[quote]Waylon wrote:
It is my, rather limited, understanding there probably is, and some evidence for, a sort of general endocrine “set point.” It does seem that this is rather poorly understood, and may or may not be influenced by fat and/or weight fluctuations.
It seems that in the absence of the extremely calorie dense “foods” available today one would maintain a relatively stable body weight throughout most of adulthood (and many still do). Some studies seem to have temporarily introduced such “foods” into cultures without access and saw significant increases in both weight and fat, with individuals returning to baseline with the removal of these “foods.”
While I am really just guessing again, it appears the “set point” may be a genetically determined force that is only strong in one direction, when body fat drops below whatever preditermined range. It does still seem to apply weak pressure to drive weight/fat down if given a chance. It would also seem (more pure conjecture) that resistance training seems to be able to somewhat uncouple weight from fat, giving one the ability to weigh more at the same body fat. [/quote]
I wouldn’t go so far as to say that this “set point” is genetically determined. Influenced by genetics, yes. But, while genetic factors are at play, I would think “set point” to be an example of phenotype rather than genotype. The features that are present are the result of an interaction between genes and environment. A person could be fat because they are genetically predisposed to it, or because they’ve grown up with a psychological dependence on comfort food when they’re unhappy. It could be (and more likely is) the result of a multitude of factors, both genetic and environmental.
I think pinpointing the mechanism of muscle memory would be difficult. While hormone levels are not static, and it seems likely that this set point can change over time, you can’t attribute this as the sole factor (or even determine its extent very easily) in muscle memory. Look at the above examples of muscle memory posted here. It would be very hard to suss out the extent of the individual roles played by hormones, nervous potentiation, and the resumption of training at a point where the person probably has better knowledge of training, diet, and technique than before.