What Is SET POINT WEIGHT? // Eating Disorder Recovery

Today’s video is about the set point weight. In case you haven’t heard about it yet but our body actually does have a predetermined weight where it wants to naturally settle at. We can’t choose what weight we would like to be but our body has its own weight range that is mostly predetermined by our genetic makeup. And this is called our set point weight.

We will cover:

✔️  What is set point weight?

✔️  How much can your set point weight fluctuate?

✔️  How our body defends our set point?

What is set point weight?

Set point weight is the body’s natural weight where it can maintain its health and function optimally. It is also largely pre-determined by your genetic makeup. Just like there are people in various different heights there are also people with various body shapes and sizes.

“This natural weight is where your body functions best and is the weight your body is meant to be according to your genetic makeup. Just as you have a predetermined height or shoe size, you also have a predetermined biological weight or set-point that your body tries to defend.” – “Overcoming Bulimia Workbook” by Randy E. McCabe, Traci L. McFarlane, Marion P. Olmsted

Set point weight is something your body will maintain by itself without you having to monitor it or trying to control. It doesn’t matter if you eat some days more or some days less – you still end up in the same weight range. 

Maybe you even know some people who eat how much they want, they don’t diet but still stay at the same weight? This is because of their set point weight that regulates itself. 

Our hunger cues, metabolism, and other body processes work together to maintain our weight. Our body is naturally designed to do so. And yes, even YOUR body has this ability to maintain your set point weight. But you need to recover so your body can restore all those functions.

It’s normal for our weight to fluctuate

It’s important to know that your body has a set point weight RANGE, as it’s normal for your weight to fluctuate. It doesn’t stay at the exact number all day every day.  They say set point weight range can fluctuate between 10-20 pounds, but here again, everybody is different so don’t get obsessed by those numbers.

Weight fluctuations are normal, they happen. It fluctuates because of the hormonal changes you may go through like having your period, going through any stressful periods, not sleeping enough, maybe because of medication or illnesses, maybe age-related changes, and so on.

It’s important that we don’t freak out or start to diet to control our bodies, but just realize it’s normal for our body weight to fluctuate. We only need to make sure we are not intentionally doing anything to stress out the body like restricting and dieting or not managing with other stresses in our life. Then our body has the best ability to maintain its own set point weight range in the most optimal place for us.

Your body defends your set point

Your set point weight is the weight your body tries to DEFEND. Meaning that whether you diet or restrict, or overeat sometimes, the body is naturally designed to push you back to your set point weight.

For example, people who are genetically very thin also find it very hard to gain weight by eating more. Even when they do manage to gain weight by eating more they may feel like whenever they relax about eating their body goes back to their previous weight.

Also, we can’t force our body to be thinner or smaller than it naturally wants to be. This explains why traditional diets don’t work and fail 99% of the time. Because your body is designed to be at a weight that it finds optimal for you and it will do whatever it takes to force you back to your set point. So as you can see it definitely works both ways.

Our genes, brain, and hormones work together to maintain balance. A healthy body automatically knows how much food it needs, and it regulates it with hunger cues. It automatically maintains our body’s fat levels and it knows how much energy we lack or have left over so it regulates our metabolism accordingly.

And when we don’t mess with this system with restriction or dieting, our body has no problem maintaining a healthy set-point weight.

See my post about “How to know when you are at your set point weight?”

I also recommend you to see my video about “How a healthy body burns off “excess calories” and “How you will restore your set point weight”

If you want to learn more about recovery and how to do it step by step then please read my book “BrainwashED”

You can check out my recovery online courses HERE.

If you wish to work with me one on one, then I offer Recovery Coaching where I can help you go through your recovery step by step and offer support and accountability. Read more and apply HERE.

Or you can book a one-off coaching call with me HERE.