Everyday Health: What Is Set-Point Theory and How Does It Affect Weight Loss?
Everyday Health recently interviewed Amanda Velazquez, MD, director of Obesity Medicine in the Department of Surgery at Cedars-Sinai, about set-point theory and its impact on weight loss.
When the body consumes fewer calories than it burns, it compensates by releasing more hunger-stimulating hormone and reducing production of the hormone that signals fullness. Metabolism also slows to help the body burn fewer calories. Set-point theory suggests that these physiological changes push the body back to a predetermined baseline weight, known as the set point.
"Even if one were to make all of the healthiest lifestyle changes they could, the set point will continue to try to persist," Velazquez told Everyday Health.
The theory could help explain why many people struggle to maintain weight loss over time.
“Patients feel like it’s something they are doing that is leading them to have the weight [come back], when that is not the case,” Velazquez said.
Several factors, including aging, menopause and environment, can affect the body’s set point. Experiencing trauma or being born to a mother who smoked or was overweight also can result in a higher set-point weight.
Velazquez said that while weight gain over time might elevate the body’s set point, the timeline for this shift remains unclear.
“We don’t fully know from the science how long a person needs to be at that higher weight for it to recalibrate that to be the set point,” she said.
Despite the body’s natural tendency to maintain a baseline weight, experts say individuals might be able to lose about 5% of their body weight by increasing muscle mass, managing stress and keeping a consistent sleep schedule.
If those strategies don’t work, or if an individual needs to lose more than 5% of their body weight, Velazquez recommends speaking with a doctor about other approaches, including GLP-1 medications, bariatric surgery or an endoscopic sleeve procedure.
“These are tools in the toolbox that are very much appropriate for patients to pursue to help them lose the weight and keep it off effectively,” she said.
Read the complete article from Everyday Health.