ALBANY, N.Y. -- Every day your co-worker has burgers and fries
for lunch, while you struggle through another salad. She looks
great in spite of the high-calorie meals, but you can't seem to
lose weight, even though you're consuming fewer calories. What
gives?
The problem could be that your body has hit its set point, said
Ruth Esposito, a certified and licensed nutritionist in Clifton
Park, N.Y.
Set point is the theory that your body has a built-in
weight-regulating mechanism that keeps your body weight within a
certain range.
Esposito has a number of clients who have given up high-calorie
foods and started exercising, but still can't seem to lose those
additional pounds.
"They say, 'I'm not eating bad food and I'm still fat,"'
Esposito said. "The set point is very real, and we see it time and
again in this field."
The body's set point is based on an individual's metabolism,
Esposito said. Each body works like a computer, she said. Your body
has a certain percentage of body fat, and it thinks this is normal.
When you diet or take on fewer calories, your body responds by
lowering your metabolism, or the rate at which your body burns
calories, to try to preserve this normal level of fat, Esposito
said.
How much fat your body thinks is normal is determined largely by
genetics, but it can also depend on the number of fat cells in your
body, Esposito said. Fat cells are developed during the earliest
years of your life, and overeating during these years can create
additional fat cells, Esposito said.
Later, these children, now adults, may cut back on calories or
adopt a rigid fitness regimen, but they will have a harder time
trimming down, because their bodies are operating to protect those
additional fat stores, she said.
Yo-yo dieting, or rapid weight loss followed by rapid weight
gain, negatively impacts the body's set point because it interrupts
the body's equilibrium.
Yo-yo dieters lose muscle and fat tissue, and when they regain
the weight, they gain more fat tissue than muscle tissue, because
it is harder to regain muscle tissue, Esposito said. Now the body
has more fat tissue than it started with, and the body recalibrates
the set point to preserve these new fat stores, lowering the
metabolism.
Personal trainers see clients reach plateaus with their weight
loss all the time, said Bryan Lupian, general manager at Gold's Gym
in Guilderland, N.Y. Clients have to mix up their fitness regimen
to get past a plateau, he said.
"If the body is doing the same thing day after day, then the
body learns to adapt to that stress," he said.
Tiffany Honikel, assistant manager at Gold's, said trainers
recommend changing the fitness regimen every six weeks to keep
weight loss on track.
Esposito offered other tips for overcoming set point and
increasing your body's metabolism:
-- Push yourself further: Try to exercise a little harder every
week so your body doesn't establish a pattern. Add additional
weight, boost the speed on the treadmill, or add additional
resistance to the bike -- anything to make your body work harder.
-- Try weight training: Muscles need more calories to operate
than fat does, so building muscles can increase your metabolism.
-- Don't starve yourself: Remember the perils of yo-yo dieting.
Instead, adopt a long-term, low-calorie diet so that your body
gradually loses weight.
-- Water, water, water: Drink lots of water. Water helps suppress
your appetite, metabolize stored fat and improves muscle tone.
-- Consider supplements: Esposito prescribes a number of
supplements for her clients: carnitine and a complex B vitamin to
help improve metabolism; calcium and vitamin C to stimulate energy;
amino acids to reduce cravings and suppress appetite; rhodiola and
ginseng to assist the endocrine system and nervous system; and, of
course, a comprehensive whole foods multivitamin.
Esposito stresses people should consult a nutritionist and
receive a full evaluation to determine which supplements are right
for them and to prevent interactions with other drugs they may be
taking.
c.2008 Albany Times Union