3 ms·

How do you suggest changing the set point?

jahaja 8y ago
Excuse the bluntness, but given the cocksure manner of the reply I'd assume that you can read about it on his/her site.
dfraser992 8y ago
Everything I have read suggest changing it is quite hard. A study I came across recently was about a 34 year old man who fasted for 40 days, lost about 20kgs. His daily calorie requirements went from like 1800 calories to 1600 (IIRC), but the paper did not go into any detail other than he was able to maintain his reduced weight by eating appropriately for the 6 months after the fast. My recollection of this paper is probably off in some way. So it seems it is like primarily a combination of psychological and behavioral modifications that impact physiological things. If you maintain the current set point / weight for long enough, your body adjusts.
- pascalxus 8y ago
  A new york times article had a study that showed set point remains stubbornly high, even after 6 years of painfully maintaining a lower weight.
  - dfraser992 8y ago
    A link, if you have it handy? Not arguing, just trying to get more information. edit: I now recall a UK TV station (BBC? ITV4? sorry) that investigated how people have quite different metabolism - they monitored people with state of the art device showing how they varied quite a lot despite having the same exact diet.
  - pascalxus 8y ago
    I can't see NY articles anymore because i ran out of free ones. but i think it was one of the following two: https://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/01/magazine/tara-parker-pope-fat-trap.html?mtrref=www.google.com&gwh=D9E521BE0DFE489891AD4EAC968DCE8C&gwt=pay https://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/01/magazine/tara-parker-pope... https://www.nytimes.com/2016/05/08/opinion/sunday/why-you-cant-lose-weight-on-a-diet.html?mtrref=www.google.com&gwh=35792DC038A295CBB65475D44781A7E1&gwt=pay&assetType=opinion https://www.nytimes.com/2016/05/08/opinion/sunday/why-you-ca...
pascalxus 8y ago
There is currently, no known way to change the set point, other than extreme measures: bariatric surgery. And even with that, they're not exactly sure how it changes the set point. We're not even completely sure of what causes the set point to be messed up. There's a mountain of correlational evidence that points to sugar and all the foods that were invented to replace fat (obesity skyrocketed precisly the year US told everyone to switch over from fat to sugar). But, what precisely about sugar is it? the processed foods probably? At this point, all we can do is try to eat as natural as possible and prevent the set point from ever getting messed up, as early as possible, before your overweight before your an adult, before even childhood. It starts with the baby in the womb.

Excuse the bluntness, but given the cocksure manner of the reply I'd assume that you can read about it on his/her site.

Everything I have read suggest changing it is quite hard. A study I came across recently was about a 34 year old man who fasted for 40 days, lost about 20kgs. His daily calorie requirements went from like 1800 calories to 1600 (IIRC), but the paper did not go into any detail other than he was able to maintain his reduced weight by eating appropriately for the 6 months after the fast. My recollection of this paper is probably off in some way. So it seems it is like primarily a combination of psychological and behavioral modifications that impact physiological things. If you maintain the current set point / weight for long enough, your body adjusts.

pascalxus 8y ago
A new york times article had a study that showed set point remains stubbornly high, even after 6 years of painfully maintaining a lower weight.
- dfraser992 8y ago
  A link, if you have it handy? Not arguing, just trying to get more information. edit: I now recall a UK TV station (BBC? ITV4? sorry) that investigated how people have quite different metabolism - they monitored people with state of the art device showing how they varied quite a lot despite having the same exact diet.
- pascalxus 8y ago
  I can't see NY articles anymore because i ran out of free ones. but i think it was one of the following two: https://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/01/magazine/tara-parker-pope-fat-trap.html?mtrref=www.google.com&gwh=D9E521BE0DFE489891AD4EAC968DCE8C&gwt=pay https://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/01/magazine/tara-parker-pope... https://www.nytimes.com/2016/05/08/opinion/sunday/why-you-cant-lose-weight-on-a-diet.html?mtrref=www.google.com&gwh=35792DC038A295CBB65475D44781A7E1&gwt=pay&assetType=opinion https://www.nytimes.com/2016/05/08/opinion/sunday/why-you-ca...

pascalxus 8y ago

There is currently, no known way to change the set point, other than extreme measures: bariatric surgery. And even with that, they're not exactly sure how it changes the set point. We're not even completely sure of what causes the set point to be messed up. There's a mountain of correlational evidence that points to sugar and all the foods that were invented to replace fat (obesity skyrocketed precisly the year US told everyone to switch over from fat to sugar). But, what precisely about sugar is it? the processed foods probably? At this point, all we can do is try to eat as natural as possible and prevent the set point from ever getting messed up, as early as possible, before your overweight before your an adult, before even childhood. It starts with the baby in the womb.