THURSDAY, April 8, 2004 (HealthDayNews) -- Every dieter has heard the depressing prediction: You can take weight off, but eventually you'll gain it all back.
Now, a new study refutes that thinking. It finds that many participants in an organized weight-loss program maintained much of their weight loss two, and even five, years later.
"In fact, there is hope for long-term weight loss," said Dr. James Rippe, a cardiologist and associate professor of medicine at Tufts University School of Medicine, who participated in a teleconference Thursday to announce the study findings.
The prediction about regained weight dates to a 1992 National Institutes of Health report that found at the five-year mark after the initial weight loss, "almost all the weight is regained," Rippe said.
In the new study, Michael R. Lowe, a psychologist at Drexel University, and his colleagues evaluated the weight status of 246 participants in the Weight Watchers Program two years after their initial loss. They also studied 135 participants five years after they had reached their weight goal.
Those who had attained their weight goal two years before had lost an average of 24 pounds. And "an average of 6.7 pounds was regained," Lowe said. The five-year participants had lost an average of 19.6 pounds, "and 9.9 pounds was regained five years later," he said.
The participants were asked about their weight status during telephone interviews, Lowe said. Then, to account for any "under-reporting" of weight, Lowe surveyed a comparable sample of participants who were asked to give their weight over the telephone, and then asked to come to a facility to be weighed. About 230 participants came in to be weighed. Their data provided an "adjustment factor" to compensate for under-reporting of weight, he said.
The Weight Watchers program -- and others like it -- focuses on a healthy approach to eating in which portions are controlled. It also encourages participants to engage in physical activity and to seek out group support through weekly meetings, Lowe said. Taken together, these components "helped these people keep off weight long-term," he added.
Other research has also found that monitoring food intake, exercising regularly, and seeking group support can produce long-term weight loss.
The study was funded by Weight Watchers International, which hired an independent research firm to conduct the surveys. Rippe and Weight Watchers will launch a collaborative project to further study weight maintenance.
Sixty-four percent of adult Americans are classified as overweight or obese, Rippe said, citing government statistics. Overweight is defined as having a body mass index (BMI, a ratio of weight to height) of 25. A woman who is 5-feet, 4-inches tall and weighs 145 pounds has a BMI of 25; if she weighs 175, her BMI is 30, which is considered obese.
More information
To learn more about obesity, visit the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. To calculate your BMI, visit the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute.
