action Coalition and was written by a respected doctor who simply said that unlike other ways of losing weight, bariatric surgery appears to be the only one that can reset the "set point").
http://nedic.ca/set-point-what-your-body-trying-tell-you0 -
A 'set point' or 'set weight' is nonsense.
What is happening is that you you have consistent eating habits that cause you to gain (or lose) weight. At some point you will stop gaining (or losing) weight because you're now eating at maintenance for your weight. If you alter your eating habits, your weight will alter as well.
I agree with your explanation for what is happening, but I would still call that a "set point". Just because the mechanism for setting that point is mental or environmental instead of biological doesn't mean it isn't a "set point."0 -
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A 'set point' or 'set weight' is nonsense.
What is happening is that you you have consistent eating habits that cause you to gain (or lose) weight. At some point you will stop gaining (or losing) weight because you're now eating at maintenance for your weight. If you alter your eating habits, your weight will alter as well.
This seems to back up the notion of a set point, rather than refute it. We settle at a certain point for maintenance. I'm not talking about purposely trying to gain, lose or maintain weight. But many people naturally (without thinking about it) settle at maintenance at the same weight (m/l). That's what is meant by a set point.0 -
I think the problem is when people try to make a set point into something it's not, specifically some kind of biological need to be at a particular weight. The evidence is that environment affects set point (or whatever one wants to call it--where we tend to settle into maintenance). That would have to be the case, as we've gotten fatter as a society.
Also, speaking personally, my set point for most of my 20s was about 125-130. I felt like I would have a hard time going below it (although I never seriously tried), but also felt like I could maintain it effortlessly without thinking about it and eating all I wanted. For me, being able to not think about it was worth being about 10 lbs heavier than I thought I would be if I had the precise body I wanted, so I went with it. Sadly, my personal "set point" changed as I got older and my lifestyle became less active. (Although when I do lose weight I find 125 or so to be pretty easy to maintain so long as I'm active and not depressed--I lost to 120 in my mid 30s and then maintained at 125 for 5 years without much problem and I'm kind of stuck at 125 now--and continue to find getting below it to seem more challenging beyond what an additional 5 lbs should represent. Too soon to say how true that really is this time, though.)
In that the research seems to say that most people only gain a small number of lbs/year and that's usually around the holidays (but heavier people gain more), it's quite possible that some people naturally regulate their eating and activity level better than others. That's arguably consistent with the evidence that the obesity rate may have hit a ceiling and be stable or declining, I don't know enough to have a strong opinion.
I do know that one can change weight despite a set point and that for me set point doesn't mean I don't have to worry about becoming obese, so I guess I'm not really sure what the value of the concept is. (It's entirely possible I'm missing it, though.)0 -
I am asking because my body always seems to go back to the same place if I am not counting calories.
Well, yes and no. If I am only generally watching what I eat and doing average workouts each week my body will always settle in back around 195-200lbs. That is pudgy for me, but I can be active at least. However, that is more to do with what calories I take in and my exercise than what my body is 'comfortable' at. If I eat better and exercise more, I lose. It is more about how restricted I want to be in life, or if I want to be able to enjoy myself a bit more.
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No. Weight is a function of CICO. Since people tend have the same eating and exercising habits, this gives the appearance of a settling point but that is confusing cause and effect. It's your habits that determine where your weight tends to settle. The settling point of your weight does not predetermine your habits.
The term "set point" implies there's some mechanism at work over which you have no control that is driving you towards some weight. A better term is equilibrium. Your weight will always fluctuate but will tend towards an equilibrium according to your habits. You are in control of your habits.0 -
I always end up around 145-150. That seems to be my body's "comfort" weight.0
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Not necessarily a "set" weight, but I know I'd have to sacrifice a lot of hard-earned lean muscle to reach a weight that is "ideal" for women of my height. And that's just not something I'm willing to do. So I'm happy being ~10lbs over what on paper I'd like to be.0
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I can't seem to loose at all. I'm typically around the 130 lb mark or 9st 5lb (makes more sense to me in the UK) I haven't been below that in my life. I used to eat one meal a day and no change. I have vowed to eat more sensibly, trying for three meals a day and breaking habits of skipping meals, drinking more water, moving more, the scales have gone up a pound or two but my measurements are the same so I'm guessing it's because of the larger intake of water, but still no joy. I only want to loose a few more pounds, my goal was 9st, but I have no idea what my body wants me to do to get there!0
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I don't know that I buy into a set weight, but my body sure is fighting to stay at -56 right now. I am making the same food choices I've been making throughout this loss and my hunger is through the roof! I think I've been at maintenance for most of the last month here.0
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peter56765 wrote: »No. Weight is a function of CICO. Since people tend have the same eating and exercising habits, this gives the appearance of a settling point but that is confusing cause and effect.
Nobody has argued that "set point" isn't effected by CICO, just that the science has shown that people tend to reach a certain weight and stabilize there. On top of that, it appears that when you start eating less calories than maintenance to sustain that weight the body reduces its metabolism to compensate. This is normal, the issue is that obese people have a far higher "set point" than naturally thin people so they tend to maintain a higher weight. This obviously can be defeated by cutting calories, but with the body actively fighting against it obese people have a harder time with that. Cravings go up, energy goes down and the body tries to restore its body fat level. The science isn't gibberish, it is compelling. I don't think it needs to be discouraging either, if anything knowing that you don't simply lack willpower and that is why you occasionally "slip up" is ENCOURAGING and will keep people from giving up. I know it has for me.
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An interesting TED talk... kind of touches on the subject of 'set weight'.
http://www.ted.com/talks/sandra_aamodt_why_dieting_doesn_t_usually_work
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