Natural weight: why not everyone needs to lose weight

Not a single adult will claim to grow up to 170 cm if his height is, say, 160. Or reduce the size of his legs – for example, from 40 to 36. However, many of us strive to change our weight and volume. Although all efforts may be in vain: “Only 5% of people who have lost weight as a result of a restrictive diet keep it at this level for at least a year,” states clinical psychologist Natalya Rostova.

“Science has proven that our weight is biologically determined,” explains Italian psychotherapist, expert in nutrition and endocrinology, scientific director of the Italian Association for Nutrition and Weight (AIDAP) Riccardo Dalle Grave. “Our body automatically regulates the ratio of absorbed and released calories – thus, the body independently determines what our natural weight is, which scientists call the set point (balance point), that is, a person’s stable weight when he eats, obeying the physiological feeling of hunger.”

However, for some, the weight is set within 50 kg, for others it reaches 60, 70, 80 or more. Why is this happening?

Three categories of people dreaming of losing weight

“Genome studies have identified the existence of 430 genes that increase the risk of being overweight,” says Dalle Grave. “But the propensity to gain weight also depends on the sociocultural influences of our environment, where the supply of food is excessive, intrusive and unbalanced.” Anyone who is concerned about being overweight can be divided into three categories.

“Naturally full”

People who have a high set point for genetic reasons, including hormonal differences. “It is believed that overweight people overeat and they do not have enough desire to resist eating,” Dalle Grave comments. “However, everything is not quite so: every 19 out of 20 examined people show that they eat like everyone else, but their weight remains large. This is a feature of metabolism: it is worth losing the first kilograms, adipose tissue reduces the production of leptin, on which the feeling of satiety depends, and appetite increases.

“Unstable”

They are distinguished by significant fluctuations in weight at different stages of life. Stress, fatigue, melancholy, depression lead to weight gain, as people of this type tend to “jam” negative emotions. “In general, they prefer sweet and fatty foods, which have a very real, albeit short-term, sedative effect,” comments Daniela Luchini, a doctor in the neurovegetative department of the Sacco clinic in Milan.

“Chronic Dissatisfied”

Their natural weight is within the normal range, but they still want to lose weight. “A woman whose set point is 60 kg is forced to starve herself in order to reduce it to 55 – this can be compared to how if the body had to constantly fight to reduce its temperature from 37 to 36,5 degrees” , says Dalle Grave. Thus, we are faced with an inevitable choice: every day – until the end of our lives – to fight with our own nature, or still bring our ideal closer to reality.

Standard weight

In order to determine your “natural” weight, there are several objective criteria. First, the so-called body mass index: BMI (Body Mass Index), which is calculated by dividing weight by height squared. For example, for a person who is 1,6 m tall and weighs 54 kg, the BMI would be 21,1. BMI below 18,5 (for men below 20) means thinness, while the norm lies in the range from 18,5 to 25 (for men between 20,5 and 25). If the index falls between 25 and 30, this signals an excess of weight.

Constitutional features are also of great importance: “According to the Metropolitan Life Insurance, with a height of 166 cm, for a woman with an asthenic physique, the ideal weight is 50,8-54,6 kg, for a normosthenic 53,3-59,8 kg, for a hypersthenic 57,3 -65,1 kg, – says Natalia Rostova. – There is a simple method for determining the constitutional type: clasp the left wrist with the thumb and forefinger of the right hand. If the fingers are clearly closed – normosthenic, if the fingertips do not just touch, but they can also be superimposed on each other – asthenic, if they do not converge – hypersthenic.

Any person has a certain range of comfortable weight, that is, the weight at which he feels normal

“Plus or minus five kilograms – such a gap between the norm and the subjective feeling of comfort is considered acceptable,” says psychotherapist Alla Kirtoki. – Seasonal fluctuations in weight are also quite natural, and, in general, there is nothing abnormal or painful in a woman’s desire to lose weight by summer. But if the gap between dream and reality is more than ten kilograms – most likely, something else is hiding behind weight claims.

Where does the need to eat more come from?

Talking about their own supposedly overweight, people tend to reverse cause and effect, says Natalya Rostova: “It’s not extra pounds that interfere with our happiness and comfort, but mental discomfort is the cause of excess weight.” Including illusory excess weight, imperceptible to anyone except its owner.

People have a lot of different needs that they try to satisfy with food. What is food for us?

1. Source of energy It helps us to satisfy the feeling of hunger.

2. Getting pleasure – not only from taste, but also from aesthetics, color, smell, serving, from the company in which we eat, from communication, which is especially pleasant at the table.

3. Alarm release mechanism, gaining the feeling of comfort and security that mother’s breasts brought us in infancy.

4. Strengthening emotional impressions, for example, when we eat and watch TV or read a book at the same time.

“We really need the last three points, which naturally causes a bust of energy and nutrients,” explains Alla Kirtoki. – It seems that the only way to get rid of this bust is to drive yourself into the framework of deprivation. Which puts us face to face with a rigid formula: “If you want to be beautiful, deprive yourself of pleasures.” This creates a deep conflict – who needs a life without pleasure? — and eventually a person refuses restrictions, but loses self-respect.

Mechanism of diets

“Modern nutritionists consider a strict diet as an eating disorder,” says Alla Kirtoki. – What happens to our body? It is completely bewildered by what is happening, in anticipation of hungry times, it begins to rebuild the metabolism, save, accumulate reserves for a rainy day.

The only way to avoid this is to abandon the very idea that deprivation will help you rebuild your relationship with your body. “In no case should the body be kept in an energy deficit,” continues Alla Kirtoki. “On the contrary, he must be absolutely sure that the nutrients will always be supplied in the required quantity – this is the key to a stable weight and a good metabolism.”

“War with oneself is futile and harmful,” says Natalya Rostova. “It is wiser to cooperate with your body by maintaining a moderate balanced diet.”

Is it possible to switch to proper nutrition without depriving yourself of pleasure? How to separate the physiological need for food from our other needs, for the satisfaction of which there are other ways?

To begin with, it is worth asking the question: how much food do I need to support myself – not to lose weight, but not to get better?

You can try to keep records – how much and what kind of food was eaten per day, to keep a kind of diary of observations. “This gives a lot of information to think about,” explains Alla Kirtoki. “If a person does not keep these records, then all this information remains hidden from him.” What are the benefits of such a diary?

1. It will help to understand how food correlates with our desires – whether we wanted to eat at that moment or not, what prompted us to eat.

2. It will allow you to once again come into contact with food, remember how it was tasty or tasteless, and experience pleasure.

3. It will give practical information about the calories and nutritional value of the foods we have eaten – all sorts of calorie tables will be very useful here.

4. Facilitate the analysis of our diet. From this list of food, especially if it turned out to be long, we can isolate what we are by no means ready to refuse, and what we will refuse with ease. This approach is much more productive than just saying to yourself: “I shouldn’t have eaten so much,” because next time we simply won’t choose something that does not bring real pleasure. As a result, we will come closer to knowing our real needs, including pleasure, and to satisfying them as best as possible.