Episode 3 of a 5-part series on hunger, satiety, and long-term weight biology.

In this episode of The EverHuman Podcast, Dr. Christopher Thompson breaks down why the body’s defended weight set-point doesn’t just hold steady and how it can drift upward over time.

He explores the biological mechanisms behind this shift, including leptin resistance, insulin resistance, hormonal changes, microbiome alterations, epigenetics, reward-pathway shifts, and thermogenesis.

We then look at the modern triggers that activate these pathways, such as sleep loss, stress, chronic inflammation, and highly processed foods.

This episode builds on the first two in the series, which covered how hunger and fullness work in the short-term, and how the body defends weight in the long-term.

Related Forbes Health Articles

Latest Forbes Article:

Why Your Weight Set Point Rises and How It Drives Weight Gain

https://www.forbes.com/sites/christopherthompson/2025/11/20/why-your-weight-set-point-rises-and-how-it-drives-weight-gain/

Prior Articles in the Series:

Beyond Calories: How Your Body Defends Its Weight Set-Point https://www.forbes.com/sites/christopherthompson/2025/11/05/beyond-calories-how-your-body-defends-its-weight-set-point/

Podcast: https://open.spotify.com/episode/0ggD98gAIDRlXFvtN5rExJ?si=isMShpK5QlGXDGVzByEj8g

What Really Drives Hunger and Fullness: Inside Your Body's Appetite Control System

https://www.forbes.com/sites/christopherthompson/2025/10/20/what-really-drives-hunger-and-fullness-the-science-explained/

Podcast: https://open.spotify.com/episode/4zzvudaatph4TuX8F4njoD?si=ZLmIku2eTRqrXDjVVRsRSw

Most people think of weight loss as simple math, calories in versus calories out. In reality, the body sees it as a survival challenge. When weight drops, powerful biological systems activate to defend your natural set point, slowing metabolism and increasing hunger to restore balance.

In this episode, Dr. Christopher Thompson explains how the brain, gut, and hormones coordinate to regulate weight over time. He describes how leptin and insulin act as key hormonal signals for the body’s internal thermostat, and how adaptive thermogenesis adjusts metabolism in response to these signals to maintain stability. These same defenses that once protected us from starvation now make lasting weight loss so difficult.

This episode is part of a five-part Forbes Health series exploring the science of appetite, satiety, and weight regulation.

Every time you eat, or choose not to, your body is responding to an intricate communication network linking your gut, brain, and hormones. This episode explores how these biological systems determine when you feel hungry, how strongly you crave food, and when you feel full.

Learn how gut hormones such as ghrelin, GLP-1, and PYY interact with the vagus nerve and the hypothalamus to regulate appetite, and how sleep, stress, and circadian rhythm can disrupt these signals. You’ll also discover the difference between homeostatic hunger, which reflects true energy needs, and hedonic hunger, which drives eating for pleasure.

This episode is the first in a five-part series examining how appetite regulation works, why it sometimes goes off track, and how modern science is finding new ways to restore balance.

Read the full article on Forbes Health https://www.forbes.com/sites/christopherthompson/2025/10/20/what-really-drives-hunger-and-fullness-the-science-explained/