March 20, 2019

How you can change the set point of your body weight

Wie Du den Setpoint Deines Körpergewichts verändern kannst

Your body weight is regulated so that it tends to stay in a certain range, but you can change this range in your favor - and we will show you how to do this.

There is no doubt that your weight tends to stay in a certain range over a longer period of time (1). And there's also no doubt that dieting just doesn't seem to work for most people (2). Sure, you can lose weight, but most people put that weight back on when they stop dieting. And to put the icing on the cake, we're often told that exercise doesn't do much when it comes to permanent weight loss either.

So what else can we do? Do we simply have to accept the body weight that Mother Nature and our environment have chosen for us? Is there really no effective way to achieve what we consider to be an ideal body weight and maintain it in the long term?

Well, there is a counterpoint to the above research: Scientific research shows that about 20% of overweight people can successfully drop their weight by at least 10% and maintain their new weight for at least a year afterward (3).

What is going on here?

All of this has to do with the body's so-called set point, which is very real and can either work for or against you in your efforts to get and stay slim.

In this article we will take a look at why your body weight has settled at its current level, why it is difficult to reduce this default weight and how you can actually achieve the latter.

What does the setpoint theory of body weight mean?

The setpoint theory of body weight is simple: it states that the body uses hormones, hunger, behavioral changes and other physiological mechanisms to maintain its weight (and specifically its body fat percentage) within a certain range.

An easy way to think of this is as a cruise control or thermostat for body weight and body fat percentage - and your body tries to maintain the value that is set.

There is plenty of research done with animals to support this (4). Starve a rat and its metabolism will slow down, its hunger will increase and it will move less to conserve energy. If you then give it free and unrestricted access to food again, it will quickly return to its original weight.

If, on the other hand, you force-feed a rat and feed it fat, the opposite happens: its metabolic rate and activity level increase, its appetite decreases and, once the force-feeding stops, its weight quickly drops back to baseline.

We humans have similar mechanisms to maintain our "preferred" weight range and body composition (5), but in our case these mechanisms are not wired in the same way as in rats.

Our bodies use an asymmetric system of body weight regulation that defends against weight loss more than weight gain (6). This is why most people find it harder to lose weight than to gain weight and why people tend to get fatter over time, not leaner (7).

"And what about people who can eat whatever they want but don't gain weight?" you might ask.

First of all, research shows that some people naturally respond more like rats to overeating by unconsciously increasing their activity levels and burning off the extra calories (8). (People who have high levels of so-called non-exercise-induced thermogenesis, also known as NEAT, can burn up to 2000 kcal more per day than people with low NEAT levels (8).)

Secondly, the "eat everything and stay lean" types rarely eat as much as you or they think they do when you look at it calorie-wise. Many will eat one or two big meals a day without eating much between meals and they never struggle with hunger.

Combine this with a high level of non-exercise induced thermogenesis (NEAT) and a strong sense of satiety and you have someone who doesn't gain weight easily and who finds it easy to maintain their weight. This applies to both body fat and muscle mass - so these people are born "hardgainers" in every sense of the word.

But back to the actual topic.

The bottom line is that it is well documented that our bodies have a complex system for regulating body weight (9). Although "settling point" would be a more accurate term (10), since "set point" refers to a fixed and unchanging point, which fortunately is not the case, the basic premise of the body weight set point is well established.

But how does this system work and how can we change its programming?

What determines your body weight setpoint?

Your body's set point is determined by several factors. The primary ones are:

Genetic predisposition
Physical activity level
Nutrition
Hormonal profile (especially sex hormones, hunger hormones and stress hormones)

Let's take a quick look at each of these factors.

Genetic predisposition and setpoint

When it comes to obesity, genetics is the scapegoat of choice for many. They would like to believe that it's not their fault, but that they are destined to be fat.

Fortunately, this is not the case for most of us.

Yes, there are genetic variations that can result in a predisposition to a higher or lower set point, but the effects of these predispositions are small (11). Furthermore, epigenetic studies suggest that certain "overweight genes" can be turned off by exercise alone (12).

The truth is this: even though your genes may predispose you to a certain degree of "fatness", you can overcome this with the right behaviors.

Physical activity and the set point

Maintaining a given body weight over an extended period of time also requires an energy balance (13). This means that energy intake must be broadly in line with calorie expenditure. (Yes, it's a bit more complicated than that in reality, but that's a brief summary).

Regardless of your set point, if you eat too much or too little each day, you will lose or gain weight accordingly. It is therefore not surprising that the level of physical activity plays an important role in determining your set point (14).

People who are very physically active burn a lot more energy than those who are sedentary and generally have a lower set point (15).

Diet and the set point

Since we're talking about how energy balance affects set point, let's take a look at the energy intake part of the equation: diet. Based on what you learned in the section above, you can correctly assume that energy intake does not determine the setpoint per se.

This means that eating a lot of food will not necessarily increase or keep your set point high and eating a little food will not necessarily decrease or keep your set point low.

For example, endurance athletes, as a subset of the general population, eat a lot more food than the average person, but usually have a body fat percentage that is below average (16). This means a lot of food, but a low set point.

On the other hand, it does not cost much energy to be overweight and it is possible to maintain obesity with a relatively low amount of food (16). Millions of overweight people fall into this category: they are not able to reduce their weight even though they think they eat very little.

What's more, you can exercise every day until your arms and legs fall off and not manage to lose a single pound of weight because your body is programmed to increase its energy intake in response. And this instinct is stronger in some people than others (17).

So, as you've probably already deduced, it's the relationship between energy intake and energy expenditure that influences the set point. If you continuously supply your body with more energy than it uses - even if it's only 100 kcal per day, which is one banana more than you burn - you will slowly but surely gain weight (18).

As you gain weight, your body will use strategies to compensate for the excess calories (19) and prevent further weight gain, but these 'anti-obesity' mechanisms cannot compensate for our modern lifestyle with its overconsumption of high calorie density foods and lack of exercise (20).

(Our woefully inadequate "defense" against obesity makes sense when we consider it in the context of our evolution. The ability to eat ourselves to death is a very recent development, whereas the threat of death by starvation was present almost daily for millions of years).

And as you get fatter and fatter, your set point also increases

The longer you stay in a given range of your body weight, the more your body gets used to it (21) and defends itself only weakly against further weight gain, but strongly against weight loss.

The implications of this are far-reaching. Scientific research shows that the significant increase in daily calorie intake in the Western world alone is sufficient to explain the dramatic increase in obesity rates (22).

The diet that is most conducive to a low set point

If you were reading any other blog, this would be the place where the author would probably be preaching the transformative effects of a clean diet, Paleo ideology, a low-carb diet, or some other restrictive diet.

Well, good thing you're here and not there, because I have better news for you:

The best diet to maintain a low set point is one that is best suited to maintaining a status of neutral energy balance. This means that any diet that promotes excessive food intake is bad for both your body weight and your set point, while a diet that promotes a balance between energy intake and energy expenditure is good for your body weight and your set point.

And what does this look like in practice?

Scientific research shows that it is easier to overeat on a high-fat diet (23) and that obesity rates are higher in people who eat a high-fat diet than in people who eat a low-fat diet (24). As long as you don't manage to strictly regulate your calorie intake, a high-fat diet is a perfect recipe for a high set point for most people (25).

This is not particularly surprising when you consider the high energy density of fatty foods and how easy it is to consume too much of them (even healthy fats such as nuts, dairy products and oils). Remember that a daily calorie surplus of just one tablespoon of olive oil is enough to cause continuous weight gain (26).

In addition, there is evidence that a low-fat, high-carbohydrate diet is an effective way to normalize and stabilize set point (27). This is at least partly due to the fact that carbohydrates are more satiating than fats (28) (thus counteracting overeating) and the body is particularly good at burning excess carbohydrates rather than storing them as fat (29).

This research is consistent with what I observe in my work. Every week I hear from people who follow a high-fat, low-carb diet and are unable to break through weight loss plateaus. At the same time, every week I hear from people who I have saved from a low-carb diet and who are now leaner and feel better than ever since following a high-protein diet with moderate to high carbohydrate intake and moderate to low fat intake.

The hormonal profile and the setpoint

Just like your genetic predisposition, your natural hormone levels influence your setpoint, but they do not determine it.

Here are some examples of this:

Higher testosterone levels are associated with a leaner body
Leptin levels and leptin sensitivity play an important role in the defense against weight loss (30)
High levels of the stress hormone cortisol are associated with fat accumulation around the abdomen (31)

And while some people naturally have a better hormonal profile than others - which includes higher testosterone levels, good leptin sensitivity and generally lower cortisol levels - the good news is that we can all achieve a healthy hormonal profile by focusing on living healthily.

And it's quite simple:

Consume the majority of your calories in the form of nutritious foods
Eat enough protein
Exercise regularly
Make sure you get enough sleep
Manage your stress levels

Pay attention to this and your hormonal profile will be more than adequate for maintaining a low setpoint.

How to change your setpoint

Now that we've covered the relevant theory, it's time to focus on the practice. We know how easy it is to increase your set point - a chronically increased calorie intake is all that's required - but that's probably not your goal if you're reading this article.

Rather, you'll want to know how to lower your set point and that's more complicated - more complicated but doable. However, there is no quick fix. There are no shortcuts or "bio hacks" to achieve this. Instead, reducing your set point requires patience, discipline and consistency, but the good news is that it's not particularly difficult.

The result will definitely be worth the effort. You can maintain a low body fat percentage with relative ease and develop some resistance to gaining body fat despite occasionally eating too many calories.

Here's how it works:

Reduce your body fat to the desired level

The whole point of reducing your set point is to maintain a lower body fat percentage, so naturally the first step is to achieve a low body fat percentage that can be maintained.

The best way to achieve this is through calorie restriction and a combination of resistance training and high intensity interval training (HIIT).

Build muscle

Nothing helps maintain a low set point more than building a substantial amount of muscle (and no, you don't have to get fat to achieve this).

Muscle is metabolically active tissue, which means it increases your basal metabolic rate (32). The more muscle you have, the more energy your body will burn at rest. And the more energy your body uses at rest, the more you can eat every day without getting fat.

In addition, scientific research suggests that the more muscle mass you have, the less fat you will build up in response to excessive calorie intake (33). This means that the more muscle you have, the less you will be penalized for overeating. This leeway works wonders when it comes to long-term adherence to a particular diet, as a large amount of muscle mass allows you to eat regular high-calorie meals with few consequences.

Simply put, the more muscle you have, the easier it will be for you to get and stay lean.

Use exercise and nutrition programs to maintain a healthy body composition.

As described earlier in this article, the longer you stay at a certain weight, the easier it will be to maintain that weight. And the healthier your body is, the better its hormones will support your efforts to stay lean.

The key is to consciously control your energy balance first, as your instincts will likely lead you to overeat. This ultimately means proper meal planning and managing cheat meals.

Pay attention to this in the long term and your body will develop a new default weight and set point that it will try to maintain and defend.

References:

Source: https://www.muscleforlife.com/body-weight-Setpoint/

By Michaele Matthews

Previous article Tips of the week Photo shock to increase motivation