Do you think your body knows it's ideal weight

dawniemate
dawniemate Posts: 395 Member
edited November 22 in Health and Weight Loss
I seem to have slowed down losing weight. We were discussing at work that many of us seem to have slowed or stopped losing completely. It's as though our body knows what we should weigh and then slows or stops. Does anyone agree or do I sound crazy! !

Replies

  • jennifer_417
    jennifer_417 Posts: 12,344 Member
    No, I don't think that. I think your body responds to whatver you do to it.
  • nadimnoddy
    nadimnoddy Posts: 2 Member
    Yea . . Body has its own mechanism to maintain a good weight that auits your body structure and your activities . . . If you force yourself on loosing more weight you might actually cross the line and go into a malnourished phase. . . I suggest focus on fit body rather than thin body.
  • cityruss
    cityruss Posts: 2,493 Member
    No.

    Your calorie needs will alter, but your body doesn't decide it's at a certain weight and stop.
  • vismal
    vismal Posts: 2,463 Member
    jennifer_417 wrote: »
    No, I don't think that. I think your body responds to whatver you do to it.
    This
    nadimnoddy wrote: »
    Yea . . Body has its own mechanism to maintain a good weight that auits your body structure and your activities . . . If you force yourself on loosing more weight you might actually cross the line and go into a malnourished phase. . . I suggest focus on fit body rather than thin body.
    Not this...

  • opalsqueak007
    opalsqueak007 Posts: 433 Member
    edited July 2015
    Your body wants to hang on to fat. It is a defence in times of famine. I used to think that the body had its own ideal weight, but now, I think it depends what you do with your body - whether you make it a muscular machine, or whether you are just cutting calories and losing fat (and muscle at the same time). I am going for the former and am lighter than I have been in 30 years, but stronger.
  • dawniemate
    dawniemate Posts: 395 Member
    Thanks for your replies, on reflection my post did seem a bit naive but office chat always provokes thought! ! Thanks again guys
  • Sued0nim
    Sued0nim Posts: 17,456 Member
    dawniemate wrote: »
    Thanks for your replies, on reflection my post did seem a bit naive but office chat always provokes thought! ! Thanks again guys

    Yes it does ...it tends to provoke the thought "how are they able to continue breathing and talking at the same time,surely that's too taxing for their amoeba sized brains" :bigsmile:
  • Liftng4Lis
    Liftng4Lis Posts: 15,151 Member
    Mine does!
  • DeguelloTex
    DeguelloTex Posts: 6,652 Member
    As an adult, I've been everywhere between 180 and 335. Which one did my body think was ideal, I wonder.
  • kommodevaran
    kommodevaran Posts: 17,890 Member
    Bodies don't know or want or remember anything. It responds to what you do to it. Some bodies more effectively than others, but if you for instance starve it, it will lose weight. When losing weight, it will naturally slow down because a smaller body uses less energy and has smaller fat reserves. We can get bored by dieting too, and slack off, consciously or unconsciously. Most people enjoy eating and relaxing, and there are every opportunity for that now, that's what makes losing and maintaining weight hard. That, and persisting myths, like this one.
  • macgurlnet
    macgurlnet Posts: 1,946 Member
    From what I've read, there's no biological/physical thing as an ideal weight.

    However, weight loss does slow as you lose weight since you're burning less calories and it's tougher to create a deficit. Plus it gets tougher for me from a mental perspective.

    You may find that you can easily maintain at X weight, work to get to Y by counting calories, measuring portions with a scale, etc, then stop doing those things once you get to Y. Once you stop, you find yourself going back up to X. That would suggest that your ability to estimate portions is matched to X weight, rather than Y. To me, that's largely a mental thing and that X is your "ideal weight."

    ~Lyssa
  • TavistockToad
    TavistockToad Posts: 35,719 Member
    rabbitjb wrote: »
    dawniemate wrote: »
    Thanks for your replies, on reflection my post did seem a bit naive but office chat always provokes thought! ! Thanks again guys

    Yes it does ...it tends to provoke the thought "how are they able to continue breathing and talking at the same time,surely that's too taxing for their amoeba sized brains" :bigsmile:

    :laugh:
  • thankyou4thevenom
    thankyou4thevenom Posts: 1,581 Member
    This is like the old set point myth.

    The smaller you get the less calories you burn just being alive or through exercise. So if you don't adjust your calorie goal as you lose weight your deficit gets smaller. The smaller the deficit the less weight lost. You'll get to a point where your intake matches your output and maintenance occurs.

    Adjust your goals and this won't happen.
  • Kalikel
    Kalikel Posts: 9,603 Member
    I know a lot of people plateau and that I did. Some experts even advise dieting for six months, off for six, back on for six. I slowed to a crawl and then just wasn't losing, took a long break, went back to it and began losing again. So I think there is something to all that and am a big fan of the break.

    I don't think it's necessarily that my body wanted to weigh a certain number, but more a fight against losing.

    I don't think it's anything I can't overcome...I have already begun losing again.

    One person who lost like 200 pounds said she plateaued for like five months, but stuck with it the whole time and then began losing again.

    There's just so much we don't know that - although it's fun to wonder - it would seem silly to pretend we have all the answers.
  • Cortneyrenee04
    Cortneyrenee04 Posts: 1,117 Member
    I used to believe in it. I thought my "set point" was like 180, minimum, on my 5'3" frame. Because I had never made it below that weight, it must have been my body resisting!

    Now, at 135 (sadly, still 5'3"), I know it isn't true :)
  • Lounmoun
    Lounmoun Posts: 8,423 Member
    dawniemate wrote: »
    I seem to have slowed down losing weight. We were discussing at work that many of us seem to have slowed or stopped losing completely. It's as though our body knows what we should weigh and then slows or stops. Does anyone agree or do I sound crazy! !

    I don't believe our body has a set weight.
    I have been from 100 lbs to 180 lbs as an adult and have maintained my weight/been stuck at several different points in the past for long periods of time. I feel I was not eating the right amount of calories for my activity level. When I increased or decreased my calories my weight moved.
    If you aren't losing you may need to check your logging for accuracy, adjust your intake of calories or do more exercise.
  • ohmscheeks
    ohmscheeks Posts: 840 Member
    I don't agree.
  • Liftng4Lis
    Liftng4Lis Posts: 15,151 Member
    Liftng4Lis wrote: »
    Mine does!

    It's still looking for it, but it knows it :smiley:
  • 85Cardinals
    85Cardinals Posts: 733 Member
    edited July 2015
    I think my body is more of an Aristotelian than a Platonist, so no.
  • GiddyupTim
    GiddyupTim Posts: 2,819 Member
    I definitely believe that some bodies have a set weight. I have never been heavy, and it is not from any virtue or power of restraint, which I do not have in other things. I just find that, those few times when I have put on a few pounds, I lose my appetite and really cannot eat until my weight comes down.
    I remember one time, I took a trip to Russia. It was unusual in those days for Americans to visit and so the people were incredibly generous. They put out big spreads of food everywhere we went. We knew this generosity created a hardship for them. So, you took a big plate.
    When I got home, I hardly ate at all for about a week and a half. I just could not.
  • 970Mikaela1
    970Mikaela1 Posts: 2,013 Member
    DeguelloTex wrote: »
    As an adult, I've been everywhere between 180 and 335. Which one did my body think was ideal, I wonder.

    My wasn't sure if it wanted 240 or 155. I've decided for it.
  • nvmomketo
    nvmomketo Posts: 12,019 Member
    Not really. Not yet. If I am not minding my diet, my body seems to have a favourite less-than-ideal-weight of 175lbs. I just seem to settle there.

    Maybe after a few years of maintenance (when I get there), my body and I (brain) will learn to stay at an ideal weight.
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