Skip to content
  • Register
    • We are pleased to announce that as of March 4, 2025, an updated Rich Text Editor has been introduced in the MyFitnessPal Community. To learn more about the changes, please click here. We look forward to sharing this new feature with you!

    Study: Obese men have just a '1 in 210' chance of attaining a healthy body weight

    2

    Replies

    • Unknown
      Unknown
      This content has been removed.
    • Posts: 1,771 Member
      Who cares? I make my own luck. -65 pounds down. I'm going to maintain, too.
      sucks for the 123 women who give up or think they're done when the weight comes off, I guess.
    • Unknown
      Unknown
      This content has been removed.
    • Posts: 8,911 Member
      [insert Shia LaBeouf video here]
    • Posts: 164 Member
      Urgh so many issues with this article.
      It doesn't say whether people were trying to lose weight and whether they were trying to do so for the full period of time concerned.
      It measures success as going from an obese BMI to a "normal" BMI within a year - is normal healthy? or an average? Because the two aren't the same! And many people who are obese have too much weight to lose in a year, or at least have enough to lose to reach a healthy BMI that they won't consider it not a success to take more than a year to do so! If someone got to "overweight" BMI in a year, and "normal" the year after, their success wouldn't even register because they're going from overweight not obese for the purposes of this study, right?!

      I'm pretty sure that people who stick to sensible diets lose weight and those who give up or aren't dieting (or changing their lifestyle, w/e) "properly" don't. So assuming that the 210 men were trying to lose weight, all this tells me is that 209 of them either had too much to lose in that period of time or weren't doing it properly/didn't stick to it. Moral of the story? Stick to what works and don't give up!
    • Posts: 108 Member
      Anyone can come up with statistics. 40% of all people know that. :p
    • Unknown
      Unknown
      This content has been removed.
    • Posts: 18,879 Member
      Sho0gy_D wrote: »
      Anyone can come up with statistics. 40% of all people know that. :p

      And anyway, 76% of them are made up on the spot.
    • Posts: 6,652 Member
      edited July 2015
      Then 209 of y'all are SoL, because I did it.
    • Posts: 8,578 Member
      6502programmer wrote: »
      Meh. I quit smoking my first attempt. This is cake compared to nicotine.

      Yup! :)
    • Posts: 672 Member
      tdijv228m0z9.jpg
    • Posts: 1,252 Member
      An article by a "science writer" that doesn't even link to the paper in question?

      Uh huh.
    • Posts: 92 Member
      JohnBarth wrote: »
      tdijv228m0z9.jpg

      Haha gotta love dilbert
    • Posts: 61 Member
      edited July 2015
      Kalikel wrote: »
      That's odd, since it's easier for men to lose, technically. Maybe they care less?

      I don't care if it it's 1 in 1 billion women who lose their weight. I don't care about the rest of them; I'm losing mine.

      I love that positivity!
    • Posts: 1,256 Member
      Merkavar wrote: »
      Attain or maintain a healthy weight?

      I think Merkavar has a good point here. Plenty of people lose weight but yo-yo it back on.
    • Posts: 8,680 Member
      I guess I will be that one in 210.
    • Posts: 17,857 Member
      DopeItUp wrote: »
      show previous quotes

      Yeah, the article seems a bit sensationalizing (shocking, I know). Nowhere does it mention that anyone was trying to lose weight?
      show previous quotes

      This part is more telling. Of those that DID lose weight, 22% maintained it for 5+ years. That's a lot better than the <.5% chance they are quoting.

      Furthermore, they talk about losing 5% of weight? For a 200lb person that's only 10lbs. My weight can fluctuate more than that inside of a week. Again, no mention of whether these people were even trying to lose that weight. It could have just been slight shifts year to year. I'd like to see the stats for people who consciously were trying to lose weight and lost a more reasonable amount (say 10-20% or higher). I'm guessing it's a whole lot higher than 1 in 210.
      But what are the odds for people who spend all of their time and energy searching for excuses to fail?
    • Posts: 8,680 Member
      LiftAllThePizzas wrote: »
      show previous quotes
      But what are the odds for people who spend all of their time and energy searching for excuses to fail?

      Or throwing dollars at gimmicks? Taking unhealthy means to lose weight?
    • Posts: 3,250 Member
      rabbitjb wrote:
      9d6d74fe031877118447580950ed0257.jpg
      LOL!!!! Love this!
    • Posts: 3,265 Member
      6502programmer wrote: »
      Meh. I quit smoking my first attempt. This is cake compared to nicotine.

      I actually disagree with this. Quitting smoking is difficult, yes. No doubt about that. But, once you quit, you never have to touch it again. You have to find a way to live with food forever.

    • Posts: 8,680 Member
      omma_to_3 wrote: »
      show previous quotes

      I actually disagree with this. Quitting smoking is difficult, yes. No doubt about that. But, once you quit, you never have to touch it again. You have to find a way to live with food forever.

      Here we go again.
    • Posts: 6,652 Member
      omma_to_3 wrote: »
      show previous quotes

      I actually disagree with this. Quitting smoking is difficult, yes. No doubt about that. But, once you quit, you never have to touch it again. You have to find a way to live with food forever.
      False dichotomy is false.

    • Posts: 3,498 Member
      Merkavar wrote: »
      Attain or maintain a healthy weight?

      Both it seems, but specifically attain in the first place.

      It suggests that obese people can lose and maintain a significant amount of weight loss but they never get to a "healthy" weight. through these efforts.
    • Posts: 90 Member
      I've always been an overachiever in other areas of my life. Knowing the odds are stacked against me only makes me fight harder to overcome them!

      I have overcome a hell of a lot in my life... in three years I went from being a broke, pregnant college student on welfare to a thriving single mom making enough to send my kid to private preschool and pay off my student loans, despite the fact that my caseworker basically flat out told me that the chances of me making it out of poverty were slim to none. Screw the odds! I make my own future. Knowing I'm beating the odds just pushes me more. I can do this. I will do this.

      Thanks for the motivation!
    • Posts: 90 Member
      rabbitjb wrote: »
      9d6d74fe031877118447580950ed0257.jpg

      This is fantastic!

    • Posts: 8,029 Member
      ihad wrote: »
      http://www.myfitnesspal.com/blog/ihad/view/never-tell-me-the-odds-632567

      Says it all really.

    • Posts: 4,391 Member
      The odds of winning the lottery is 1 in 13 billion, yet people still do it.
    • Posts: 29,136 Member
      OP - just quit now while you are ahead....
    • Posts: 8,029 Member
      jennifer_417 wrote: »
      I don't think of it I terms of "odds" or "chances." It's not the lottery where you buy a ticket and hope it's the winning one. When you make the right choices, the weight comes off, every time. When you keep making the right choices, it stays off.

      Word. You make your own odds.

    • Posts: 1,205 Member
      There are a couple of people on here who have done it. Men and women. It can be done.
    This discussion has been closed.

    Welcome!

    It looks like you're new here. Sign in or register to get started.
    Sign In
    Register

    Quick Links

    Categories