Weight Loss Registry:
Measures Long Term Weight Reduction
National Weight Control Registry
The National Weight Control Registry was established in 1993 to identify
which strategies work for long-term weight maintenance, who is successful
and why. It maintains a database of more than 3,000 people who have each
lost at least 30 pounds of body weight and maintained that loss weight
for at least one year. It is the largest such weight loss study of its
kind.
Weight Loss & Regain
Long-term research on weight loss indicates most people return to their
original, pre-diet weight within three to five years after treatment ends.
We are constantly being told nobody is ever successful at weight loss.
But consultants at the NWCR knew people were successful at maintaining
weight loss and they wanted to start identifying these people.
Weight Loss Study
Initial enrollment in the registry included 629 women and 155 men who,
despite extensive histories of being overweight, lost an average of 60
pounds and kept it off for an average of six and a half years at entry
into the registry.
Weight Loss Methods
Although a combination of changes in eating habits and physical activity
was at the root of most weight loss, there was not one method to weight
reduction. About half lost the weight on their own, the other half received
some type of weight loss assistance.
Weight Loss Motivation
The registry group was highly motivated. 6 years later on average the
subjects report eating 24 percent of calories from fat, as opposed to
an average 34 percent or 35 percent and doing 2,800 calories a week of
exercise, the equivalent of walking 28 miles each week. That's even more
than recommended for the general public.
Weight Loss Success
The most positive message is that people who have tried and failed to
lose weight before can still be successful. The majority of people in
the registry report that they had previously tried to lose weight. They
are not qualitatively different from other unsuccessful dieters, but,
in the end, they found something that helped them succeed.
Weight Loss Program
People shouldn't enter a weight loss program worrying that they won't
be able to maintain the loss. Data from the registry indicate that 42
percent of the subjects felt it was harder to lose weight than to maintain
the weight loss.
Source: Center for the Advancement of Health
Press Release
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