Maintaining weight loss is the biggest challenge in the treatment of obesity. Fifty percent of the weight people lose is regained by the one year mark. And by five years, most people regain all the weight they lost.

Why is maintaining weight loss such a challenge? There are many reasons. Psychologically, losing weight is the most rewarding aspect of treatment. Once an individual reaches a goal weight, most of the motivators disappear. And often people set unrealistic weight loss goals that lead to feeling of failure and hopelessness which can lead to relapse. Biologically, highly restrictive dieting increases productions of hormones that promote weight gain and people often develop an increased desire for high fat, high sugar foods.

The good news is the there are people who do achieve long-term success. What are those people doing to maintain their weight loss?

Enter The National Weight Control Registry (NWCR). Established over 15 year ago, the NWCR is the largest prospective study of long-term successful weight loss management. Their goal was to identify and investigate the characteristics of people who have succeeded at losing significant amounts of weight, and more importantly, keeping that weight off for long periods of time. The NWCR is currently following over 6000 of these successful individuals. Detailed questionnaires and annual follow-up surveys are used to examine the behavioral and psychological characteristics of weight maintainers, as well as the strategies they use to maintaining their weight losses.

What is the NWCR finding out about successful “losers?” Some of the key behavior strategies include:

• Consume a low-calorie, low-fat meal plan
• Eat breakfast every day
• Eat regularly throughout the day
• Limit fast foods to less than once each week
• Get at least 60 minutes of physical activity each day
• Watch less than ten hours of television each week
• Weight in and track weights at least weekly
• Get support with the help of some type of program

The findings of the NWCR and other independent research give us hope for being successful in achieving and maintaining our weight loss goals. Just like the skills one learns to lose weight successfully, the best weight management strategies are based on getting the support needed to adopt sustainable, healthy lifestyle behaviors.