Does Your Body Have A Natural Weight It Gravitates Towards?

A fitness regime is as complex or as simple as you make it.

Whilst some people will enter a fit pod with a very regimented structure and series of targeted 

workouts intended to train a very specific group of muscles, others will keep it simple and focus on general cardio, weightlifting and less specific training. Both approaches are valid relative to your fitness goals.

However, one aspect of fitness that is not quite as simple as it is often made out to be is the question of weight loss. Whilst it is often reduced to simply being a matter of how many calories you intake versus how many you burn, in practice it might not be quite as simple as this, if set point theory applies to our lifestyles.

The set point theory is the idea that there is a set of genetic factors that means that bodies try to gravitate towards a preset weight or typical range and the body attempts to compensate if it falls below or above this range.

This is why, for people over their set weight, losing weight is exceptionally easy at first, as the body uses up a lot of excess energy stores. Conversely, the further below the body’s set weight, the more quickly lost weight is regained and the harder it is to lose further weight.

This is what is theorised to make long-term weight loss more difficult, as more work needs to be done to achieve increasingly marginal losses.

However, the type of diet you follow is paramount regardless of your set weight point if you want to see continued weight loss. If you find that your gains are marginal in this regard, it could well be down to your nutrition… or lack thereof. It’s not just about simply reducing your calories but what kind of calories you’re putting in your body.

As you train and get more and more into exercise, health and fitness, you’ll likely find that your goals and motivation change as you feel yourself get stronger. 

You’ll likely become less focused on weight loss over time and find yourself concentrating more on lean muscle gain by prioritising lean protein-rich meals, reducing your sugar intake and eliminating those empty or unnecessary calories from your diet (such as alcohol and junk food).

When following a balanced diet, combined with strength training, you’ll find you burn more calories and produce more lean muscle mass. One of our clients, in fact, succeeded in losing more than three stone this year through resistance training rather than cardio, while her son lost over nine stone following the same training schedule!

If you do need to lose an initial amount of weight, this can be achieved through resistance and strength training via our fitness pods. Once done, you can then focus on those marginal gains by managing your calories and following a well-balanced, highly nutritious diet.