Set Point weight, what is it?
Our Set Point is the weight range where your body feels at its safest.
The body does not like change, it is constantly trying to keep homeostasis – balance.
This week I dig deeper into how restrictive diets work against our weight-loss goals and how learning to ditch diet culture and honour your body’s individual needs can help you not only find your natural weight but nourish your body to improve distressing menopause symptoms.
When did we stop listening to our bodies?
I feel like we have become more scientifically advanced but we have gone backwards when it comes to intuition.
The diet industry is making billions offering a solution to our ‘problem’ but this solution is temporary at best and puts us on a roller coaster of weight loss and gain which could actually be increasing our set point weight.
Most of the media and marketing around diet and weight loss promotes processed food products.
These food products have had essential nutrients, such as fat, removed.
These essential nutrients, which our body needs for optimal health, are replaced with artificial ingredients and chemicals (so the food tastes ok) but it lacks the nutritional benefits our body needs.
In the long term, these foods lead to malnutrition, lowered immunity, fat storage and low mood at the very least.
Worldwide data reveals that around 42 per cent of adults have tried to lose weight.
With New Year just around the corner and the tradition of setting New Year’s resolutions, 44 per cent of Britons set weight loss as their goal for 2022.
This inevitably opens the floodgates for fad dieting, disordered eating and another year on the weight-loss roller coaster.
Our Clever Body
Our body has a natural internal thermostat.
When we start to gain weight beyond the body’s set range our body fires up the internal furnace to burn off this additional weight to return to its safe place.
If we start to lose weight, our body slows down our metabolism until we return to our body’s desired weight.
The main two hormones involved are insulin and leptin.
When we gain weight, the body increases the production of insulin and leptin, which reduces our appetite and food intake, in theory, this is not taking into account emotional eating, which is a subject for another blog post!
When we restrict our calories insulin and leptin are decreased, causing our appetite to increase!!
This is why long-term restrictive diets aren’t sustainable.
If we keep threatening our bodies in this way, it may cause our set point to rise to protect against future threats. It thinks “let’s lay down some fat ready for the next famine”.
With each diet or ‘threat’ the metabolism also learns to slow down and maintain efficiency. Therefore it gets more and more difficult to generate the extra energy our body would need to ‘lose weight’.
Are you above your Set Point Weight?
Ask yourself:
- Do you routinely eat beyond a comfortable level of fullness and feel lethargic, stuffed, and uncomfortable after meals?
- Do you have difficulty recognizing when you’re hungry and when you’ve had enough?
- Do you skip meals in an effort to lose weight, then overeat because you are so hungry?
- Do you skip meals to “save up” for a big feast?
- Do you often eat as a coping mechanism? For example, when you’re tired, angry, nervous or bored?
- Do you go through periods where you eat out of control, anticipating that you will be starting a diet soon?
- Do you often feel guilty about some of the foods or the amount of food you eat?
- If you overeat, do you figure you’ve blown your “diet” and end up eating even more?
- Do you often eat quickly without taking the time to focus on the taste of your food or to savour and enjoy it?
- Do you fluctuate between periods of sensible, nutritious eating and then eating out of control?
If you answered “yes” to ANY of these questions, you are likely above your set point. Most people with a history of dieting aren’t at their set point so don’t feel bad.
ARE YOU BELOW YOUR SET POINT WEIGHT?
- You’re often cold.
- You feel like you’re constantly preoccupied with food and often feel desperately hungry.
- You wake up with an overwhelming urge to eat.
- You have difficulty sleeping because of gnawing hunger.
- You have a very low sex drive.
- For females, you have infrequent periods or skip them entirely (not including menopause).
- You suffer from any of the following: apathy, fatigue, irritability, and/or depression.
If you are below your set point, learning how to respond to your body’s signals will help you to normalize eating habits and feel better.
It may result in a slight weight gain, but this is a good thing as you will feel better, and have more energy and enthusiasm for life.
How can I find my natural Set Point?
The first step is to stop dieting.
Stop counting macros, calories, points and syns and start listening to your body, honouring your hunger and fullness signals and eat for nourishment and satisfaction.
Re-learning to eat in this way is a process. It takes patience and self-compassion and you may need additional support.
The benefits of ditching restrictive diets are many;
- Restore your metabolism
- Balance your hormones such as insulin, cortisol and estrogen
- Lower anxiety and depression
- Improved body functions, digestion, brain, blood sugar etc
- Clear skin
- Strong nails
- More energy & motivation
- Better sleep
- Fewer cravings
- Strengthened immune function
- Improved digestion
- Finding your natural weight
Set Point Weight and Menopause
If you are on your menopause journey and experiencing symptoms due to hormone fluctuations it is even more important to nourish your body rather than restrict and punish it.
It might sound counterintuitive to do this as one of the biggest complaints of menopausal women is weight gain and menopause belly but there is a reason for this and restrictive dieting is unlikely to resolve the issue.
Most women experiencing menopause also generally grew up in the 60 s or 70 s when our parents would have been taught that fat is bad and eating a low-fat diet is healthy, we pick up these subliminal messages and learn how to eat by how we were fed as children.
I am currently offering complimentary 30-minute menopause assessments.
Book one of these to discuss your current health and well-being and menopause symptoms and we can create a plan of action for you to take to reclaim your body and feel like yourself again, or even better! Explore more resources HERE.