Commentary: Weight-loss registry has tips for getting slim

  • Published
  • By Guy Leahy
  • Health Promotion Program
KIRTLAND AIR FORCE BASE, N.M. --  We've often heard the statistic that 90 percent of diets fail.

That, unfortunately, is more or less true. What we don't hear about so often are the 10 percent who succeed.

There are tens of thousands of people who have lost 20, 50 or even 100-plus pounds and kept it off for years. How do these "successful losers" accomplish this?

This very question was the genesis for the National Weight Control Registry (NWCR). Dr. Rena Wing of Brown University and Dr. James Hill of the University of Colorado started the NWCR in 1994 to identify and investigate the characteristics of individuals who have succeeded in long-term weight loss.

Currently, the NWCR has more than 5,000 members. Minimum qualifications to join the study are to have lost at least 30 pounds and kept if off for at least one year. To date, research from the NWCR has resulted in nearly 40 scientific papers.

Members of the NWCR have lost an average of 66 pounds and kept if off for an average of 5.5 years. Approximately 70 percent of NWCR members were overweight by the age of 18, and 60 percent report a family history of obesity.

Most participants (90 percent) have reported previous unsuccessful weight loss attempts, and had used a variety of popular diet programs. The majority of members are female, and most enrollees are 44-49 years of age.

The NWCR researchers first looked at the characteristics of the initial weight loss, to see if there were any common strategies the "losers" used that differed from people who have not been successful in weight-loss efforts.

Surprisingly, the only common behavior among NWCR members (89 percent) was using a combination of diet and exercise. Only 10 percent used diet alone, and only 1 percent used exercise alone.

There did not seem to be any one diet plan that was commonly used. Some members did it on their own, while others enrolled in a weight-control program such as Weight Watchers. There was no difference in the amount of weight lost between these two groups.

When NWCR researchers examined strategies for the prevention of weight regain, however, they identified several common strategies among "losers."

Not surprisingly, one of these strategies was exercise. Most (91 percent) of NWCR members exercised on a regular basis.

The most popular form of aerobic exercise was brisk walking (77 percent), and NWCR members walked a lot, averaging an hour a day every day. About 50 percent of NWCR members combined walking with some other form of aerobic exercise.

NWCR members also lifted weights about twice as frequently as the general U.S. population.

Other successful strategies for maintaining weight loss included eating a low fat diet (23-24 percent of calories as fat), eating breakfast almost every day (78 percent ate breakfast every day), and frequent self-monitoring of weight (75 percent of members weighed themselves once a week.)

NWCR members also had a "weight range" within which they tried to stay. If they drifted out of that range, they would compensate by eating less or exercising more to bring their weight back into the desired range, so one pound did not become five pounds.

Only 10 percent of members consumed sugar-sweetened drinks, and most consumed water or other non-calorie beverages.

More then 60 percent watched 10 or less hours of TV per week, and only 12 percent watched 21 or more hours of TV per week. The U.S. average is 28 hours per week.

They also had a social support system in place, so if they had a bad day, someone was there to pick them up, dust them off and get them back in the weight-control saddle. 

One reason I am interested in the NWCR is that I am a member. I once weighed 40 pounds more than I do now, and I have kept the weight off for over 30 years. I follow most of the strategies described above for managing weight. I've been there, done that and know how hard it is. If weight loss is your goal, contact me at 846-1186 to get started on a successful program.

For more info about the NWCR, go to www.nwcr.ws.