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CDC: Keeping Pounds Off Common

People Often Maintain Weight Loss, Study Shows

By Salynn Boyles
WebMD Health News

Reviewed by Louise Chang, MD

June 5, 2007 -- Finally, some good news for disheartened dieters led to believe that the pounds they lose are destined to return.

Far from being impossible, new research from the CDC suggests that maintaining weight loss is not all that uncommon.

Almost six out of 10 people who reported losing substantial amounts of weight successfully kept most of the weight off over a year’s time in the study, published in the July issue of the American Journal of Preventive Medicine.

“The finding is encouraging, and it suggests that weight maintenance is doable,” CDC medical epidemiologist Edward C. Weiss, MD, tells WebMD.

Mexican-Americans Most at Risk

The CDC researchers used data from an ongoing national health study in an effort to better understand why some people who shed pounds maintain their weight loss and others do not.

The new analysis included 1,310 adult study participants who reported weighing at least 10% less than their maximum lifetime weight a year before being interviewed. It was not clear from the data if the weight loss was due to dieting.

The researchers found that nearly 60% of the participants maintained their weight loss, gaining 5% or less of their weight back, while 33% reported more than a 5% weight gain.

People who lost the most weight tended to gain more back, with those losing 20% of more of their body weight more likely to regain than those who lost less than 15% of their highest weight.

“One possible explanation is that those who lost larger percentages of their maximum weight may have had to make greater lifestyle changes that are difficult to incorporate and sustain,” the researchers write. “Another possibility is that those who lose larger amounts of weight may not be as concerned about relatively small regains.”

Not surprisingly, people who didn’t exercise regularly or who reported spending more leisure hours in front of a television or computer were associated with a higher likelihood of regaining weight.

And Mexican-Americans were more likely than non-Hispanic whites or blacks to regain the weight they lost. A larger percentage of Mexican-Americans are overweight or obese than non-Hispanic whites (72% vs. 63%), but the CDC study is the first to suggest a difference between the two groups with regard to regaining lost weight.

“Because Mexican-Americans are disproportionately affected by obesity compared to non-Hispanic whites, more research on the factors influencing weight regain in Mexican-Americans is needed,” the researchers write.

Secrets of Success

Weiss says many of the findings in the new report are consistent with those from the National Weight Control Registry, a database of more than 5,000 people who lost large amounts of weight and kept the weight off for at least a year.

Annual surveys of registry members offer important clues about how to maintain successful weight loss.

Among the key findings from different surveys:

Successful maintainers tend to make changes to their diets that they can live with long term, rather than making major changes that are harder to sustain, and most combined calorie restriction with regular exercise.
Most registry members report eating breakfast every day.
More than half reported that they limited TV watching to less than 10 hours a week -- less than half the TV viewing time of the average American.
Most reported weighing themselves regularly, either daily or two or three times a week.