How to Stay Thin for Life: Studies Assess Strategies for Weight Loss Maintenance

You've counted calories, monitored carbs, avoided sweets, eliminated junk foods, watched your portion sizes, and made an effort to eat healthy foods. You've fought the good fight and found yourself at the end of your weight loss journey. Now what?

First of all, congratulations are in order. Not everyone who tries to shed excess pounds makes it to the finish line, so you should definitely be proud of your efforts. You've made some important life changes, and as a result, you've probably significantly increased your overall health and well-being.

That's the good news. The not-so-good-news? Well, research has shown that successful dieters often find healthy weight maintenance to be far more difficult than they imagined. In fact, most report that the maintenance phase can be even more wrought with challenges and frustration than the process of actually loosing weight in the first place.

Luckily, researchers around the world have focused their attention on weight loss maintenance, searching for techniques, strategies, and solutions to help make this phase of the process less challenging for intrepid dieters who are desperate to keep their lost weight off. This week, we'll take a look at several recent studies that have evaluated the challenges, triumphs, and pitfalls of weight loss maintenance.

Finnish Researchers Look for Clues to Long-Term Weight Loss Maintenance Success

Drawing on a large body of previously published research on the subject, a team of scientists from the University of Helsinki recently undertook a project that aimed to identify success factors in long-term weight loss maintenance.

The researchers compared dieters who had lost weight and kept it off with dieters who had lost weight and then subsequently regained some or all of it. Overall, they found that only 6% of their sample had successfully kept off all of their lost weight.

The researchers found that among male dieters, low stress levels and a high determination to stay healthy were the factors that were most strongly associated with successful weight loss maintenance. However, they also found that health problems were associated with successful weight loss maintenance in the male participants. Alcohol intake and high stress levels were linked most strongly to subsequent weight regain.

Among the women in the study, the researchers found that successful weight maintenance had more to do with successful lifestyle changes. Many of the successful dieters lost weight to improve pre-existing health conditions, and they reported that they did not want to let themselves relapse into poor health after loosing weight. In addition, a gradual but permanent change in eating and fitness habits was associated with long-term weight maintenance in women.

Social Support and Accountability May be Key to Maintenance Success

Many past studies of weight loss maintenance have focused on the contributions and efforts of the individual. However, the results of a recent investigation published in the prestigious New England Journal of Medicine emphasized the importance of an accountability group of supporters in the maintenance phase.

The study tested the efficacy of several support group-type "buddy systems" for dieters seeking to maintain their weight losses. It was found that both online and in-person support groups were very helpful in helping successful dieters keep the weight off over an extended period of time.

In-Depth Analysis of US Health Data Yields Clues About Healthy Weight Maintenance

In 1994, American researchers worked jointly to establish the National Weight Control Registry, a clearinghouse for health data about obese and overweight individuals and their efforts to shed excess pounds. Since that time, millions of medical records have been entered into the system, and scientists from around the world have used the data to better understand the weight loss process.

One recent analysis focused on the factors that are linked with long-term weight loss maintenance. The study found that the following variables promoted success in the maintenance process:

• Keeping a close watch on calories, eating patterns, and weight regain

• Sticking to a regular fitness and exercise program

• Avoiding fad diets or easy weight loss scams

• Taking responsibility for their own weight, rather than blaming stress or genes

• Developing new, healthy habits to replace old, harmful ones

• Focusing on accountability through frequent scale checks, support groups, and other healthy outlets

If you're concerned about maintaining your weight loss, talk to your doctor or a licensed nutritionist to develop a plan that fits your needs. Check back each week for more of the diet and weight loss news you need to succeed on your journey to better health.