How To Maintain Your Weight Loss
I'm sure you heard it before: "Ninety-five percent of all dieters gain the weight back." There is little evidence to back this up.
Many dieters can - and do - keep the weight off.
Recent research surveyed 1,310 people who had all lost a significant amount of weight. The survey was taken at a point that was one year after weight loss had already occurred.
Overall, 59 percent were still close to their weight of a year before -- which in all cases was at least 10 percent lower than their heaviest all-time weight. Another 8 percent weighed less than they did a year earlier.
A third of the subject regained a "significant amount of weight".
The National Weight Control Registry also looks at what successful weight maintainers (people who lost at least 30 pounds and kept it off for at least a year) have in common. They have published their results in a number of articles.
The Keys to Maintaining Weight Loss
From the above research.
- Exercise - Those who continued on with exercise were much more likely to maintain their loss.
- Not Sedentary - Hours spent in front of the computer or TV were closely correlate with regain.
- Lost weight slowly - Regainers were more likely to be those who had lost large amounts of weight in short periods of time.
From the Weight Control Registry (via):
- They watch portion sizes.
- Four in five eat breakfast every day of the week.
- Most are physically active, with walking being their most common form of activity.
- They actually find pleasure in their healthier lifestyle.
Read More
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62 Comments
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Created / Updated: November 15, 2011
I know in my own case, these keys to keeping the weigh off are 100% correct. Oddly enough, I contribute my continued success with the very last bullet point: Finding pleasure in the healthier lifestyle.
Brian
ReplyI've lost almost 60 pounds, and it's taken me two years. I dropped the first 40 in a matter of months. I've been eating well and exercising. It is a forever thing. I know that if I stop going to the gym, if I throw my running shoes in the closet never to be seen again, and if I go back to eating my "old ways," that every pound and then some will come back.
Eating well and exercising, being healthy, is a FOREVER choice.
I know lots of people who are joining WW "again." Those are the people who don't get it. Once you join, if you intend to stay at your new, fabulous weight, you can never leave. If you can't control your calorie intake yourself, and you stop tracking it, you will start eating too much.
FOREVER is a very, very long time.
Replyhello. what was the diet you were following and you lost so much weight? :D
ReplyExercise is by far the most effective and controllable way to maintain weight loss. It is also the least used one :)
ReplyI think it's an encouraging study, and the conclusions seem very sensible. I never understand how people think they're going to be successful in the long run with weight loss unless they make a real commitment to daily exercise. But so many seem to view this aspect as somehow optional.
(That being said, it's time for me to drag my butt out the door to get some myself!)
ReplyI do agree that exercise can be an important factor in maintaining weight loss for some people, but for others less willing it is still possible to lose weight by makeing mental changes that will compensate for lack of exercise. I lost 140 lbs over 18 months,I have no need for skin removal surgery and I've maintained my goal weight for the last 3 years with very little exercise.
I believe it's your mind that determines your sucess not your body!
ReplyWhat did the data really tell us?
The researchers used the database of in-home interviews from the 1999-2002 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES), and found 1,310 adults who one year earlier had weighed at least 10% less than their all-time highest overweight or obese weight. These 1,310 were the people identified has having successfully lost significant weight. What the researchers didn’t report is that this number represented only 6% of those surveyed.
Maintaining weight loss? Of these, only 98 people (7.5%) continued to lose weight during the one-year study period. The rest were regaining their lost weight! At the one-year mark, most (59%) had thusfar regained up to about half (5%) of the weight they’d lost, with 33.5% having already regained most of what they’d lost, or more. [They neglected to share full details on the extent of the rebound.] Clearly, there is no evidence of any sustained weight maintenance, even during this brief one-year study.
To arrive at those they deemed successful weight loss maintainers, however, they combined those who were losing with those regainers who were still within 5% of their starting weight. That was the “nearly six in ten [who] were able to maintain their original weight loss” being reported in the news. Not quite the “encouraging” success we might have thought.
Hat tip to Sandy Szwarc for detailing the hard data on her blog.
ReplyThe old adage of 95% diets fail is a great way to become a self fulfilling prophecy for so many potential dieters. I prefer to focus on people like you that have been successful and can encourage others to be successful as well. Positive reinforcement with forgiveness can be much more powerful than always berating ourselves when we reach for another bowl of ice cream.
Reply"Lost weight slowly - Regainers were more likely to be those who had lost large amounts of weight in short periods of time."
I found this part really interesting. It seems like crash diets are less effective in the long run. I wonder if that's because they are unsustainable or because they fail to teach people how to really control their diet.
Gal
ReplyI was thinking about this myself when there was all this energy from the NS folks about losing 10 lbs in 1 week. It dawned on me that every Saturday, I lose 5 or more pounds in 2 hours. It's unsustainable, of course (well, one hopes so; a guy's gotta drink). Over a longer, but still short period, weight loss causes a change in metabolism and so it's very easy to regain weight. Weight loss over the long term (like 20 lbs a year ^_^) requires changing your approach to life.
ReplyPersonally, I lost 80-pounds in a year and have maintained it now for six years (gained in pregnancy, of course, but eventually returned to pre-pregnancy weight again)....I'm not convinced how fast you lose is an issue - for me it was key to develop long-term, sustainable changes in my eating - specifically the quality of what I eat - that really mattered; I didn't lose the weight and return to previous habits that contributed to weight gain, rather I tweaked along the way and as I neared my goal, was eating as I do now and have continued to eat this way (with the exception of increasing calories and nutrients while pregnant).
ReplyHey!
I think that "rapid" weight loss refers to total weight loss that is more than an average of 2 pounds per week. 80 pounds in 12 months (or 52 weeks) is actually not that bad. That means on average you lost 1.53 pounds per week. That's considered a healthy rate of weight loss.
Bree
ReplyI constantly think about this with regards to exercise.
Life isn't a 6 week program.
ReplyTo a degree, I agree with that sentiment...but then again, I also think people need the truth, which simply is if you return to previous eating habits, you'll regain weight; I think our environment feeds the thinking a "diet" is to "lose weight" and then there is "normal" eating, something you go back to doing after you lose weight, that over the long-haul leads to failure to sustain weight loss.
I do think a positive outlook that **you can do it** matters, obviously there are a number of people out there who do lose weight and keep it off.....but without a full understanding of what it really takes...a complete modification of eating habits sustained for life...one is still left with only a piece of the puzzle to complete the picture of what it takes to lose and maintain lost weight.
ReplyI'd prefer to see what the results are for people who've kept it off for 5+ years. I've lost weight and kept it off for 1-3 years, but always gained it back.
ReplyI think some people do make major changes - born-again kind of moments - and can lose weight more rapidly. But, not all such major changes endure...
ReplyYep, is that true. Im like that, im trying to loose weight and its so hard because im hooked on seeing results right away!!! its really frustrating, i know it take time...... I just wish i had the will power and self control!
Man, is there anyone who can help me? i would love the support!
ReplyTry using visualisation to quickly recall your goals when you are tempted, this should help you to delay gratification and stay on track. I don't believe Commitment and willpower is something you either have or dont have, it's a personal journey about what you want out of life and the skills to practice it can be learnt.
I've lost 140lb in 18 months and maintained it for 3 years
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