results of 20year study reveal weight loss is unattainable

Wow...I am officially a statistical anomaly then. Check back with me in 15 years to see if the weight is still off.

This is true because they based it on people dieting, not people making a lifestyle change.

We will be the 5%. Or better yet, lets get that percentage up higher!

I also read a study that showed that if a close friend gained weight, you were MUCH more likely to gain weight. I will bet you that the opposite is also true!

So you guys, lets get fit, lose weight, and raise the likely hood of our friends succeeding with their fitness efforts. Weight gain may be contageous, but so is fitness ^_^

Nope. I don't buy it. Sorry.

As another poster already pointed out, the abundant misinformation out there is probably the main cause of this finding. I was misinformed, used a diet product to get to my smallest adult weight ever, then promptly regained all the weight I lost plus more when I quit using the product. If doctors would spread correct information instead of prescribing diet pills and restrictive diets, that would be a start in the right direction.

That's because traditional "dieting" is completely the wrong solution to keeping excess weight off.

Given it has been an unmitigated failure it is amazing so many people still do it.

As another poster already pointed out, the abundant misinformation out there is probably the main cause of this finding. I was misinformed, used a diet product to get to my smallest adult weight ever, then promptly regained all the weight I lost plus more when I quit using the product. If doctors would spread correct information instead of prescribing diet pills and restrictive diets, that would be a start in the right direction.

^^^^^ this

while I think all these "I'm going to be one of the 5%" posts are great.... that percentage would be a lot higher if everyone started with good information and the right approach to begin with... doctors need much, much more training on this than they currently get. Obesity is a huge problem in the western world (and in a growing number of non-western countries) - the fact that doctors don't already get extensive training in helping people to combat obesity is really a massive oversight. At the moment people are bombarded with pseudoscience, fad diets and people trying to sell them weight loss, and it's really hard to tell who's giving good, sound advice and who's not, especially for people who don't have much of a scientific background.

To the person who suggested a "I've maintained for 5+ years" thread... please start that thread, because it's an excellent idea and everyone can benefit from the information, and it might change some people's mindsets from "must lose this weight as fast as possible" to "must figure out how to keep this weight off for life" - and get some really useful advice for how to do that in the process.

What does research actually say?

There is a general perception that almost no one succeeds in long-term maintenance of weight loss. However, research has shown that ≈20% of overweight individuals are successful at long-term weight loss when defined as losing at least 10% of initial body weight and maintaining the loss for at least 1 y.

http://ajcn.nutrition.org/content/82/1/222S.long

The majority of weight lost by NWCR members is maintained over 10 years. Long-term weight-loss maintenance is possible and requires sustained behavior change.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24355667

What success factors matter?

Weight maintenance: self-regulatory factors underpinning success and failure.
McKee H1, Ntoumanis N, Smith B.
Author information

Abstract
OBJECTIVES:
To investigate the differences in the contributing factors involved in weight maintenance success and failure.
DESIGN:
Semi-structured interviews were conducted with both successful and unsuccessful weight maintainers. Eighteen participants were recruited (16 women), nine of who had lost 10% of their body weight and maintained this weight for a minimum of 12 months (Maintainers), and nine individuals who met the above criteria for weight loss but had subsequently regained their weight (Regainers). A thematic analysis was employed to compare the differences between the two groups.
RESULTS AND CONCLUSIONS:
Two main themes highlighted the differences between the two groups, these were: goal regulation and self-control. Within these overarching themes, successful weight maintenance was related to the following subthemes: long-term, realistic goal setting, consistent use of routines and self-monitoring, avoiding deprivation and effective coping skills. Unsuccessful maintenance was related to short-term unrealistic goal setting, inconsistent routines and self-monitoring, experiencing deprivation and poor coping skills. These factors are explained in terms of the interrelationships that they have on one another and their subsequent impact on weight maintenance success or failure.

I actually love your overall list, but the following just is not true:

7 understand that whatever you do to get to goal weight you have to keep on doing to maintain it, so make sure that all the changes you make are ones you can stick to forever,

I could not eat for 40 days and if I'm able to transition into a healthy eating plan, I'll maintain. Maintenance isn't about doing the same thing you did to lose, it's about transitioning.

People fail at maintenance, regardless of how, or what rate, they lost because they fail at making the transition.

How you lose weight is far less important than how you transition into maintenance. The reason why "slow and steady" is pushed is because, for some people, maintenance should be theoretically easier if you lost weight in a similar way that you plan to maintain the weight. Great advice, but hardly universal.

And unfortunately all those people clinging to the idea that doing it the "right" way, or slapping a "lifestyle change" label on it, will somehow make the odds significantly better for them, are a bit delusional. The statistics are horrible for everyone, regardless of rate of loss, amount of loss, or method of loss.

Call it what you will, living in lands of overabundance, in bodies that were once fat, make the pull for the majority of people too strong to resist. Because when you measure how they even define the 5-10% who are "successful", the odds are even worse as that is not exclusive to people who have maintained substantial losses. Included in those successful percentages are the people who've managed to maintain even only 10% of their loss, or people who never had much to lose in the first place.

It's tough odds regardless.

8. weigh your food so you can be sure you're really eating the number of calories you think you are.

Good for some, but not for others. The few people I do know who lost, and kept it off for years, even decades, certainly never weighed their food. They just learned how to eat less and become more intuitive about their bodies actual needs and signals.

Oh yay, another thread where people get angry because they find out they are going to eventually gain the weight back. :sad:

Everyone thinks they are in the 5% while they're in the middle/towards the end of weight loss. Statistically, most of you are going to gain it back. Just remember that figure, and don't get complacent when you move into maintenance. That's the bottom line.

FYI: I have gained and lost the same 30-40ish lbs multiple times. I plan to make this the last time, but I know that statistically, I will be fat again within a year.

I should have remembered the link but there is a study that was just recently released stating that obesity is here to stay. a 20 year study proves that dieting at any level is not going to help you lose weight if you are overweight. The study goes on to state that only 5% of dieters are successful in losing weight and keeping it off.
The other 95% may lose the desired amount of weight but in every case they regain that weight and sometimes more over a period of 5-10 years.

95% of the time it doesn't work every time.

5% = never.

Obeekaybee.

I should have remembered the link but there is a study that was just recently released stating that obesity is here to stay. a 20 year study proves that dieting at any level is not going to help you lose weight if you are overweight. The study goes on to state that only 5% of dieters are successful in losing weight and keeping it off.
The other 95% may lose the desired amount of weight but in every case they regain that weight and sometimes more over a period of 5-10 years.

The reason that 95% of people fail to keep the weight off is because 95% of people talk a good talk about "lifestyle change" but conceptually have no frackin' clue what that actually means. They suck on celery sticks and eat nothing but salads and do all kinds of other fadish cleanses and what not for months on end and never actually learn how to eat a proper balanced diet that optimizes nutrition and is sustainable long term. They also over do it with exercise and burn out and otherwise ultimately fail to realize that exercise and being active in general goes well beyond trying to lose weight. They fail to realize that you have to make regular exercise a part of your LIFE...as in FOREVER.

TL/DR: people fail to make anything resembling an actual lifestyle change despite talking a good talk. They torture themselves for several months and then just go back to their old habits. They fail to establish a new "normal."

I should have remembered the link but there is a study that was just recently released stating that obesity is here to stay. a 20 year study proves that dieting at any level is not going to help you lose weight if you are overweight. The study goes on to state that only 5% of dieters are successful in losing weight and keeping it off.
The other 95% may lose the desired amount of weight but in every case they regain that weight and sometimes more over a period of 5-10 years.

I'm thinking it's more 10% VS 90%. I will agree on this though. It's most easily seen from anyone's high school picture to a picture 20 years later. For many, life gets in the way and the priority of self improvement takes a back seat to family affairs, work, commute time, and lack of down time.
I don't think it's "unattainable", but it does take much more work than some are willing to put into it.

A.C.E. Certified Personal and Group Fitness Trainer
IDEA Fitness member
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Been in fitness for 30 years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition

Oh yay, another thread where people get angry because they find out they are going to eventually gain the weight back. :sad:

Everyone thinks they are in the 5% while they're in the middle/towards the end of weight loss. Statistically, most of you are going to gain it back. Just remember that figure, and don't get complacent when you move into maintenance. That's the bottom line.

FYI: I have gained and lost the same 30-40ish lbs multiple times. I plan to make this the last time, but I know that statistically, I will be fat again within a year.

The percentage they've come up with includes people using diet pills and other methods of losing weight besides learning how to control portions and eat less. Of course, people are going to regain the weight they lost. I did the same when I used plexus to lose weight. I wish whoever did this study would study only people who lose weight simply by controlling themselves to get their calorie deficit. I imagine the percentage of successful maintainers would be dramatically higher. It's a lot easier to maintain when you lose weight by learning better eating habits and then continue those habits. Just my $.02.

And I do realize that even calorie counters are not always successful with maintenance. But I'm willing to wager that the success rate is higher than 5%.

Why do so many people here automatically assume all the studies done around weight loss and maintenance are based off participants who lost weight with pills/fad diets/cleanses/etc?


I've never seen a single person here post anything to back this assumption up. So it really just sounds, at this point, like wishful thinking.

I was looking through pubmed for some citations to address that claim, and am not finding much to back it up. One study I found that looked at fast, moderate and slow losers one a 1200 calorie diet + behavioral therapy + extended care had pretty unimpressive maintained losses at 18 months (max was 5 lbs or so for the fast losers), and less (though not a statistically significant difference) for moderate and slow losers.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20443094

I would question the assumption that if only they looked at people who "made a lifestyle change" or counted calories we would see a higher success rate. The people in this study were prime candidates for "making a lifestyle change", given the behavioral component and extended care, and still could only maintain a 5 lb at most loss by 18 months.