20% maintain at least a year (!)

bluebunny27 · Post by **bluebunny27** » Fri May 14, 2010 7:46 pm

http://bit.ly/cIYn2R

"Although few long-term evaluations of weight loss methods and programs exist, studies suggest that weight regain is common, especially for those with higher initial weight losses. Only about 20 percent of obese or overweight people who lose at least 10 percent of their initial body weight can keep it off for at least a year. "

***** Wow, 20% or less maintain after a year ... that's a pretty shocking number. At the same time it makes me proud that I am able to basically maintain my weight (give or take a few pounds !) for the past 6 and a half months now after losing 32% of my body weight. Still 5 and a half months to go to be in the select 20%, lol !

I have to fight through adversity sometimes of course but as long as you keep most of your good habits, diet and exercise, it's not too bad. Only one bad day since april 16th (28 days ?) so I've been rock n' rollin'. I lost 4 pounds during that time and now I'm getting closer to my original goal, 190 pounds.

Cheers !

Marc

38 Years Old, 5'10" Tall
Nov. 1st. 2008 : 280 Pounds
Nov. 1st. 2009 : 190 Pounds
(1 Year : - 90 Pounds)

Current Weight : 194 Pounds

ShannahR · Post by **ShannahR** » Fri May 14, 2010 8:07 pm

To be quite honest I thought the number was smaller. I would have guessed less than 10%.

wosnes · Post by **wosnes** » Fri May 14, 2010 8:53 pm

I'm not surprised. Most diets, even the maintenance phases, are pretty restrictive. I don't think most dieters learn to include the foods they love into a reasonable way of eating.

Too solid flesh · Post by **Too solid flesh** » Fri May 14, 2010 9:42 pm

You're doing really well, Marc.

The National Weight Control Register says that:

weight loss maintenance may get easier over time; after individuals have successfully maintained their weight loss for 2-5 y, the chance of longer-term success greatly increases.

See:

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/1600 ... d_RVDocSum

oolala53 · Post by **oolala53** » Fri May 14, 2010 10:25 pm

I've thought you were remarkable since I first read one of your posts, but then I knew about that statistic. Yes, you are doing well.

Actually, I don't think I would have done as well on No S if I hadn't failed at several diets. I actually learned to eat the meals I eat now on them- lots of veggies, good fats, some luscious food, some protein, no more than 1-2 fists' size of starch. My main issue was bingeing, and No S has definitely gotten me to reduce that. I also learned the value of hunger, but didn't have the structure to achieve it regularly. I think in a certain way, I wasn't willing to accept how little food could satisfy me, and I was afraid I'd be "stuck" eating a small amount when I wanted more because my body had gotten used to so little. But now I'm feeling more relaxed because I get to eat delicious food and the amount of time I'm hungry is acceptable. It's just becoming part of life.

In 4 months I've lost only 7%, but I expect to keep that off. I also assume with fewer S days gone wild and more exercise, I'll take off more.

leafy_greens · Post by **leafy_greens** » Sat May 15, 2010 12:09 am

I'd be curious to see the percentage of maintenance in No S dieters vs. other dieters.

bluebunny27 · Post by **bluebunny27** » Sat May 15, 2010 2:30 am

Hey thanks, everyone ! Wow, I'm *blushing* again.

Too Solid, I know I read somewhere it takes 2 years at least for your body to adjust to a new weight when you have lost a lot (More than 10%) so I hope mine is a quick learner, heh.

oolala, 7% within 4 months is great ! It depends on how heavy you were when you started too, it's much harder now for me to lose 1 pound then when I started ... The first month I changed my lifestyle around I lost 14 pounds and it wasn't even that hard. I guess when you are not active and eating badly your body is shocked when you're working out and eating veggies all of a sudden ... I went from 280 to 266 the 1st month. (Lost 16.4% within 4 months.) Nowadays, to lose 'just' 4-5 pounds in a month I feel it requires a lot more discipline and hard work of course. I'm not freaking out over a pound or two now though. I'm pretty close to my goal weight and focusing more on my habits.

For some reason, I was expecting the number to be higher ... only 20% maintained after just a year ?? And I read somewhere else after 5 years it drops to 5% ... This motivates me to be good actually and not quit ... Hey, it can be done. I even stopped fantasizing about cookies lately, I'm cured. I just have one once in a while and that's enough, no need to go through half the bag before stopping.

When you diet and exercise for a whole year straight as I did ... you definitely learn a lot, what you should do, all that good stuff ... or at least you should ! It's not all about the number on the scale, it's about learning how to behave to improve yourself.

I don't really get why only 1 out of 5 people who lose a lot of weight (10% +) gain all of it back (or nearly all !) within a single year after that ... you are supposed to learn so you can avoid making the same mistakes again.

Even 6 months and a half after ending my journey I haven't changed too many things compared to what I was doing before when I was right in the middle of the storm ... I'm still eating well, (big salad for lunch almost every day) exercising hard many times every week, etc. I haven't even been to a fast food place since I ended my year long thing - - it just doesn't seem *right* now, I wouldn't even enjoy it as a treat, unbelievable really. I used to go eat burgers and whatnot 3-4 times per week when I was a *big boy*

I just got in a bit of trouble in early april due to personal issues and being stressed ... I think I gained 8-9 pounds within 2 weeks, I was still training but I was misbehaving too often in the dining room ruining my work outs and more ... (Cookies and ice cream, among other things) At least I bounced back quickly and I learned something as well, it taught me a lesson ...

I have been spot on (almost) for nearly a month straight now. Losing 4-5 pounds and I am motivated to lose the rest as well. I know I can lose 1 pound per week when I am good in any case. (I weigh once a week so it's easy to see the trend)

Cheers !

Marc

38 Years Old, 5'10" Tall
Nov. 1st. 2008 : 280 Pounds
Nov. 1st. 2009 : 190 Pounds
(1 Year : - 90 Pounds)

Current Weight : 194 Pounds

oolala53 · Post by **oolala53** » Sat May 15, 2010 8:08 am

Regarding maintenance, the National Weightloss Registry found that the majority of maintainers were doing the same things in maintenance that thy did to lose weight. I think gainers are people who either consciously or unconsciously think in terms of "when this is over." They did not accept deep down that they needed to make permanent changes. Perhaps they were eating so little that they were driven to fantasize about stuffing themselves again. A lot of diets don't teach people to eat small amounts of "palatable" food. Instead, they rarely do, and old impulses kick in if they do, and they compulsively overeat. This gets the vicious cycle going. There seems to be a little more wisdom about this now, but on my other diet board, I'll read women saying "no sugar" as an open-ended goal and I always think "good luck." I think there are very few individuals in this culture who can really give up sugar forever, and breaking their rule and eating a small amount often leads to a binge.

As Reinhard has pointed out, another reason people gain is that they had adopted unsustainable regimes. His maxim to do the least that you have to allows you to build your capabilities rather than fizzle out. Sometimes I watch infomercials about P90X and wonder what that woman who is so happy she went from a size 6 to a size 2 going to feel about her body 2 or 3 years down the line when she isn't willing to keep working out at such intensity. Then she'll probably spend 10 years mourning that lost body. It's theoretically possible to maintain such losses, if the motivation is high enough. Just not likely that the motivation will stay high.

But I digress. Sounds like you've found your stride and can be aware long before things get out of hand. They all say that! That's why Reinhard calls his pics "before' and "during." Basically, we're all "during."

A woman who had been over 300 lbs. and become slim counsels her clients, when they ask how long it will take, says, "The rest of your life." I doubt there are many traditional dieters who wouldn't shudder hearing that.

bluebunny27 · Post by **bluebunny27** » Sat May 15, 2010 3:09 pm

Well said, oolala ... This seems to make a lot of sense !!

The whole thing is a work in progress ! I thought maintaining would be really easy when I started but I see now I still have to work on my habits daily (it's not torture but it requires some hard work !) or else I could easily gain some weight back.

I just eased up a lil' bit compared to when I was right in the middle of the journey but I know I can't drop all my good habits overnight or else it'll show on the scale in no time.

From my experience, being good at least 70% of the time with the diet and exercise is enough for me to maintain. I was aiming for at least 80% compliance for both of those habits when I was trying harder to lose weight, so that's a 10-15% 'reduction' only in the maintenance phase compared to before ... Diet & Exercise, a classic combination.

Note, I changed my avatar just now. It makes more sense to have a Bunny there instead of my usual Black wolf. I couldn't find a 'Blue' bunny I liked though so I had to settle for a brown one. The other day I was cycling hard and a small brown bunny similar to the one in the avatar almost crossed right in front of me on the bicycle path ... I was this close to hitting it as it appeared out of nowhere right in the middle of a blind corner surrounded by trees and I had 0.2 second to react since I was close to my top speed ... luckily it escaped in the woods immediately, it was running scared I tell you (!) The bunny had awesome speed though, surprised me how fast those lil' creatures can run on short distances especially (probably helped by the FEAR FACTOR !) Maybe that was a sign it was time to change my avatar finally (and also to slow down when I'm blind cornering in the future !)

Cheers !

Marc

38 Years Old, 5'10" Tall
Nov. 1st. 2008 : 280 Pounds
Nov. 1st. 2009 : 190 Pounds
(1 Year : - 90 Pounds)

Current Weight : 194 Pounds

Too solid flesh · Post by **Too solid flesh** » Sat May 15, 2010 4:13 pm

bluebunny27 wrote:From my experience, being good at least 70% of the time with the diet and exercise is enough for me to maintain. I was aiming for at least 80% compliance for both of those habits when I was trying harder to lose weight, so that's a 10-15% 'reduction' only in the maintenance phase compared to before ... Diet & Exercise, a classic combination.

That's really interesting for future reference. The margin between loss and maintenance is quite small.

Nice avatar!

kccc · Post by **kccc** » Sat May 15, 2010 4:37 pm

Oolala, I think you're really on target with the "this is over" mentality undermining maintenance. I know I lost TWICE on Weight Watchers, but couldn't maintain the loss because the amount of attention/effort it took was just too high.

I think that's a major advantage of No-S -- the habits are built along the way, and become so second-nature that they don't need further attention. Most "diets" get harder as you go. No-S actually gets easier!

I would love a study on how many No-Sers maintained well... I would lay odds we beat the average. No real data, but I think No-S has some built-in safeguards against the more common problems.

bluebunny27 · Post by **bluebunny27** » Sat May 15, 2010 6:20 pm

Good point, Too Solid.

I'd say to maintain I have to have a degree of compliance
around 70% to my habits. (Both for the diet and the exercise)

Then the range is about 15% up or down :

If I go up to 85% I start losing weight. I am doing this now to go back to my goal weight and it's definiftely working. Losing about 1 pound per week four weeks in a row now.

If I drop to 55% I start gaining ... 1 to 5 pounds per week depending how naughty I was of course. ( + 5 pounds means I was eating a bag of cookies entirely every evening while watching TV and not working out at all. )

That's really what happens to me and I still do the HabitCal thing daily to monitor my behavior, red-yellow-green, it helps me to come up with these percentages. I am ballparking it of course, it's not an exact science (but pretty close !)

Thanks for the HabitCal, it's a useful tool. I use my own version based on the one available on the site here, I set it up in my computer, a homemade file I use daily.

The difference between maintaining and gaining is not that huge really ... that's why it's easy to slip up if you are not careful ....

Cheers !

Marc

38 Years Old, 5'10" Tall
Nov. 1st. 2008 : 280 Pounds
Nov. 1st. 2009 : 190 Pounds
(1 Year : - 90 Pounds)

Current Weight : 194 Pounds

bluebunny27 · Post by **bluebunny27** » Sun May 16, 2010 9:48 pm

http://twitter.com/bluebunny27

Hey, quick word ... I'm on TWITTER now ... good tool.
There's plenty of information, everything you want to know, nutrition, health, all that good stuff ...

Here's my account name if you want to follow me. I'll give lil' tips regularly ... about this and that. I like it a lot actually.

http://twitter.com/bluebunny27

194.2 pounds this morning (it was my weekly official weigh in) ... slowly but surely, getting there. I was hoping I would be in the 193's but it wasn't *MEANT TO BE* ...

Better luck next time...

http://twitter.com/

Cheers !

Marc

38 Years Old, 5'10" Tall
Nov. 1st. 2008 : 280 Pounds
Nov. 1st. 2009 : 190 Pounds
(1 Year : - 90 Pounds)

Current Weight : 194 Pounds