You Have a Natural Set Weight — Attempting to Change it is a Declaration of War Between You and Your Body.
Think you can teach your body to be any weight your heart desires? Years ago, I also believed this was the case. However, it brings me no pleasure to inform you that this is incorrect. It is a lie, sold to you by the die(t) industry.
Each day, the diet industry infiltrates your subconscious. ‘You have to look like this particular model/celebrity in order to be attractive.’ ‘You need to have X body shape in order to be worthy of loved.’ ‘Take X supplement to achieve your dream body.’ ‘THIS diet is proven to make you 1 billion dollars and force all the people from high school die from regret for not worshipping the ground you walked on.’
Okay, that last one was pretty ludicrous, but honestly not any more ludicrous than the rest.
Fact is, your body is unique. There is no other body like it. And you cannot force it to be like any other one, either. The sooner you accept this fact, the more enjoyable your life will be — I know that has been the case for me.
Which brings me to the purpose of this article: Set Weight Point Theory.
Research has demonstrated that each individual has a weight range their body is most content at — and it will fight to keep you there. But not only do I speak with the backing of a growing body of research, I also speak from experience.
This weight range is largely determined by your genetics, as well as your overall build; bone structure; metabolism; musculature and more.
It is a predetermined natural setting, designed to keep you healthy; to protect you from famine (which has been a common crisis for humanity for much of our history). Social aesthetics are not a factor our physiology cares about, only survival is relevant.
So, how is my set weight maintained?
The best analogy to use here is the thermostat analogy. Your set-weight point (or range) is the temperature your body feels most comfortable at. It self-regulates to keep you within this range.
If you lose weight to below your set weight point, your body has a few mechanisms by which it brings you back to equilibrium (which I’ve expanded on here). From my personal experience, I can tell you, it will do its utmost to create a reality in which food becomes almost irresistible.
During the last few months of Anorexia, the disorder morphed from restrictive type (strict starvation) to binge/purge type Anorexia (I will cover the difference between this anorexia types and other eating disorders in another piece). Essentially, because I had restricted myself to a weight which was significantly lower than my body’s set weight range, it did not allow me to restrict any longer. Rather, I was forced into ‘bingeing’ — If I was around any food, I would consume it all, no matter the amount. I could not control it. I frequently describe this as an out of body experience. My body did this as a result of my forcing it below its natural set weight.
I mention this because this is one of the mechanisms your body will implement in attempting to gain weight if you have forced it to below its natural set weight range. It will slow your metabolism to store fat; create food obsession and increase mental/physical hunger.
Likewise, if you eat a little more than what is required to maintain your weight, thus gain to above your set weight point, your body will typically increase its temperature. In addition, your metabolism will speed up in order to burn off the extra energy.
What about ‘overweight’ people?
For people who fall into the socially mandated (and entirely physiologically pointless) ‘overweight’ category, there are two main factors at play here:
1. A larger natural set-weight range, caused by a combination of genetics and epigentics, which functions to keep you at the size most beneficial to your longevity (As discussed in my previous piece, many population-wide studies have demonstrated that ‘overweight’ people have better health outcomes than those within the ‘normal’ weight range).
2. Overshoot weight caused by the effect of continuous restriction (dieting). Yes, it goes against everything the die(t) industry tells us, but pursuing weight loss is actually an extremely efficient way to gain significant weight. As at time of writing, I am still in recovery — 10 months in — and do not know what my current weight is. However, I do know that I have significantly surpassed my pre-eating disorder weight.
As a further example, in the Minnesota Starvation Experiment (a landmark study from which we derive much of our understanding of human physiology and weight loss) the participants involved were put on restrictive diets until they lost an average of 66% of their body fat mass, and upon re-feeding, they regained weight to an average of 145% of their original fat mass (overshoot weight).
Think about that for a moment. If your goal in dieting is to lose around half of your body fat (not an unusual goal for many dieters), as soon as you stop restricting and start consuming a normal amount of calories, your body’s natural response is to regain around 3 times the weight you lost.
So you want to lose 10kg? Expect to gain 30. Want to lose 20kg? Expect to gain 60. And so on. But these numbers shouldn’t be taken as gospel: as we’ve come to understand, all bodies are unique, thus respond differently.
The participants are the perfect case scenario, as they were all restricted under a controlled experiment for a specific period of time. They knew when it would end; they were not imposing the restriction upon themselves; and when they were re-fed, they were re-fed in a controlled way. So, it’s likely that if you try to diet in order to lose a significant portion, you’re more likely to gain weight than the average in this study.
The end result of the study.
The Minnesota Starvation Experiment demonstrates that an individual’s set weight can, once more, be reached despite overshoot. After a year of referring, the participants of the study lost the weight to within a 5% range of their set point — their weight prior to semi-starvation. However, our bodies are unique and instead of seeking to lose even overshoot weight back to your set point, it’s time we silenced die(t) cult(ure)’s influence in our lives and just accepted ourselves.
You cannot change your genetic makeup, nor your natural set point weight range. If you attempt to fight your set weight point, you will only gain weight long-term.
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