One of the newly joined patients had an appointment with us today and he told us that his weight is constant because of set point.
Before I discuss with you what I told him, let’s explore what Set Point is.
The theory of set point was developed in 1982 by William Bennett and Joel Gurin. According to Bennett and Gurin,your body has an internal thermostat that controls how much fat you keep on your body. Some people have higher settings than others and will have more body fat. This internal thermostat keeps you constant as far as weight is concerned. So, long-term change in body weight or shape becomes impossible.
It sounds true if you consider that after an initial, relatively quick loss, dieters often become stuck at a plateau and then lose weight at a much slower rate, although they remain as hungry as ever.
Another fact that supports this theory is that 95% of slimmer’s put on their weight back on again because the weight they have been aiming for is low for their metabolism to maintain and below their set point. Long-term caloric deprivation, in a way that is not clear, acts as a signal for the body to turn down its metabolic rate. Calories are burned more slowly, so that even a meagre diet almost suffices to maintain weight. The body reacts to dieting just like famine has set in. Because of this biological response, dieting becomes progressively less effective and a plateau is reached at which further weight loss seems all but impossible. So weight loss puzzle is solved and we have found the Holy Grail for weight loss…Set Point Theory. ..Wait a Minute… there are many scientist who are utterly dissatisfied with this picture that Set point theory brings to your mind.
Let’s see why this theory is Imperfect:
- Go by this theory and it means if you’re fat you’re probably staying fat because the body will do what it can to preserve its preferred state. According to this theory our fat cells want us to keep them enlarged to a certain size and number? And we can’t do anything about it…But the fact is that our 1000s of patients have reduced and maintained weight.
- Another argument that I had put forward in front of my patient was that there is no test available anywhere in the world, which can tell you what your body’s natural set point is.
- Another thing that we Weight loss experts argue about is that, why this Set Point theory fails and falls down if you apply it in reverse?
You’ll all agree to me when I say that “you ate loads of extra calories during festival season like recently in Diwali and Eid few days back and you piled on kilos of weight, of cause lot of over eating involved.
My Question: had your weight returned back to original weight before festivals?
Answer : I Know the answer is No a Big NO…LoL. Even I have gained 3 kilos in last 3 weeks and this weight is not keen to return to lower weight!!! Where has my set point gone…HA HA HA.
So set point theory is still a debated theory rather than Holy Grail of perfection. If you are stuck and not losing weight you can surely try getting some professional help to lose some weight and remain on track to good health, rather than relying on any particular theory for not losing weight.
Eat good Live Good… 🙂