I love Gary Taubes but he scares me on one thing. page

[Sulamar]

Hi,

I was 300 lbs before going Primal and now I am 260. I haven't been 260 since high school and I am very excited about my progress. I've been stalled for a while now and Gary Taubes has me a little concerned. I know I will eventually go past 260 and feel better but it was something Mr. Taubes said in his book and again at his speech at Google that has me spooked.

Mr. Taubes says that certain people are going to be a certain weight no matter what. Mr. Taubes follows his own advice (he claims) and while he looks fit to me, a lot of people question him about his weight. He said he is 6'2" and 220 lbs. He says that he will always be 220 lbs and won't be like his brother (who is much leaner and athletic).

So my question to you all is... Do we have set points that cannot be reset. Will I stop at a certain weight and not be able to get past it, even if I still am fat? He says that research shows that if you are a 300 lbs man (like I was) you generally are not going to be lean. You can be healthier and extend your life by having a good blood profile but you won't be aesthetically where you want to be.

I'm not going to lie. I want to be lean not just healthy. Call me selfish but I was to be desired just as much as anyone. I will always be thankful for my improved health but can we go to the next step and improve aesthetically?


Thank you for reading.

[primalTatoolover]

hmm now this is more of a personal opinion but i think thats the most illogical crap i have ever heard...no one is STUCK at 220 pounds the body does not have a set weight! i do believe that someone who has a much bigger bone structure then me and was 300 pounds is not going to look like me no matter how they eat or train i am always going to be smaller and leaner because my bone mass is tinier and metabolism runs diff. but theres no reason at all you cant go down to 180-200 pounds..depending on your height? if youre quite tall you can be very very low body fat and weight 200 depending on muscle mass..theres alot of factors..in the end do what you need to do to get to the weight that makes you happy buddy...so long as you dont let it become an obsession where you cant even see the great results youre alrdy getting..alot of ppl end up unhappy regardless of how good they look..so long as youre honest with yourself just never give up!

[jsa23]

I believe there is genetic variation that leads some people to have a little bit thinner or thicker builds, but there's a lot of room for manipulation within that based on diet and exercise. I think people generally overrate the impact of genetics, other than in the case of certain relatively uncommon genetic disorders/diseases.

At 6'6" I've been everything from a fat 275 to a runners' build(really lean, but not strong at all) at 170-175. I'm currently trying to work my way back up to around 195, by adding strength and muscle mass. I think the key thing to keep in mind is that the body adapts to training and to diet - so to take yourself in a certain direction you need to attend to both the dietary and physical aspects of lifestyle. If you want to look like a sprinter, eat and train like a sprinter - if you want to look like a distance runner, do the same. I fully recognize that not everyone *wants* that really thin build - myself currently included.

I think there are exceptions on either end of the bell curve - perhaps the top/bottom 10%. But for the middle 80% of us, the biggest imapctor of how we turn out is what we do - both diet and exercise.

[Horsewoman]

I don't know. I do know that my body hates to lose weight. Whatever weight I am, it wants to stay there. I do think some people's bodies lose more readily than others. Mine's been through a lot with pregnancies, nursing, illness, severe stress etc, makes sense to me that it wants to hold onto it's emergency stores.

Sometimes your body is changing and getting healthier but the scales don't budge for a while, it doesn't necessarily mean nothing is happening.

[aoifeee]

With the right diet I don't see how you couldn't get past a certain weight, regardless of genes.

[Paleobirdy]

I would agree with him that it certainly seems like some people will always have a problem with their weight, but I don't buy the set point fully either. I know that for me, there have been times where I have tended to stay at a certain weight for a long time, but that I have broken through that point, both higher and lower. Right now, I am stalled, but at a much lower point than ever before. I think for me it is due to hormonal factors that I will eventually resolve. I am not sure how I will do that yet, but not only do I think it is possible, I am expecting for it to happen.

[Paleobirdy]

With the right diet I don't see how you couldn't get past a certain weight, regardless of genes.

lol

[IvyBlue]

This is a Taubes that admits to eating in NYC diners on a regular basis. He does not seem to make logical choices based on what he writes. I'll buy set-point or equilibrium or whatever you want to call it but it can be changed.

[ElaineC]

I think that the body has places it wants to be - I am just getting through a 6 week long struggle to break through a weight I was at for a long time, several years ago. My body *likes* being at this weight, I swear, even if I don't. I've revisited health issues that I only had at this weight, not at higher or lower weights. I've struggled, I've tweaked, and finally just went back to not worrying too much, and eating clean. Finally, things are starting to shift again for the better.

I do believe that when we stall, or plateau, our body is dealing with other issues. It may be healing, it may be coping with its new form, but I'm finally beginning to believe plateaus will end if I just eat clean and keep doing what I'm doing, without panicking. If I know I'm eating what I should, and I'm not overdoing any single thing ie. food, exercise, stress, then it will get better again and I will start to lose weight again.

[Grumpycakes]

A guy called Jon Gabriel lost a boatload of weight and got super lean. He talks about shifting the body's weight "set point." Watch his videos on Youtube.