Set Point Theory
Replies
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I believe in set point. I have weighed 283 and down to 155 in my adult life. I feel like my body likes around 220. I dont! Hoping to get down to 165-170. Maybe my hormones and stuff are happier there (When I was down to 155 my period stopped)3
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just want to say that acv is good for your stomach & balances out stomach acidmoosmum1972 wrote: »
It is an acid but when metabolizes it has an alkalizing effect.
I’ve been here a few years, and rarely see anything new these days that make me do a double take. But these are just... wow.8 -
I think it goes down to: are you on a short term diet after which you'll go back to your old habits, or have you gained new knowledge, skills and discipline that will help you maintain your newly acquired goal weight? If you go back to your old habits, your old weight will come back.
I'm proud to say I've been maintaining 62-63kg for the last nine month or so, and its only because I'm very careful not to go over my maintenance calories. Do I still have the appetite of my 84kg self? Probably. I love eating, and it's true I can't eat as much as I want, because I want a lot of food. But, do I still have the behaviour of my 84kg self? No - I worked hard, and I'm still working hard to overcome my old behaviour and habits.2 -
I think of the Set Point Theory as Wishful Thinking Theory.
Maintained about 30lbs overweight for 20 years purely because when the scales went over 14 stone I did something about it. Apart from one short lived experiment with intuitive eating and "letting my body find its natural weight" - very rapidly hit 15 stone with no signs of rate of gain slowing down...
When I got back under 14 stone I got comfortable again - my set point is driven by behaviour and conscious or unconscious actions, I drive it rather that it drives me.
Now I maintain around 12 stone with conscious eating and corrections as needed.
OP - I think you really need to re-read your closing sentences, to me it sounds like you aren't ready to commit fully (I wasn't for 20 years and bitterly regret it).
" I plan to eat plant based 6 days out of the week, I have recently started drinking apple cider vinegar every morning, and I would like to start running again. I hope the combination of these 3 things will help me fight my set point!"
"I plan to" - not I will. (It's the calorie reduction that will have an effect, not different food choices.)
"Started drinking ACV" - instead of taking control you are hoping for an outside magical solution involving no real effort. Apart from surgery you don't buy weight loss, you earn it.
"I would like to start running" - not I will start running.
"I hope the combination of these 3 things will help me fight my set point!" Hope not decision, I want not I will.
Sorry if this seems harsh, it's meant to be helpful. When your head is truly in the game your body follows.17 -
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JerSchmare wrote: »Set-Point theory was a hypothesis that never proved either way. The research was only partially completeld. The researchers said, and I’m paraphrasing, ‘more work needs to be done’, and yet people talk like it’s a thing. It’s not a thing, it never was a thing, and until research comes out that builds upon the partial work that was done, I will continue to bash it is complete nonsense.
It makes people feel better because then it's not their fault that they're overweight.
My own 'set point' is linked to my love of dessert. While it's also my experience that I'm much hungrier at a lower body fat, it would still be much more manageable if I didn't spend 300 calories a day on sweets (but I could get away with it easily when I was overweight).
I just don't necessarily believe that being hungrier when you're lighter has anything to do with a set point. If there was a set point, you'd also get less hungry as you get over it, and I've yet to hear about THAT happening (I did believe for years that I could stay around 200 lbs eating whatever I wanted, but one day I weighed in at 213 so I guess not).6 -
Nope. If set point theory really existed, then when immigrants who were leaner come to live in the US, should stay lean. Unfortunately, statistically many immigrants gain 30lbs or more within 5 years or so living in the US.
A.C.E. Certified Personal and Group Fitness Trainer
IDEA Fitness member
Kickboxing Certified Instructor
Been in fitness for 30 years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition
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Nope. If set point theory really existed, then when immigrants who were leaner come to live in the US, should stay lean. Unfortunately, statistically many immigrants gain 30lbs or more within 5 years or so living in the US.
A.C.E. Certified Personal and Group Fitness Trainer
IDEA Fitness member
Kickboxing Certified Instructor
Been in fitness for 30 years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition
That was my case, but my lifestyle changed completely too (from walking 1-2 hours a day to being completely sedentary).2 -
I think it exists.
But I think we're constantly overriding our eating instincts with "foods" that are only the most addictive extracts of food (sugars and oils removed and concentrated). They are then advertised everywhere and constantly available. We aren't being driven by hunger to seek food, we've designed our society so those selling the food are seeking us.16 -
JerSchmare wrote: »Nope. If set point theory really existed, then when immigrants who were leaner come to live in the US, should stay lean. Unfortunately, statistically many immigrants gain 30lbs or more within 5 years or so living in the US.
A.C.E. Certified Personal and Group Fitness Trainer
IDEA Fitness member
Kickboxing Certified Instructor
Been in fitness for 30 years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition
Good point.
Also: on average, in the USA, don’t people gain like 1 lb per year.
So, if set-point worked, that wouldn’t happen.
Exactly. Why would set point only keep you overweight when you are eating less, and not keep you at your "set point" when you are eating more? :huh: It should be protecting us from the dreaded middle age weight creep.6 -
When I was young, I would force feed myself trying to gain weight. I could not gain. Seemed like I had one then. If I have one now, it is infinity I think. I have to watch it or I will gain.
I doubt it. You were growing and were consuming, overall, approximately maintenance calories to exist, be active, and grow, even if you felt like you were "force feeding" yourself. Also, I am assuming you DID gain weight. You didn't weigh, say, 55 lbs. at age 6, age 10, and age 14. Right?
Unless by "young" you mean full grown but in your 20s or whatever...in which case, again, you were simply consuming about the same calories you expended, at that thin weight. Which just means without the "force feedings" you just would have been even thinner. Overall, over time you were eating at maintenance for the weight you were...a then-thin weight.
From about age 17-25 I had a hard time gaining weight (155-160 at 6'1") and ate a ton of food. I counted calories one week at age 21 and it was 4000-5000kcal/day. I was running track and was expending a lot of energy but I did long sprints and wasn't much over 25-30 miles/week most of the year. The amount of exercise didn't account for the calories IMO. I must have had a screaming metabolism. I got sick a couple times during that period and I don't think I gained any weight but maybe I cut back on eating.1 -
moosmum1972 wrote: »FreyasRebirth wrote: »I think it exists.
But I think we're constantly overriding our eating instincts with "foods" that are only the most addictive extracts of food (sugars and oils removed and concentrated). They are then advertised everywhere and constantly available. We aren't being driven by hunger to seek food, we've designed our society so those selling the food are seeking us.
That's just the thing...
The theoretical set point Stops you gaining or losing weight...
The hypothalamus also keeps your body from getting too hot or too cold but that doesn't mean you will always be exactly 98.6 degrees. Many things (illness, drugs, pregnancy) can cause the body to deviate from this point.4 -
FreyasRebirth wrote: »moosmum1972 wrote: »FreyasRebirth wrote: »I think it exists.
But I think we're constantly overriding our eating instincts with "foods" that are only the most addictive extracts of food (sugars and oils removed and concentrated). They are then advertised everywhere and constantly available. We aren't being driven by hunger to seek food, we've designed our society so those selling the food are seeking us.
That's just the thing...
The theoretical set point Stops you gaining or losing weight...
The hypothalamus also keeps your body from getting too hot or too cold but that doesn't mean you will always be exactly 98.6 degrees. Many things (illness, drugs, pregnancy) can cause the body to deviate from this point.
Apparently only in one direction and conveniently it's the direction where it serves as an excuse for why their last diet failed.12 -
stevencloser wrote: »FreyasRebirth wrote: »moosmum1972 wrote: »FreyasRebirth wrote: »I think it exists.
But I think we're constantly overriding our eating instincts with "foods" that are only the most addictive extracts of food (sugars and oils removed and concentrated). They are then advertised everywhere and constantly available. We aren't being driven by hunger to seek food, we've designed our society so those selling the food are seeking us.
That's just the thing...
The theoretical set point Stops you gaining or losing weight...
The hypothalamus also keeps your body from getting too hot or too cold but that doesn't mean you will always be exactly 98.6 degrees. Many things (illness, drugs, pregnancy) can cause the body to deviate from this point.
Apparently only in one direction and conveniently it's the direction where it serves as an excuse for why their last diet failed.
Blaming a hijacked and unhealthy set point to explain why you can't lose weight would be like complaining you can't lower your body temperature while you continue taking MDMA. If you aren't willing to change your habits and environment to eliminate the cause of overeating, you aren't going to get different results only by wishing for them.2 -
frankiesgirlie wrote: »Lyle McDonald seems to think there is a body fat set point, and recommends diet breaks to break through it.
How can it be a set point if it apparently changes all the time?
That's an actual question, I'm not trying to be an idiot.
I mean you rarely hear about a person who, for example, gained to 140 at, say, 5''2", as an adult; then couldn't lose from there but never gained again from there either because of Set Point. Instead she went up to 145. THAT must be her set point. A few years later she was 155 and couldn't seem to lose. Because Set Point. Then her mother died, she was stressed, her job was hard so now she was 175. Couldn't lose....that must be her Set Point...no wait. Lyle McDonald told her how to trick....one of those Set Points. Or something. So now...it has changed yet again...
How can it be a "set" point if a. it constantly changes and b. it never seems to stop weight GAIN from that point?
I'm going to stay out of the back and forth on this thread because I'm not feeling well today and really not interested in a kitten show of misunderstanding but wanted to clarify what Lyle McDonald is talking about vs. mainstream understanding when it comes to the issue of set point.
Lyle is talking about competition bodybuilders/fitness models who have a set point/minimum genetically programmed amount of body fat. They can diet down past that strategically for competition.
Mainstream understanding of set point is not about this at all and is about much, much higher weights and a whole different stratosphere of understanding, has nothing to do with bodyfat percentage, and is focused entirely on scale weight.
I hope this clears up some misunderstanding.
There is, if I'm not mistaken, some validity to the assertion Lyle makes about there being a genetically programmed body fat minimum that we all have that varies. And that bodyfat percentage is also usually much, much lower than what lifestyle/habit regulated set points that people achieve (which are the ones that keep changing) seem to be.
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