Set Points and "My 600 Pound Life"

I weighed myself yesterday and my weight was exactly where it had been the last time I weighed in, in spite of the holidays and in spite of the fact that I've transitioned from Nutrisystem to my own plan based on using "My Fitness Pal" to make sure that I get a good balance of carbs, fat, and protein while staying within my calorie limits.

I've read some new diet and nutrition books - one called "The Simple Diet", but I decided that there was no new information there, I just needed to practice what I already knew worked.  Now I need to fine-tune things* so that I can start losing weight again. It is good to get back to real food.

On "My 600 Pound Life" - I watched an episode the other day and found it really horrifying. Of course, it made me feel slender, but I couldn't help but wonder how people let themselves get so overweight. I figured that 'set points' are what keep a lot of people on plateaus, but somehow these 600+ folks hadn't any point where they decided "OK, I need to lose weight." For me, my weight seems to reach a plateau around 180-190. My husband, who eats more than I do, stays around 150 lbs without effort.

I also wondered what I had in common with those 600-pounders. Some of the behaviors I saw were "sedentary behavior", eating in response to non-hunger emotions, and having the "Food is Love" connection. A lot of them just seemed to lay around while someone else brought them food. Help!

*'fine tuning' refers to the fact that you may gradually increase your portion size if you aren't careful. I think an analogy might be the fact that traffic experts say that you tend to speed up, in time, on long drives....just so, your tablespoon of peanut butter may become a heaping tablespoon. I brought out the food measures again.