Listen To Maintainers, Not to Losers
Friday, June 22nd, 2007 Subscribe To Our Feed
I’m not sure about you, but I have very little interest these days in stories of big, dramatic losses of bodyweight.
That doesn’t impress me, for numerous reasons. For example, weight is not fat. “weight” could be composed of mostly lean tissue. It could also be water weight. I know wrestlers who drop 15 pounds in a couple of days to make weight for a meet.
I would even go further and say that rapid loss of bodyweight probably correlates very highly with a much greater chance of relapse and re-gain.
So what does impress me? What gets my attention?
People who have not only lost the weight, but maintained an idealWeight for over a year… preferably even 2-5 years or more.
I listen VERY carefully to what the “long term maintainers” have to say, while I tend to to dismiss (more or less) what the “big losers” have to say.
As I was researching this subject of long term maintenance recently, I was pleasantly surprised at the huge amount of research that has already been done.
One paper that caught my interest was published by Judy Kruger and colleauges in the International Journal of Behavioral Nutrition and Physical Activity, and titled, “Dietary and physical activity behaviors among adults successful at weightLoss maintenance.”
This was not an experimental study, but a compilation of data from the “Styles survey” which was representative of the US population and asked respondents questions about strategies to aid with maintaining an ideal weight.
We’ve often heard the statistic that 95% of dieters can’t keep weight off long term. This statistic may very well be accuratewhen taken over a long period of time. Whether the success rate is ultimately that low or not, we know for sure that most people do not succeed at maintaining for more than 6-12 months
In this particular survey, only one-third (30.96%) said they were successful at keeping their weight off. The researchers wanted to know the difference between the small group that was successful and the majority that were not.
There were a lot of similarities among maintainers and non maintainers:
Both groups reduced the amount of food they consumed, they ate smaller portions, more fruits and vegetables, fewer fatty foods and fewer sweetened beverages.
Not really any surprises there, but what we want to know most is not what losers and maintainers had in common, but what the maintainers did that the losers didn’t.
4 major differences emerged in this survey:
A significantly higher proportion of successful maintainers reported exercising 30 minutes or more daily, and they also reported adding other physical activity (recreation, sports, physical work, etc) to their daily schedules.
Lifting weights was also a distinguishing factor between groups as substantially more successful maintainers included weight training in their exercise regimens than did the losers. ”Reducing sedentary activities” was also noted as a significant difference between those who successfully maintained and those who did not (less TV watching, etc).
The role of exercise induced caloric deficit versus diet-induced deficit is still being debated among obesity researchers, but just about everyone agrees that exercise is critical for long term maintenance. The next big difference that separated the successful maintainers from the unsuccessful was in their “self-monitoring behaviors” including:
tracking calories
tracking body weight
planning meals
tracking fat
measuring amount of food on plate
Similar results have been found by the National WeightControl Registry (NWCR), another group of successful maintainers.
Unfortunately, these types of self monitoring behaviors, especially weighing and measuring food, planning meals on paper and counting calories, are among the most avoided or even criticized techniques. Even some “experts” claim that it’s unnecessary to count calories, track results, weigh yourself or measure and weigh your food.
Apparently, these “experts” were mistaken.
These self monitoring behaviors are being identified as part of “the difference that makes the difference.” I agree, as they have always played a major role in my own Burn The Fat program (burnthefat.com)
A fourth and final difference was that people who reported self-perceived “barriers” to their success were 48-76% less likely to be a successful maintainer.
For example, they said they had no time to exercise, they were too tired to exercise or it was too hard to maintain an exercise routine. (I interpret this as: unsuccessful maintainers were excuse makers!)
Based on these findings (and the previous research confirmed by these findings), here are the…
TOP 4 STRATEGIES TO BE A SUCCESSFUL MAINTAINER
1. Increase activity, including formal exercise as well as sports, physical work or recreational activity.
2. Include weight training as part of your formal exercise program
3. Track and monitor everything – count and track calories and nutrients, measure your food portion sizes, plan your meals and menus in writing and monitor your body weight.
4. Avoid excuses and maintain positive beliefs and attitudes towards your environment and what you perceive as “barriers” (for example, “I can always make time for what is most important to me” versus, “I don’t have time to exercise,” etc.)
If you’re currently engaged in the fat loss journey, and you want to know how good your odds are for being a successful maintainer, it’s pretty easy to predict using these simple guidelines.
If you’re not using all 4 of these strategies, then when today would be a good time to start?
There are limitations to survey results such as these, including the fact that they are cross sectional, and therefore cannot prove causality. However, I believe these findings are important and significant.
Not only do they match previous similar studies and agree with the findings of the NWCR, I found that these results match precisely what I’ve seen among my most successful “Burn The Fat” clients.
THIS is the type of advice I’d suggest you listen to the most: Advice about how to maintain an ideal bodyweight over the long haul, not how to lose it as fast as possible.
In closing this week, I’d remind you to remember the words of EM Gray, who in “The Common Denominator Of Success” wrote: “The difference between successful and unsuccessful people is that successful people are willing to do what the unsuccessful people are not.”
If you’d like to learn more about how to be a “successful maintainer” (not a “big loser”), this is what my entire “Burn The Fat” approach is based upon. Visit: Burn the Fat
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