Jono (00:00.856)

Welcome back to the Bite Me Nutrition podcast. I'm going to talk to you today about the set point theory. It's probably something you've come across. I get lots of questions about it. It's taken me a while to kind of put my thoughts together and try and get them all in order. So hopefully that comes across. Fairly obvious trigger warning, but I'm going to be talking about body weight quite a lot in today's podcast. So if that's not your jam, totally fine. Just go listen to one of the other ones. No hard feelings. But other than that, let's dive

 

because we're going to talk about it. think the first most important point for both set point theory and also the other model, which I'll talk about, called the dual intervention model. Again, words theory and model are very important because it's not a proven thing. It is a hypothesis, right? It's what happens in science. We develop a hypothesis, essentially what we think could be a potential explanation for why we observe what we observe,

 

And so it's this idea of maybe this is the mechanism, maybe this is the process, maybe these are all the variables that go into forming this outcome. So it's a theory, right? Then we have to go and test that theory through a number of different processes that I'm not smart enough to do, but real scientists do it. And they test these theories and we typically kind of prove them or disprove them. And then we move through, right? So first and foremost, the set point theory is still just a theory. It is not proven and you'll

 

see as I talk about it a little bit more, it's, it's almost been disproven. And so I don't think it's a very good way to visualize or to interpret or understand the way that our body manages body weight. There are some really good parts to it, but these are also good parts that are present in other models, which I think, I'm not gonna go through all of them, but my favorite, you know, I always do this. I always give the game away at the beginning of the podcast. I can't help myself anyway.

 

My favorite is the dual intervention model, which again is still just a theory. There's still potentially parts of that model or that theory, which we debunk or disprove, or it may not fully describe what we're seeing, but I do think it does a better job of describing what we're seeing than the set point theory. So the set point theory is this theory of that you have a body weight set point. This is a weight that you are kind of being driven towards through a host of different factors, primarily

 

Jono (02:23.202)

you know, controlled by your body, right? And so it's this kind of this idea that there is a weight that you are genetically and environmentally almost predetermined to be within a certain range, but that's your weight. Now there is absolutely some truth to this and some rationale behind it around the way that your body reacts and essentially protects you against weight loss for most people. A lot of those mechanisms are true,

 

we've got like the neuro hormonal regulation of body weight. typically that's things like, know, so when you lose body fat, you lose body weight, your body kind of kicks off this, this cascade of, I guess, mechanisms to try and get you to get that body weight back on. Right. Cause it doesn't want you to lose body weight. Evolutionarily that makes a ton of sense. Right. You know, we haven't really been in an environment where food is as abundant as it is right now. we're typically used to being in an environment where food is scarce.

 

or at least there are periods of scarcity. So we have all these mechanisms that have made us evolve to be able to deal with that scarcity pretty effectively. It's just that for most people, particularly in first world countries, obviously at the moment, there isn't that much scarcity, maybe in nutrients, but definitely not in calories. And so that means that all of those mechanisms exist to drive you to consume more food, to put back on any body fat that you might've lost.

 

and so that's things like an increase in, in ghrelin or, neuropeptide peptide, why, why these are things that make us hungrier, right? and it's kind of a decrease in things like leptin and GLP one. These are some other hormones and peptides and things that make us full. our body through neuro hormonal endocrine signaling. Wow. That's so many big words. I'm so sorry. Basically sends a bunch of messages to, to make you hungrier. so it's harder to maintain that lower body weight.

 

especially initially because you're fighting off this kind of cascade of signals, right? There's also generally this process called adaptive thermogenesis, which is a fancy way essentially of saying your body makes less heat. It lowers your metabolic, your resting energy expenditure, your resting metabolic rate. So you burn less calories at rest per day. And so this combination of being hungrier and burning fewer calories,

 

Jono (04:43.992)

I said less before my old English teaching wife would kill me. Burning fewer calories combines to make it much easier for you to put that body fat back on. And so there's this idea that these things will drive you back to your set point, your weight, whatever weight you started at, whatever your set point was, that's where your body will pull you back towards. Now, I don't think this model does a fantastic job of explaining all of the other things that occur.

 

things throughout life like childbirth, menopause, certain diseases, just general aging, you know, and then of course, outside of us, the obesity, diet, obesity, genetic environment that we're in with easy access to high calorie foods and a whole host of other, you know, marketing and messaging behind all of that. And so there's all of these other factors that are influencing our weight as well. So this idea that you just have this internal set point, I don't think is particularly helpful.

 

or particularly accurate. I think it explains a small piece of the puzzle, right? I've also, my other issue I have with the set point theory is I see it used a lot to kind of warn people off trying to lose body weight. know, they say, what's the point? Because of the set point theory, like your body's just gonna get you back to this weight anyway, right? Which is really disempowering and not true. Like we know that losing body fat,

 

and maintaining body fat loss for extended periods of time is difficult, right? We see that in the studies, we see that in the day to day, but it's not impossible. Again, we see that in the studies. And so I don't think it's very helpful or fair to use set point theory in that way. And that is a way that I see it used a lot. Maybe that's just my little echo chamber, but that's another reason why I don't love people paying too much attention to this idea of set point. I also think that it gets used a lot to talk about weight loss, but never gets talked

 

with weight gain, you know, there's no, if I have a set point, surely I could just eat whatever I wanted as much as I possibly could and I wouldn't gain weight, right? Because of my set point. And we know that's not really true. Okay. Yes, there are other, all of those things I described really, the neuro hormonal stuff and the adaptive thermogenesis, they also adapt upwards to a degree, right? So if I am over consuming calories, I typically have increased leptin and increased GLP, you know, just to increase my appetite.

 

Jono (07:07.926)

regulation or basically make me feel fuller to try and get me to stop eating. We know that when I eat more food, my met, I say my, but our metabolic rates go up again to a degree. So there is a bit of a protection there, but I never really see people talking about set point theory from that perspective. Right. Which drum roll. Not really. that's why I like this idea. This is sort of a newer model proposed called the dual intervention model. And it's this idea that there are kind of two weights.

 

And they are vague and they're different for everyone. And I wouldn't even say that it's worth knowing what these two points are for you. And I don't even think you'd be able to necessarily figure it out perfectly. But there are these two weights within which your body will naturally fluctuate. I'm going to say 85 to 90, just as a general, completely pulling numbers out of the air, right? So for this person, their dual points are 85 and 90. And so what we'll probably find is they

 

maintain their weight between 85 and 90 relatively easily. And those fluctuations from say 85 to 90 and back again, will largely be driven by environmental and behavioral factors. Okay, so we don't see too much, if any metabolic adaptation or thermogenic adaptive thermogenesis or any changes in our appetites, you know, controlling hormones and things like that, between 85 and 90 for this person, it's largely

 

I went away on an all -inclusive cruise for a week. And so I've gone from 85 to 90. And now I'm, it's, well, if I was truly talking about me, in winter, I'm a lot more active because the summer is the worst and it's so hot. So I'm doing a lot more running. I'm doing a lot more exercise. just naturally, accidentally, my body weight comes back down to 85, you know? And within those two things, you can see that neither of those things were kind of

 

internally regulated, were external via environment, literally the climate or my environment being away for a week on an all -inclusive cruise. This is definitely not me in this example. I would love to go away on an all -inclusive cruise, but one day. So we've got that range. And then outside of 85 to 90, again, these arbitrary numbers that I've set, that's when we see our body's control mechanism kick back in. So if I were to try and get below 85,

 

Jono (09:29.954)

I would have to be a lot more intentional about that because I would be managing increased hunger through that neuro hormonal hormonal control. I would be pushing down or pushing back rather against the adaptive thermogenesis and the metabolic adaptation that's occurring or rather the metabolic down regulation that's occurring as my body weight gets lower because getting into that lower range does kick off these other internal controls of body weight.

 

Right. And similarly, if I'm going too far above 90, particularly quickly, that's when I might see the opposite of those things occurring again, to make it a little bit harder for me to gain weight. Now, as we know, unfortunately, fortunately, depending on the context, we are biologically better at putting on weight than we are losing it again, coming from food used to be a lot more scarce or we used to have periods of scarcity. So in the past, that was a beneficial evolution, but evolutionary trait, but you know, here we are. And so I,

 

still think this is a better way of thinking about it because it takes more into account things like the environment, things like your behaviors, all of these things that are within your control. And so what I do with clients when we're kind of, not that I really sit down and talk about them, talk about these theories with them unless they've brought them up, but what I like us to focus on is what things can we control? Okay. I can't change your parents, can't change my parents. So I can't change your genetics.

 

To a degree, we can't change our environment. There are certain micro things we can do in our environment, like setting up your pantry differently, setting up your kitchen differently, shopping in a certain way, go to the shops hungry, go with a list. All of these things are still technically ways that you can influence and adjust your environment to push back against the parts of this whole model that are influencing your body weight. There are kind of ways we can...

 

make sure that we're minimizing metabolic adaptation, whether that be the size of our calorie deficit, the macronutrient composition that we consume, the time, the length of time we're in deficit, how many maintenance periods we have during that time. All of these things are still within our control that we can manage and they can help us, I guess, navigate past these other factors which are trying to get us to kind of sit between these two points, this range of body weight. So,

 

Jono (11:54.39)

I hope that's helped. hope that's made a bit of sense and explained a little bit more why our body weight is what it is. Like I said, there are absolutely factors outside of your control. don't for a second want to make it sound like it's just like completely up to you. We know that if we took a hundred people and we got them to all eat exactly the same, they're not going to end up looking the same. We're going to have different bodies, right? But within that, ignoring those things we can't control, not ignoring, but not trying

 

dwell on the things we can't control and instead focusing on the things that are within our control. are still lots of levers or levers, I never know how to say that word, that we can pull that can help push us towards our goal. And so that's why ultimately I don't think set point theory is what I would be spending much time thinking about because I think it neglects a lot of the things that are within your control. And so that's again why I sort of, if you're gonna Google anything, Google the dual point intervention, dual intervention point. It's my favorite thing and I don't even know what it's called.

 

I think it's the dual intervention model. Anyway, Google a combination of those words and you'll find it. I think that does a much better job of giving you tools and giving you an actual better idea of what's going on. Like I said, it is still just a model potentially in a few years. We'll find a part of that model which is not appropriate or it's not accurate and we'll develop a new model. Again, I'm saying we, like I'm not gonna do that, but there'll be a new model that develops that is developed to try

 

fully explain what we're seeing, but I do think right now it's a really good model and a really good explanation of what we're seeing. So thanks for listening. I hope that made sense. If it didn't make sense, please send me an email or a direct message. If it did make sense, please share it with someone you love, put it up in your stories, and I'll chat to you next time. Bye.