What does the weight regulator look like? I’d like to be able to point to a single structure in your brain or a single organ in your body and say, “this is what’s pushing your weight to high level.” In fact, though, we have not yet been able to identify a single structure in the body that performs this function. Instead, the weight regulator seems to be a complex network of biological mechanisms, genetic factors, and psychological and environmental forces that interact with one another. When all of these elements are working together properly, the regulator automatically keeps your weight at precisely at right level. But when this system malfunctions, a high set point in established. From then on, the malfunctioning regulator keeps pressuring your body to maintain your weight at that higher level.
We are just starting to appreciate the complex interaction influencing the set point that the weight regulator selects. In some people, genetics may be the overriding force. In others, biological factors (such as brain chemicals or enzymes) may assume the primary role. In still other individuals, the weight regulator has broken down for reason that aren’t clear. Most often, several of these influences seem to be working together, pushing the regulator toward a high set point, and pressuring you to maintain a higher weight than you desire.
