Get the Stats on Weight Loss (Diabetes)
If you’re trying to lose weight, you know that keeping it off is a major challenge. You may have even seen statistics that offer a discouraging view of long-term results. While it’s true that research on this topic has offered some disappointing news, be careful whose statistics you believe. Many doctors and dietitians often cite a statistic from 1959, which reports that of those who manage to lose weight, 95 percent will regain all of the weight lost.
While weight maintenance can be difficult over the long term, there are individuals who succeed. One problem with statistics is that clinical researchers typically only report group averages, so the success of individual patients gets lost in the data. To capture data on successful weight maintenance, two obesity researchers, Rena Wing, PhD, at Brown University and Jim Hill, PhD, of Colorado Health Sciences Center in Denver, created the National Weight Loss Registry in 1993. The Registry now includes more than 3,000 people who have maintained at least a 30-pound weight loss for one year or more. In fact, the average person in the Registry has lost an average of 60 pounds and kept it off for an average of five and a half years. Yes, you can do it, too.
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