Long Term Weight Loss Achievers
It is a generally held belief that people who lose weight tend to put it back on, and that long-term weight loss is very difficult to achieve. But, according to recent studies, approximately 20 percent of overweight individuals are successful at long-term weight loss.
The National Weight Control Registry (NWCR) was established in 1994 by Rena Wing, Ph.D. from Brown Medical School, and James O. Hill, Ph. D. from the University of Colorado with the intention of studying the secrets of successful people who have not only lost a lot of weight, but also maintained it for a long term. It is considered to be the largest study of individuals successful at long-term maintenance of weight loss. Currently, it keeps track of more than 5,000 successful achievers of long-term weight loss, and invites more such people to become its members.
About 80 percent of the members of the Registry are women. Slightly more than half of them lost their weight with the help of weight loss programs; the rest lost it on their own. 98 percent of them modified their food intake in order to lose weight. 94 percent of them increased their physical activity. Walking was the most popular choice of physical activity.
Most of them report that they maintain weight by taking a low-energy, low-fat diet and by doing high levels of activity.
78 percent of them eat breakfast everyday.
75 percent of them weigh themselves at least once a week.
62 percent watch less than ten hours of TV per week.
90 percent exercise on an average of one hour per day.
They have low levels of depression, and most of them claim that a medical trigger was responsible for their long-term weight loss.
The members of the National Weight Control Registry are living proof that the achievement of long-term weight loss is possible. The research findings of the Registry have found their way as features into many newspapers, magazines, and television broadcasts, such as USA Today, Oprah Magazine, The Washington Post, and Good Morning America.
Filed under: Weight Loss Myths, Diet Programs, Excercise
