Strength in Numbers
Maintenance research encourages working smarter, not just harder
As of December 23, 2009, with nearly 180 lbs gone, my BMI is now miraculously in the “healthy” range and under 25. My weight is under 160 and heading toward 150. I’m registered for a local half-iron triathlon in July. I can wear tiny clothes again! I’ve made it! Again, for the third time.
Breaking the Vicious Cycle
The first time was at age 10, when a pediatrician traded my entire box of macaroni and cheese for carrots and powdered milk lunches. The second was at 20 with salads and raw tofu. Now in my mid-40s, I used three different nutrition tracker programs, kept a food scale in my purse and adopted a plethora of exercise regimes. This last time’s paid off. Now I’m almost as cut and defined as my Bodypump teacher and prepping for a triathlon!
But the question remains: how do I maintain the weight I lost? How do I stay as cut as my Bodypump teacher? Personal history isn’t on my side, and for all the highly detailed information on weight loss, all the “maintenance” talk tends to be be touchy-feely and motivational. Too many are lulled into a sense of false confidence and they aren’t given a roadmap of what to do. I have my motivation already, thanks; I’ve lost and regained twice already. I just need to know what to do.
Statistics don’t offer encouragement. In 2000, The International Journal of Obesity published that 94 percent of those who lose weight didn’t sustain their goal. After my attempts, it’s clear to me that it’s not just enough to ‘keep doing what you did to get the weight off.’ What do these 6 percent actually do to maintain?
Thankfully, a promising body of scientific literature has emerged asking these same questions. And unlike my previous weight loss attempts, now I have a PhD in genetics. With that degree comes the ability to analyze this literature and apply it to my life.
But what seems to be missing is a place to transmit and evaluate this information to everyone. A place where someone explains what it means, lists the mechanics of weight management in terms of specific behaviors and strategies. I couldn’t find a place like that on the internet, so I’m creating my own, here, for all of us.
Exploring Weight Management Research
Although there is a vast amount of information about how to lose weight, a comparatively tiny body of research exists on keeping it off. There are some very interesting findings coming out of groups like the National Weight Control Registry, where scientists analyze participants’ survey responses. We are learning through this research what works for most people and what doesn’t. Other groups also research maintenance, such as the Weight Loss Maintenance Collaborative Research Group and scientists in New Zealand, the United Kingdom, Sweden and Portugal.
Like any scientific work, the studies I’ll be exploring aren’t perfect. That’s not the point — what’s important is this literature proves useful anyway. I think we know how to work hard, but that’s not enough. Managing weight off is not about how intelligent you are or how much knowledge you have.
This research encourages us to be smart about how we approach maintenance, because relapse is always waiting just around the corner. It’s about what you do — not just being smart, but taking smarter actions. Working smarter. Everyday.
Working through the new scientific literature will help us both understand the process better and improve our odds. Because if 94 percent of the weight loss success stories don’t maintain a healthy weight, but that means 6 percent do. Those 6 percent are real, live human beings with free will and determination. I am going to do everything in my power to ensure you and I are among them.
anja
Great article. I’m glad to see that you’re still working so hard to figure out how to maintain your wonderful weight loss, and not just sit back and do what you’ve been doing. You Knowing you as I do, if anyone can help others (including yourself) with this part of their journey, I know it’s you. Because I know I’ve greatly appreciated all the help you’ve given me so far and I know you’ll continue to be with me along my own tough journey.
Keep up the wonderful work.
Dani
Hey!! this is great! I am so happy for you, and so proud! keep sending me links as you put up more articles/info and I will be sure to check it all out. Looking forward to sea kayaking!
This column has grabbed my attention big time. I’m looking forward to you future columns. (The last paragraph just about says it all!!)
Nice article. Well written. Looking forward to more!
Awesome! I’m looking forward to your research! Congratulations on your continued success!! Let us know at SparkPeople when you update here! Birdie.
You are an amazing woman ~~~ a real trailblazer! Keep up the good work!
I’m paying attention to this information and to YOU on SparkPeople as well. This is BIG and I too am determined to stop messing with my health and get on a consistent successful platform of eating and exercising.
Thanks. I’ve bookmarked the article for further perusal and study! Thanks for taking advantage of this forum…and KUDOS to Russ Lane for continue the journey with Second Helping.
Maha
I give you so much credit for losing the weight in the first place, and now tackling the hard job of figuring out how to keep it off in the second place. I am very interested in the subject of eating disorders, and I know that those who struggle to maintain needed weight gain, or to refrain from bingeing and/or purging, often relapse because they haven’t recovered “mentally” even though physically they may be OK. I found some real insight and knowledge into the problem of recovery in the two books of Jenni Schaefer, “Life Without Ed: How One Woman Declared Independence from Her Eating Disorder and How You Can Too” and “Goodbye Ed, Hello Me: Recover from Your Eating Disorder and Fall in Love with Life”. Jenni suffered from anorexia and bulemia and is now truly recovered, not just recovering. My daughter has struggled with anorexia and binge eating disorder, and the disordered thinking really needs to be addressed to become fully healthy.
You Rock! I LOVE this article! Keep me posted on your posts, I really need the help, having lost and found 15 pounds repeatedly over the last 10 years!
“The International Journey of Obesity”? Really? Or is it “journal”? Maybe that’s intentional, because it does feel like an international journey sometimes! I, too, am fascinated by the 6% who make it. Am reading Gina Kolata’s book, *Rethinking Thin: The New Science of Weight Loss.* The research is staggering but still in its infancy. Helps me to know that every single study under the sun shows that fat people do not differ from thin people in any significant way (e.g., psychological health, happiness, outlook on life) but yet are biologically different. That the “bottomless pit” feeling I struggle with is the same as that experienced by POWs who were on starvation diets. That genetically, there is just something out of the ordinary in my makeup. This helps me because I say to myself, “You have to manage this thing like you would some kind of life-long ailment. Deal with it.” I will be a member of The 6% Club for my entire life!
Thanks for catching that typo! Fixed!
I’m 100% with you about each of us needing to manage our own specific biology and psychology, no matter what it is, or how different from the “average.”
I hope we’ll ALL figure out how to stay in the 6% club…
(If that happens, maybe it’ll turn into the 10% club or the 50% club LOL)
*Laughs* Sue, I’m shaking my fist with a big smile on my face. I actually kind of like it when awesome comments on stories totally steals the thunder for articles I’m working on. *Laughs*
I read “Rethinking Thin” a while back and it’s a brilliant book. Hopefully the very talented Gina Kolata will agree to an interview about it.
The whole idea that obese men and women are physiologically different from “the normal folk” has a LOT of implications. Angela and I compare notes quite a bit, and we’ll definitely be talking about this more.
And grats to Angela on a killer first column. She’s just getting warmed up, folks!
When does one become a 6%ter? I am only at 2 years and 3 months of maintaining and have no plan to go back. I have made it through the birth of my 3rd child who is now 12 weeks old without a relapse but it is challenging. It is my life now, not all of it but a part. I also find it is a part that I have some control over and it gives me an escape if the rest of my life becomes a bit out of control. I also view my eating habits and exercise as a bit of a hobby on top of being a lifestyle. I like to play with the variables and see what it does and what the results are.
As we know we cannot just do the “same thing” over and over, gets boring and unproductive. Instead embrace and play with the change that is always needed and thus building and growing what works for you and your time and needs. Just a couple thoughts and questions and I look forward to future articles as well! Thanks!!!
@Greg
The original article followed the subjects for 15 years. So I suppose by that criterion you have about 12.75 years to go…
You’ve managed longer with the weight management than I ever have so far, so your experience and suggestions are very helpful!
Well then I will have to set a date to have a party on Nov. 19th 2022 then when I will be considered a true success and have maintained long enough to count, lol! Black rice, try black rice if you like rice! Better for you than brown rice and has sooooo much more flavor! My tip of the day so to say!
@Greg
Sounds like a plan. And you better invite me! Can I recommend Russ as a caterer? I’ve seen his recent menus, and omigosh. LOL
I’ll have my party on January 9, 2025. And just for you I will serve the black rice. hehehe
*Blushes* Ah, Shucks. Thanks Angela!
For those wondering, the menu for 10 included:
– Slow roasted tomato served with a dollop of Roasted Asparagus-Mint Pesto (recipe on the site), garnished with a toasted walnut
– Sweet Potato Polenta with Catalan mushrooms (both recipes adapted form recipes on Second Helping currently)
– Our soon-to-be-famous Mole Dusted Pork with Sour Cherry Mostarda, mixed and chopped with mustard greens and wrapped in baked wonton wrappers.
– Blueberry Fruit Salad with dried fig, mint, basil and roasted pecans
@Greg | Maintenance being boring and consequently unproductive is something that really the running theme of everything on this site — it’s more than “not resting on your laurels” or “dealing with your big boy/big girl issues,” *laughs* It’s much, much more than that!
It’s continuing to challenge and deepen your experience of life. That shows up in the mechanics of maintenance, in the science of it. But it’s also relevant in the areas of your life beyond diet/exercise … how you think of yourself and deal with other people, how you live, play, work and eat. Really understanding that is the true beauty of this process — even if most everyone else settles for being impressed with showing off the ol’ fat pants. You totally get it!
Love y’all loads — Russ