Weight Set Point and Oprahs Weight Gain
Believe it or not, your body has a weight set point. Your body will do what ever it takes to maintain this setting. Think of it as the same effect that helps maintain your body’s temperature at 37 deg C. Your body is constantly fighting to maintain this body temperature setting. As discouraging as it may seem, it is also fighting tooth and nail to maintain your weight set point.
Unfortunately the weight set point is programmed such that it is easier to increase it than to reduce it. Let me give you an example.
Say you are a woman and weigh 65kgs. You decide that you are overweight and go on a diet. By sheer willpower, you are able to bring your weight down to 60kgs. As I have said before, you can’t be on a diet forever. Eventually you come off the diet and go back to your normal eating habits. If your weight loss is without preserving your muscle mass, you are going to be in for a nasty rebound. And it will head all the way back to 65kgs.
Those who have dieted can probably relate to this. After getting off the diet, your weight goes back to exactly where you started from. Some even go to a higher weight if the diet was very severe. This is just the body’s way of overcompensating. By dieting, you have put your body through some form of starvation. In order to be better prepared for the next bout of starvation (dieting), it will pile on more fat reserves! Frustrating huh.
The nasty thing is that the weight set point in inclined to increase with time. You will have to fight tooth and nail to bring it down.
Watch this video from CBS that discusses about Oprah’s weight regain. The expert talks about the weight set point. I disagree with his opinion though about not being able to change the weight set point. With Correct Weight Loss, you can change your setting. All you have to do is to maintain your new setting for 6 – 12 months and your body will accept your new weight as the new weight set point. Dieting can never give you a lower the setting because it is impossible for someone to be on a diet for 6 – 12 months (i.e. the time required for the weight set point to be accepted by your brain). A new weight set point can never be achieved by dieting alone. It must be achieved by losing fat and preserving or increasing your muscles.
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20/02/2010
Hello Paramjit, I agree with you that our set point can be changed although it takes diligence! We do that, as you believe, through exercise, and controlling portions of good food. Enjoyed visiting your intelligent blog. -Kathleen
15/03/2010
Holly, you are absolutely correct, it shows that you’re an authority on the subject. I admire someone that takes the pride you have and with your projecton of information. oSo when i actually do sit down to read material, I appreciate well written and organized blogs like this one. I have it bookmarked and will be back. Thanks.