Thread: Is there a body weight set point?

https://sigmanutrition.com/episode391/

Found this recent podcast interesting, maybe others here will as well.

They discuss different theories of body weight/body mass regulation, including the «set point», «settling point» and «dual intervention point» model. I had personally heard of the first two before but was unaware of the «dual intervention point model». It posits that there is a zone of «biological indifference» within which environmental factors drive changes in body weight, and physiological regulation of body weight becomes dominant only when you exceed an «upper intervention point» or when you go below a «lower intervention point». These two intervention points vary across individuals.

Originally Posted by EiFit91

https://sigmanutrition.com/episode391/

Found this recent podcast interesting, maybe others here will as well.

They discuss different theories of body weight/body mass regulation, including the «set point», «settling point» and «dual intervention point» model. I had personally heard of the first two before but was unaware of the «dual intervention point model». It posits that there is a zone of «biological indifference» within which environmental factors drive changes in body weight, and physiological regulation of body weight becomes dominant only when you exceed an «upper intervention point» or when you go below a «lower intervention point». These two intervention points vary across individuals.

I believe there is sufficient evidence that there is a 'set point range', moreso than a 'set point' per se.

This is, of course, possible to manipulate via certain dietary and lifestyle choices to some degree, but in most cases we do observe that individuals tend to hover within a particular range of weights/body compositions unless they adopt changes to lifestyle/activity/diet composition.



For example, someone may have a 'set point range' of 13-17% BF, and in order to go ABOVE that they would need to do one or some of the following:

- Reduce activity
- Increase the palatability and/or calorie-density and/or processing of their common foods
- Apply certain medications
- Suffer some kind of trauma to trigger chronic over-consumption

Even still, genetics come into play, as we do now understand there are varying levels of leptin sensitively and inherited fat cell concentrations that effect us indefinitely.

There's even that 'obesity gene' thing.

Originally Posted by AdamWW

I believe there is sufficient evidence that there is a 'set point range', moreso than a 'set point' per se.

This is, of course, possible to manipulate via certain dietary and lifestyle choices to some degree, but in most cases we do observe that individuals tend to hover within a particular range of weights/body compositions unless they adopt changes to lifestyle/activity/diet composition.



For example, someone may have a 'set point range' of 13-17% BF, and in order to go ABOVE that they would need to do one or some of the following:

- Reduce activity
- Increase the palatability and/or calorie-density and/or processing of their common foods
- Apply certain medications
- Suffer some kind of trauma to trigger chronic over-consumption

Even still, genetics come into play, as we do now understand there are varying levels of leptin sensitively and inherited fat cell concentrations that effect us indefinitely.

There's even that 'obesity gene' thing.

Do you think it is body weight or body fat percentage that is subject to physiological regulation?

It seems that people sometimes refer to one and sometimes the other in discussions on this topic. I noticed that this isn’t entirely clear even in the academic papers. For instance I looked at one that had «body weight or body fatness» at the y-axis!

Originally Posted by EiFit91

Do you think it is body weight or body fat percentage that is subject to physiological regulation?

It seems that people sometimes refer to one and sometimes the other in discussions on this topic. I noticed that this isn’t entirely clear even in the academic papers. For instance I looked at one that had «body weight or body fatness» at the y-axis!

There probably isn't a meaningful distinction for the general population: unless someone is adding a bunch of muscle mass in a short period, it's going to be almost all a change in BF that determines weight.

If we normalize for the lean mass component (in other words, it's not part of the scenario we're using to determine if or if not the set-point-range theory is true) then I think it is almost entirely BF related, not bodyweight.




Bodyfat is the major regulator/secretor or leptin, which is essentially at the core of almost all hunger-driven actions (eating, food seeking...), so that is largely what determines the outcome of bodyfat.

Not the only factor, but a major one.