Long-Term Weight Maintenance after Weight
Loss Program
Weight Loss Study Aim
This prospective study assessed long-term weight maintenance of patients
completing an intensive very-low-calorie diet (VLCD) weight-loss program.
Weight Loss Study Results
Of 154 eligible subjects, follow-up weights were obtained at 2 years in
112 subjects (72.7 percent, 72 women, 40 men). Subjects had an average
initial body mass index of 37.3 kg/m2 and an average weight loss of 29.7
kg in five months. Six hundred and forty-five follow-up weights (median,
five per subject) were obtained over two to seven years of follow-up from
clinic visits (70 percent) and self-report by telephone or mail (30 percent).
Subjects regained an average of 2.5 percent per month of their lost weight
during the first two to three years of follow-up; however, their weight
stabilized over the next four years. Subjects regained an average of 73.4
percent of their weight loss during the first three years. The average
weight loss maintained for 112 subjects was 22.8 percent of initial weight
loss after an average of 5.3 years of follow-up. When successful weight
maintenance was defined as maintaining a weight loss of 5 percent or 10
percent of initial (pre-treatment) body weight, 40 percent were maintaining
a 5 percent weight loss at five years and 25 percent were maintaining
a weight loss of 10 percent at 7 years. Multiple regression analyses suggested
that age had a significant and positive effect on weight maintenance.
Weight Loss Study Conclusions
This study suggests that weight maintenance after an intensive VLCD program
is improving but still needs intensive efforts to enable most individuals
to maintain a substantial percentage of their weight loss long-term.
Source: University of Kentucky, Lexington,
Kentucky. 1999
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