Lowering/Changing Your Body's "Set Point"

It's no myth that our body weight will hover near a "set point" unless we make significant changes in our calorie intake and expenditure. Recently, I've decided that I'd be happier with a somewhat lower body weight. (Okay, I'd be even happier with a significantly lower one, but realistically, that's not going to happen.) Perhaps coincidentally, my husband currently is trying to increase his by a few pounds. But most of us will never have the task of trying to gain weight, so I'll focus on how to drop, not add, to our set points.

I've looked into what it would take to coax my body into settling about five pounds lower. Once you achieve a certain set point, you have to work pretty hard -- or splurge big-time for a sustained period -- to move it again.

I found a really helpful site that explains the body weight set point concept and gives instructions about what to do if you want to change it. Click here to read the details.

Just a few piece of info that I especially like from this site--

The core principles of changing your set point are to Eat less/shed pounds; Eat well (healthfully); Move more; Sleep more; Stress less.

Weigh yourself daily, and write down what you eat. (But before you try to change anything, start by writing down what you have been eating.)

At the end of each day, code your progress by the R-K-O Method as follows: If you have eaten healthfully and exercised sufficiently, give yourself an R (for regular reducing).  If you do one or the other but not both -- eat well or exercise -- you get a K (for keeping the same). On any day that you basically blow it all off, eating too much and slugging out, score it an O (for off day). Try to have as many R's as possible, especially R days in a row, and you will lose weight and start moving your set point.

I have bookmarked this  -- http://www.bidmc.org/YourHealth/BIDMCInteractive/BreakThroughYourSetPoint (see full link highlighted above -- because it seems highly useful. Included are videos, podcasts, charts, a food diary template, and lots of other crutches that you might want to consider using.

The site also advises not to try to lose more than 10% of your weight, and notes that losing even a few pounds (and keeping it there, thus lowering the set point) has significant health benefits.
(In this cartoon below, I probably resemble the middle figure more than the others, and really am not going to look a whole lot more like the girl to the right of that. Still, I'd like to take a few steps in that direction.)
 

Write it down!

You've heard plenty of advice about how to make 2013 a healthier year, and perhaps lose a few pounds in the process.
Our local newspaper ran a story that listed 5-6 tips for staying on top of weight management, and most of them are well integrated into my life. (Eat breakfast every day, walk a lot, etc.) The one thing that I couldn't say I do all the time is keep a food log. However, it definitely has become the ONLY way I can lose weight: to write down most everything I eat in a day, with a rough estimate of how many calories I've consumed at each meal or snack.

According to an article on the site Live Strong, keeping a food diary has several benefits, which include keeping you motivated to make healthier food choices, get a handle on emotional eating (if you also record how you're feeling each time you chow down), and lose more weight than those who don't keep a journal. The article in our local paper also cited a study showing that people who do write it down consume 15% fewer calories per day/week than the non-diarists. That may not sound like a lot, but I know that I'd be several pounds thinner in not too many weeks at that reduced calorie intake.

Here are a couple of websites where you can download a food journal template:
Healthy Eating Starts Here
Personal Food Guide
Food diary templates from Microsoft Office

Frankly, I've found most of them to be too complicated so I made up my own more simple grid. Across the top are the days of the week, and below that are grids (labeled along the left side) for Breakfast, Lunch, Snack, Dinner and Snack, with a Total Calorie Estimate at the bottom of each day.

Give it a try!

Why it's so hard not to regain lost weight

The old term "yo-yo dieting" is probably familiar to all who struggle tokeep the pounds off. We put on some weight, go on a reducing diet (and lose weight, hooray), only to regain the pounds later.

There's a fascinating story on the New York Times website today headlined "The Fat Trap." Click here to read the whole article, which discusses research into why those lost pounds always return. Our bodies go into an altered state after we've successfully dieted, and actually fight hard to get back the fat we worked so hard to get rid of.

More evidence -- as if we needed it -- that life isn't fair.

An excerpt:
"For years, the advice to the overweight and obese has been that we simply need to eat less and exercise more. While there is truth to this guidance, it fails to take into account that the human body continues to fight against weight loss long after dieting has stopped. This translates into a sobering reality: once we become fat, most of us, despite our best efforts, will probably stay fat."

That tells me that, among other things, parents and other caregivers need to work really hard to make sure that our children don't become overweight.

It also tells me to stay vigilant in my own battle of the bulge; I've never been obese and at most have been slightly overweight, if you go by the standard weight charts. (This is the result of decades of daily exercise and trying to eat well -- not because I have an especially forgiving genetic makeup or metabolism.)
The lengthy Times article will appear in the next Sunday magazine. It goes into a lot of detail about research into why and how fat people get and stay fat.  We learn about how the National Weight Control Registry tracks thousands of people who have been successful at maintaining significant weight loss. Says an official at the registry: "' We had two goals: to prove there were people who did, and to try to learn from them about what they do to achieve this long-term weight loss.' Anyone who has lost 30 pounds and kept it off for at least a year is eligible to join the study, though the average member has lost 70 pounds and remained at that weight for six years."

What are these researchers finding out?

"There is no consistent pattern to how people in the registry lost weight — some did it on Weight Watchers, others with Jenny Craig, some by cutting carbs on the Atkins diet and a very small number lost weight through surgery. But their eating and exercise habits appear to reflect what researchers find in the lab: to lose weight and keep it off, a person must eat fewer calories and exercise far more than a person who maintains the same weight naturally. Registry members exercise about an hour or more each day — the average weight-loser puts in the equivalent of a four-mile daily walk, seven days a week. They get on a scale every day in order to keep their weight within a narrow range. They eat breakfast regularly. Most watch less than half as much television as the overall population. They eat the same foods and in the same patterns consistently each day and don’t “cheat” on weekends or holidays. They also appear to eat less than most people, with estimates ranging from 50 to 300 fewer daily calories."

I'll stop here. If you're interested in knowing more, go to the article, or read the magazine next Sunday.

Weight Loss Strategy: 6 Easy Steps

Good advice from a favorite magazine, Eating Well.
Follow these steps and losing 5, 10 or more pounds we've packed on during cold weather won't be so very hard.
1. Set goals, and be realistic
2. Keep track of what you consume each day (this is so important, and so helpful)
3. Plan your meals
4. Pay attention to portion size
5. Move more! (It doesn't have to be official "exercise," just don't sit on your duff for large portions of the day. Even that makes a difference.)
6. Get support, however and wherever you can find it.

Click here for the full info.

Eat this, lose weight

Forget starvation -- you will just keep yo-yoing. To lose weight, you have to eat. But eating the right foods is the ticket. Here's a list of 11 foods that will fill your tummy, be good to your heart, and help those pounds melt away.

1. Yogurt (buy plain nonfat or lowfat and add your own flavors, such as vanilla extract and Splenda)


2. Eggs


3. Pistachios (all nuts are the healthy foodie's friend!)


4. Grapefruit (in season now, and delicious)


5. Avocado (healthy fats!)


6. Mushrooms


7. Olive oil (the foundation of the Mediterranean diet)


8. Whole grains (buy whole wheat bread)


9. Red pepper (we're talking cayenne here -- heat up your soups with a dash)


10. Fava beans (again, any beans are our friends)


11. Brown rice (yes it's a whole grain, but an especially good one; buy it frozen in microwave bags that cook in 3 minutes)