June 22, 2021• byLeah Kern
Introduction
Yes, you technically can eat intuitively and lose weight. Though it’s valid to desire weight loss, unlike dieting, weight loss is not the focus or guanteed outcome of intuitive eating.
In this post, we’ll cover:
- Set-Point Weight Theory.
- How to know what will happen to your weight when you start intuitive eating
- The difference between intentional and unintentional weight loss
- What to do if you don’t like your set point weight
Understanding Set-Point Weight Theory
To answer the question of whether or not you can eat intuitively and lose weight, we first need to talk about set-point weight theory.
Research continues to suggest that humans are biologically wired to maintain a certain set-point weight. Your set-point weight is not an exact number; it’s a range of ~10-20 lbs.
In other words, we all have a predetermined weight range which our body strives to maintain at all times. This is the weight range that the body is happiest at; where homeostasis, or physiological balance, is achieved.
Dieting/ intentional pursuit of weight loss often causes a person to dip below their body’s set point range, at least temporarily.
The body registers dropping below its set-point weight as a threat to survival, and does everything in its power to get you back up to your set-point including:
- Increasing hunger cues (specifically cues for energy-dense aka calorie-dense foods)
- Increasing thoughts about food (as seen in The Minnosota Starvation Experiment)
- Slowing down metabolism in an effort to conserve energy
So, in trying to keep the weight off (aka hold your body below its homeostatic range) you will forever be swimming upstream; fighting your body to be at a weight that isn’t ideal for optimal functioning.
According to set-point weight theory, your body size and shape are largely predetermined by genetics. But that’s not how diet culture makes it seem… Diet culture feeds us propaganda suggesting that we can simply change our body size by sheer willpower (i.e if you want it bad enough, if you eat “clean” enough, if you’re “disciplined” enough).
When in reality, body size has little to do with willpower and much more to do with genetics and other factors beyond our immediate control.
A Helpful Metaphor
To help illustrate just how much our weight is actually beyond our immediate control, I like to use this metaphor with my clients.
Think about the variety of body size and shape among the dog species. Take a Pug versus a Greyhound, for example. Both are dogs, yet they are built completely different.
The Pug, smaller and more full, the Greyhound, taller and leaner. No matter how hard the Pug tries to look like the Greyhound– how little it ate or how much it ran around– it simply never would be able to achieve that body type; it’s not within the range of possibilities for its genetic blueprint.
And the same is true in reverse. No matter how much the greyhound “tried” to look like the pug, it’s simply not going to happen; it’s not within the range of possibilities given it’s genetic blueprint.
The same logic can be applied to the human species. Some humans are genetically predetermined to have a leaner build while others are genetically predetermined to have a fuller build.
Neither is morally better or worse (though the media likes to convince us otherwise).
Can I Change My Set-point Weight?
Your set-point weight range can shift throughout your life as a result of various factors. Having a history of weight cycling, or losing and regaining weight, can drive up your set point weight range. This is because your body registers weight loss as a threat to survival, in turn upping the set-point in an effort to protect against the future threat of starvation.
Other factors like stress, aging, childbirth, and hormone shifts can increase the body’s set point range.
It is also possible to lower your set-point weight through rebuilding trust with your body. This often looks like consistently honoring your cues by rejecting dieting and eating intuitively, though quitting dieting does not guarantee weight loss.
Whether or not your set-point weight changes throughout life really depends on the individual. Some body’s are wired to be more “headstrong” about maintaining their set-point weight range while others are less so.
What Will Happen To My Weight When I Start Intuitive Eating?
When embarking on an intuitive eating journey, 3 things can happen to your body weight. It can: stay the same, go up, or go down
Diets promise weight loss.
As an intuitive eating practitioner, I cannot promise you anything. I can, however, say this:
If you enter the intuitive eating journey above your set point range (maybe from a history of binging or consistently eating past the point of comfortable fullness) intuitive eating will, likely, in time, result in some amount of weight loss to restore you to your set point range.
If you enter the intuitive eating journey below your set point range (perhaps from a history of restriction and/or overexercising) intuitive eating will, likely, in time, result in some amount of weight gain to restore you to your set point range.
And in many cases, intuitive eating does not impact your weight at all. It’s possible to feel physically better in your body and your mind without your weight changing, and I actually see this happen quite often.
Ultimately, intuitive eating works to restore your body to it’s happy weight- the weight at which it performs physiological functions most optimally.
How Do I Know If I’m Currently Above or Below My Set-point?
There’s no way to know for sure, but some signs that you might be above your set point include:
- Regularly eating to the point of feeling uncomfortable, gross, or sick
- Swinging between being “good” and eating “clean” or saying “screw it” and gorging yourself on off-limits food
- Turning to food emotionally as a coping mechanism (for both positive and negative emotions)
- You’ve gone through several periods of losing and gaining weight aka weight cycling
- Mental fixation on food; fantasizing about food, food taking up lots of mental real estate
Some signs you might be below your set-point weight include:
- Regularly low energy, lethargic, & low mood
- Loss of period for women
- Decreased sex drive
- Rigidity with eating; several foods being deemed off limits
- Mental fixation on food; fantasizing about food, food taking up lots of mental real estate
- Ignoring hunger cues, not allowing yourself to eat when hungry
Signs you’re likely at your set-point weight:
- Stable weight; your weight does not fluctuate very much
- Consistent energy levels without extreme highs and lows
- For the most part, you honor your hunger cues and stop when full
- Food does not take up too much space in your brain; you eat, and move on without rumination
- You typically don’t experience intense cravings for energy-dense foods
Intentional vs. Unintentional Weight Loss:
Research shows that maintaining intentional weight loss is not sustainable 95% of the time. According to a prominent meta-analysis, 95% of people who lose weight on diets regain all the weight (and often even more) within 5 years (Mann T. et al 2007).
Understanding set-point weight theory can help us make sense of why maintaining intentional weight loss is so rarely achievable long term.
Though maintaining intentional weight loss is not realistic for most people, unintentional weight is a different story…
To be clear, intentional weight loss is when you go into a diet, lifestyle, or exercise plan with the goal of losing weight. Unintentional weight loss happens without you trying.
Several things can cause unintentional weight loss such as illness, changes in mental health, medications, increase in physical activity, and listening to body cues consistently.
Unintentional weight loss can certainly be a side effect of eating intuitively consistently, but again, it depends on if you were coming into your IE journey above your set point weight range.
When unintentional weight loss happens, it’s typically very slowly and gradual, unlike drastic, quick weight shifts that tend to be characteristic of fad diets.
But What About Health? Isn’t it Unhealthy to be Higher Weight?
The current body of research has actually disproven the weight-normative approach to healthcare… in other words, the idea that our weight impacts our health actually isn’t true.
A person can be healthy at any body size. This means that a person in thin body can be in poor health and a person in a larger body can be in perfect health. Weight is not an indicator of health status. I talk a lot more about this in a post on the Health At Every Size (HAES) framework if you’re interested in learning more.
I’m Not Happy With How I Look At My Set-point. What Do I Do?
Accepting our body at it’s set-point size often comes with grieving the thin-ideal that diet culture promised us for so many years.
If you’re in a place where you could never imagine loving your body at its current size, you’re certainly not alone.
You might be surprised to hear this, but I actually don’t believe that you have to love your body in order to experience a positive body image.
Though getting to a place of pure love for your body is possible for some, for many people, this can be a wildly unrealistic destination.
If you are coming from a place of body hate (which is the unfortunate reality for many people thanks to diet culture, beauty ideals, & social media) then arriving at a place of body love would be a massive leap.
When we try to take these big leaps using affirmations like, “my body is good,” we can be left feeling like a fraud, not actually believing the statements. A positive affirmation for distressful body image can feel like a band aid for a bullet wound.
Plus, focusing on “loving your body” is still emphasizing physical appearance. The true goal of body image work is to connect to your wholeness as a human being, not just the outward looks of the vessel you inhabit.
The desire to change your body size is valid, but the question becomes: at what cost are you willing to have a smaller body?
The cost of your time, energy, and happiness? The cost of your capacity to be present with loved ones? The cost of your ability to be spontaneous and flexible?
You can spend the rest of your life fighting your body, or you can work on accepting and respecting your body at it’s current size.
Interested in learning how to achieve your set point weight through intuitive eating? Kick start your journey by downloading our FREE Intuitive Eating Starter Kit Here.
Seeking more individualized support? Click here to learn more about my counseling services.
Note: I recognize that I hold many unearned privileges as a white, cis, heterosexual, straight sized woman. I recognize that accepting your body is easier said than done, especially coming from someone with multiple unearned privileges. I continuously participate in supervision with mentors who hold marginalized identities to help me better support folks with different lived-experiences than me.
Congratulations!
I’m excited for you that your dream is becoming a reality!
Thanks so much, Sig!!
<3