Knowing about the Internal Process of Set-Point Can Lessen the Infernal Battle with Food

Photo by Ricardo Gomez Angel on Unsplash Image of six windows with shutters open, half open, or closed.

Set-point theory helps us make sense of how the body regulates weight.

Body processes adjust hormones and behaviours to keep us alive and well. So, for example, when we overheat internal feedback loops make us sweat and encourage us to drink water, strip off, fan ourselves, in the hope that we can cool down again. In a similar way, there’s a cascade of body processes that regulate our weight (or percentage of body fat to be more precise).

These body processes mean that in a given set of circumstances, a person’s weight will oscillate a little around a fixed point — a set-point. In fact I prefer to use the term settling point because it captures a sense of real-life, of movement : the dynamics of flow between a body across time in its particular environments.

Here’s the scenario I use to tell the story of set-point: ‘This is my weight given my diet history, life events, current circumstances, exercise habits and so on. I live in a small town in England where I have running water in my home and food shops, amenities and friends within a 10 minute walk. If I was to move to a rural area without infrastructure where I had to walk 5k every day to get water and I wasn’t getting my red wine and chocolate and let’s say it’s really hot and things were…