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This is from an email that you can get if you sign up for this guy's newsletter.
Anyway...I just thought it would be good for read.:
"Here's a question from my blog about set point theory:
"I recently lost 10 pounds, to which my dearest friend replied, "well losing weight is easy keeping it off is hard. You are fighting your body's natural desire to weigh a set weight."
Do you believe in this set weight theory? I thought maybe, so I asked around, and it's a popular idea.But here's the rub, people with 30% body fat are telling me that they are at their set weight.
A woman 5"3" weighing 210 lbs told me she has lost 30 lbs, and thiswas what her body really wanted to weigh.
Is this true?
I figured if there was a 'set point' it was at least a healthy one with 20-ish% fat or less?"
Here is my answer:
There are actually TWO set points you need to be concerned with-
The first is your GENETIC set point that determines how much lean body mass you carry.
The second is your ENVIRONMENTAL set point for your body fat levels.
Your genetics determine how much muscle and lean body mass you are capable of carrying. This is mostly tied to your final adult height.Your ENVIRONMENT determines how much body fat you carry.
This includes: How you were brought up, your daily activities, the friends you have, where you live, you economic and social status..these are the things that determine how much body fat you have.
Both set points are CHEAT-ABLE TO A DEGREE.
To change your body fat set point you need to change your environment. You need to change your habits, specifically the amount of food you eat. AND, You need these changes to permeate through your friends and family. Everyone needs to except the changes you are making to your lifestyle.
Losing weight without changing your lifestyle habits is like helping a drug addict recover, then throwing them back onto the streets, with the same friends, and same money issues, and same lifestyle.
They are bound to become drug addicts again.
The same thing happens when you lose weight.
If you lose 20 or 30 pounds, then go back to your old lifestyle, eating the same amount of food you used to eat, eating with your same friends, doing the same amount of exercise you used to do before you lost weight then you are GOING TO GAIN THE WEIGHT BACK.
Long term weight loss requires a complete shift in how you live.
That's why Eat Stop Eat was designed to be sustainable for the long term - It's more of a lifestyle then a diet.
To cheat your lean mass set point you need to weight train. But, just like your body fat set point, your lean mass set point is also somewhat environmental.
When you stop weight training for a prolonged period of time, you will lose the extra muscle you built and slowly go back to the amount you had before you started training.
Bottom line, there ARE such things as 'set points', however ENVIRONMENT is the main component of your body fat set point and no matter what your genetics are, your environment is the biggest challenge in maintaining a healthy level of body fat.
Change your habits and life style long term, and you can lose
weight and keep it off long term.
Hope this helps.
B
Bottom line, whether it's losing weight and keeping it off, or
building muscle and keeping it on, it takes a lifestyle change -
Something you can do (and will enjoy doing) for the long term.
Your body doesn't 'want' a specific level of body fat. But your
lifestyle does.
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