Weight setpoints? page

[bobbitt81]

Is this a real thing?

I'm 6'3" and STUCK at about 240. I fluctuate down to about 235, and then I'll cycle back up to about 240.

I've varied exercise, tried IFing, etc, but it seems like my body is just hellbent at staying at 240.

Is that a real thing? Do our bodies have setpoints like this? And how do we break through?

[Lewis]

Is this a real thing?

That's questionable. The theory is addressed in Good Calories, Bad Calories. The conclusion is that a system that remains in roughly the same state doesn't require some kind of controller. The illustration given by one scientist was water in a lake: there need be no controller setting the water-level; even if there isn't, the water level can stay much the same from day to day. That's just a function of what's flowing in and out. A state of relative stasis doesn't require a controller.

... how do we break through?

Just keep doing the right things. Low carbohydrate, don't over-exercise, keep stress low, get plenty of sleep (up to 9 or 10 hours in winter) in a properly darkened room.

For some people it seems to stop for awhile and then re-start. There's an interesting theory that this might be on account of trans-fats that they've eaten that can't be got out and burnt for energy, so that you have to wait for those cells to die. Maybe. At any rate, just keeping doing the right things seems to work for most people.

[JKC]

It has stopped and restarted for me. Stephan at Whole Health Source believes in set points, and he is researching this stuff as part of his regular job, so I wouldn't be surprised if there is. I have been up and down in weight at various times and there seem to be places (usually at 7-8 pound increments) that I seem to stick at. If I continue doing the right things, I don't stick there forever, but they do seem to take more work to get past.

[bobbitt81]

It could be a body comp thing, too. I don't have a scale that calculates body fat anymore, but my body is definitely shifting in composure.

[Finnegans Wake]

It could be a body comp thing, too. I don't have a scale that calculates body fat anymore, but my body is definitely shifting in composure.

I have to recheck my BF%, because I've been stuck for a few weeks at 225#, but the belly fat/VAT seems to be less prominent. Using the scientific method of the "pinch test."