Keeping weight off for good

What does it take to keep weight off once you lose it? For the answer to that question, you might want to check out the National Weight Control Registry. The NWCR was established in 1994, by Rena Wing, Ph.D., of Brown Medical School, and James O. Hill, Ph.D., of the University of Colorado. It is the world’s largest investigative research study developed to identify the characteristics of individuals who have succeeded at long-term weight loss.

The study currently tracks about 10,000 individuals. The minimum requirement for participation in the registry is a weight loss of 30 pounds which has been kept off for a minimum of one year. The average participant, however, has lost 60 pounds and maintained it for at least 5 years. Detailed questionnaires are sent to registry participants on an annual basis and the results have been published in several journals and reports.

Here are just a few of the behaviors the research identified:

n 78 percent of the members eat breakfast every day. Eating breakfast helps get your metabolism started, helps keep you from eating unhealthy snacks later in the morning and keeps you from bingeing at later meals.

n 89 percent use a combination of diet and exercise. Most participants follow a low fat diet and exercise for 60 minutes or more each day. While the current recommendation from the Centers for Disease Control, the American Heart Association and the Surgeon General’s office is 30 minutes of moderate activity a day for good health, most experts agree that you will need to exercise more than 30 minutes a day if you are trying to lose weight.

n 62 percent of members watch less than 10 hours of TV each week. The television can be a great time waster, not to mention the prevalence of food related advertising. Examine your own television and other screen habits.

Can you give up some of your TV time to be more active?

n 75 percent of NWCR participants weigh themselves at least once a week, and many weigh themselves every day. By weighing yourself every day, you can catch small gains and do something about them before they become larger.