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Old 08-15-07, 10:35 PM
  #68  
Neil_B
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Originally Posted by Pinyon
From personal experience, and the experience of others at my dietician, I think that set-points definitely exist. I also think that you can change your set-point if you change your lifestyle enough.


In other words, the body wants to maintain it's current weight. What a concept!

Originally Posted by Pinyon
They thought that my set-point was about 20 pounds heavier than it ended up being. I've seen similar mis-calculations for establishing an obese person's maintenance weight. Independent of currently measurable things like bone density, musculature, etc. some people end up significantly heavier or lighter than the "experts" think. There is a lot of natural variation out there in the human genome and phenome that we don't understand yet. And that is just the biology-end of things.

Again, I think that you guys are so tied up in the facts and science figures of the subject that you have lost sight of the hows and whys of losing weight and keeping it off.
I must have lost track of it along with the 143 pounds I lost. How do you lose weight again? I forgot.

Originally Posted by Pinyon
For most people, willpower is only a short-term solution. Many people respond very negatively to the "shame on you" mentality that works for some.
I don't see anyone advocating "shame" as a weight loss motivational tool.

Originally Posted by Pinyon
The shame factor and not being constantly vigilant about exactly what you are eating is why there is a 90% recitivism rate for obesity for most "diets". Most people can't be that vigilant for the rest of their lives, and the weight creeps slowly back onto you over time with just a few extra calories per day. It is so easy to have a few extra bites per day and not notice, fall into old eating patterns with family and freinds that eat like you used to, etc. By the time it is obvious that there is a significant problem, most people just give up and are ashamed of themselves for not having the willpower to stay-the-course.

Most people don't want to live their lives like some sort of wieght loss engineers, scientists, or food nazis. And I think that the word "want" is the key thing here. What is the motivation for people to lose weight and keep it off? People tend to naturally do what feels good. I think that you have to set up your lifestyle such that you WANT something that makes you feel better than triple servings of pizza. You have to change everything about how you deal with food in your life, and LIKE it. You have to change how you think and feel about eating in general, for a lasting change.
Willpower is overrated. I try to use common sense instead. Since I've been known to get 'food' from vending machines, I don't carry cash. Since I've from time to time snacked mindlessly in front of the computer, I don't keep food at my PC any longer. I suppose that makes me a food nazi, whatever that is?