Hundreds of millions of adults are severely underweight due to food shortage; why doesn’t the set point theory apply to THEM?
Many people on Instagram and TikTok post the following: “No matter how little I eat, the scale won’t budge,” or, “I eat so little but the fat stays on.”
Just how “little” are we talking here? Because hundreds of millions of adults in developing countries are struggling to keep weight on due to not having enough food available.
Set point doesn’t apply to famished countries?
“Your body has a set point, and if you try to lose too much weight, your body will fight back and keep you fat.”
This is an intriguing claim, convincing even many personal trainers and dieticians that some people have a high set point, and cutting back on calories — even in the form of ultra-processed foods — will just drive their body to slow their metabolism even more, to maintain their high body weight.
There is a small amount of truth behind this idea. Researchers have found that when people lose weight, their bodies often respond by increasing hunger, and reducing energy expenditure (aka, slowing metabolism).
This phenomenon is sometimes called “metabolic adaptation” or “adaptive thermogenesis” (Rosenbaum & Leibel, 2010).
But some interpretations of set-point theory go much further.
They imply that certain people simply cannot lose significant amounts of fat because their bodies stubbornly defend an elevated weight.
The million-dollar question is: Where is this mechanism in those who are forced to subsist on very low caloric intake due to food scarcity?
Is the set point prevalent only in First World countries?
Is it even more prevalent in industrialized cultures where fast food diners are abundant?
If the body can indefinitely defend a high level of body fat regardless of food intake, then why are hundreds of millions of adults around the world underweight due to chronic food shortages?
And if a set point truly exists, why do the massively overweight people on “My 600 Pound Life” lose 80 pounds a month when sticking to 1200 calories a day?
Nobody is saying you should stick to 1,200 calories a day for the rest of your life. But let’s look at the math.
If someone loses 80 pounds a month on 1,200 calories/day, this destroys the set point theory.
They’d still lose a significant amount of weight on even 1,800 calories a day. Even 2,000.
The World Health Organization and numerous global health agencies continue to document widespread adult undernutrition in regions affected by poverty and food insecurity.
Look with your own eyes of photos depicting crowds of people in developing countries.
They may not all be super thin, but you’ll have trouble finding any obese, let alone morbidly obese, villagers. Instead, nearly all are slender to thin.
In the U.S., those who restrict their calories too much will end up losing the fat along with muscle. You should not lose muscle when dieting for fat loss.
Let’s Look at the History
During the Minnesota Starvation Experiment of 1944-1945, healthy adult men were placed on a semi-starvation diet for six months.
Researchers observed substantial weight loss, reductions in body fat but also decreases in metabolic rate, and intense hunger (Keys et al., 1950).
The men’s bodies clearly resisted starvation by slowing metabolism. But the resistance did not prevent weight loss.
The same pattern has been observed during famines throughout history. And also concentration camps. People in concentration camps for extended periods never came out fat.
Studies of famine victims consistently show that prolonged calorie deficits lead to progressive depletion of fat stores and, eventually, loss of lean tissue as well (Shetty, 1999).
In other words, the body adapts to reduced food intake, but it does not create energy out of thin air.
Research on body-weight regulation suggests that biological mechanisms can make weight loss harder – but not impossible “no matter what I do.”
Hunger hormones change. Energy expenditure may decline. Weight loss may slow over time (Hall et al., 2012).
But “harder” is not the same thing as “impossible.”
If the body could truly preserve excess fat no matter how little food was consumed, severe starvation would not exist.
Yet starvation has been documented repeatedly in every era of human history.
The existence of severely underweight adults around the world does not prove that weight loss is easy. It isn’t. We all know that.
What it does show is that the body’s defenses against weight loss have limits.
The scientific evidence supports the idea that the body resists weight loss – but to an extent.
It doesn’t support the claim that excess body fat can be maintained indefinitely in the face of a sustained energy deficit.
If you’ve never been able to lose excess body fat, it’s not due to an angry set point that keeps coming back at you every time you try a new regimen.
Though some people have naturally speedy metabolisms, you should NEVER compare yourself to them.
Some Rules to Follow
• If you see a skinny woman, don’t let this trigger you. You don’t know her medical history. She could have a genetic condition that causes thinness, such as Marfan syndrome — which can be fatal.
• She could be thin due to reduced food intake stemming from chronic depression or anxiety.
• Maybe she just never had much of an appetite.
• Maybe that one time you see her with a big bowl of pasta and meatballs plus chunks of buttery garlic bread is the one time she’s eaten that way all week.
• Maybe she does have an eating disorder.
• Bottom line: This is about you, not her.
