Do 95% of people really fail to maintain their weight loss?
Asked by anonymous on Jul 30, 2009
in Weight Maintenance
I've read that 95% of people who lose weight gain it all back within 5 years. Is that true? Do you know of any statistics that show that people have actually kept their weight loss off for more than 5 years? I find this a very discouraging outlook.
Answer
Many long-term studies show that 95% of weight loss effort based on dieting alone (vs. gastric bypass surgery) fail within 3-5 years. It is probably because traditional diets produce a temporary change but fail to address the long term behaviors that caused the weight problem. People are easily encouraged during the initial weight loss phase but easily discouraged during the inevitable weight loss plateau. However, many people do succeed in making lifelong changes in their diet and activity patterns to maintain a new weight. Their experiences are chronicled by the National Weight Control Registry and in the book, Thin for Life by Anne M. Fletcher.
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