Weight Loss

Knowing what research says about successful dieters and knowing how dieters measure their own success are very different things.

As a weight loss expert, I know the research well: successful dieters are those who are able to lose 10 % of their body weight and keep it off for a year or longer.

But the bigger question is how to convince successful dieters that they indeed have been successful.

Let me explain. For many people, losing 10% of their body weight just isn’t enough; instead, they wish to lose upwards of 30% of their body weight. For some, it won’t be enough until they can get down to their wedding or even their college weight – and that may never happen. This creates anxiety, frustration and even feelings of failure despite my telling them that in the eyes of the weight loss expert community, they are a success.

This topic of diet success has captured the attention of top weight loss experts. It even inspired them to create a website, the National Weight Control Registry (NWCR), which currently has more than 5,000 members all who are “success stories” - individuals having lost significant amounts of weight and having kept it off.

You can join the registry if you have lost at least 30 pounds and kept it off for a year or longer. Yet, some people on the site have lost 100-150 pounds!

The registry is studying common behaviors found among these successful dieters and here’s some of what they have found, as reported on the National Weight Control Registry website:

–80% of persons in the registry are women.

–The “average” woman is 45 years of age and currently weighs 145 lbs, while the “average” man is 49 years of age and currently weights 190 lbs.

–Registry members have lost an average of 66 lbs. and kept it off for 5.5 years.

–These averages, however, hide a lot of diversity:

Weight losses have ranged from 30 to 300 lbs.

Duration of successful weight loss has ranged from 1 year to 66 years!

Some have lost the weight rapidly, while others have lost weight very slowly… like over 14 years.

–We have also started to learn about how the weight loss was accomplished: 45% of registry participants lost the weight on their own; the rest lost weight with the help of some type of program.

–98% of registry participants report that they modified their food intake in some way to lose weight.

–94% increased their physical activity, with the most frequently reported form of activity being walking.

–There is variety in how NWCR members keep the weight off. Most report continuing to maintain a low calorie, low fat diet and doing high levels of activity.

78% eat breakfast every day.
75% weigh them self at least once a week.
62% watch less than 10 hours of TV per week.
90% exercise, on average, about 1 hour per day.

The NWCR has shown us that long-term weight maintenance and success are possible but they require a consistent change in lifestyle behaviors. The registry participants give us insight into the true definition of diet success. I encourage successful dieters here to visit their site and become one of their success stories.