Would you rather learn how to fly an airplane from an instructor who has read a dozen books on how to fly a plane but never actually flown one himself, or an instructor without formal training who has been a pilot for a dozen years? If you’re like most people, you would probably rather learn from the person with experience rather than mere theoretical knowledge.
Why should weight loss be any different? There are many different theories about the best way to lose weight, and most of them have some kind of logical basis that makes sense. But just because a particular diet or weight-loss strategy is plausible in theory doesn’t mean it works in the real world. If you want to know what works in the real world, you need to talk to men and women who have succeeded in losing significant amounts of weight—and in keeping it off for an extended period of time.
The National Weight Control Registry is a research pool comprising several thousand men and women who have lost an average of 66 pounds apiece and kept the weight off an average of six years. Scientists from Brown University and other universities have been studying the habits of NWCR members since 1993. This work has produced our best insights into what sorts of weight-loss methods are most effective in the real world. Here are the five key habits of the most successful weight losers:
Exercise
A significant commitment to exercise is the single most commonly shared habit among NWCR members. Nine out of ten used exercise along with diet to lose weight and maintain weight loss. Only one in ten used diet changes alone. The most popular form of exercise among them is walking. The average NWCR member does the equivalent of 5.5 to 6.0 miles of walking every day.
Low Fat Intake
The average NWCR member gets only 25 percent of his or her calories from fat, compared to 34 percent for the average American. That said, researchers have found that NWCR members have successfully used all kinds of other diet strategies as well, including low-carb diets. While a low-fat diet might not be more effective than these other strategies for weight loss, it might be more popular due to its simplicity and convenience. Everyone knows which foods are high in fat, and there are now many low-fat alternatives to traditionally high-fat foods.
Self-Monitoring
Research has shown that simply paying attention to what you eat is one of the more effective ways to reduce your caloric intake. Self-monitoring strategies are a key habit among members of the National Weight Control Registry. About half of them report that they are still counting calories and fat grams years after achieving their initial weight loss.
Another useful self-monitoring habit that is common among the NWCR members is weighing. This habit allows them to avoid the insidious upward creep that is the undoing of many initially successful diets.
Consistency
Healthy eating is not like a vaccine: one shot and you’re covered for life. Instead it requires a daily, lifelong commitment. There is growing evidence that the more consistent you are in your wholesome eating habits, the greater your chances of maintaining a healthy body weight.
Again, the members of the National Weight Control Registry set an example. One of the most recent findings related to this cohort is that they do maintain a very consistent eating pattern. Unlike many dieters, they tend to eat the same on the weekends as they do during the week. The same holds for the holidays versus the rest of the year. They tend to have a consistent eating pattern throughout the year.
Motivation
Why are some dieters able to maintain their healthy new lifestyle indefinitely while most others peter out after a few weeks or months? This is currently one of the hottest questions in weight loss research. As yet there is no definitive answer, but there are indications that it’s mostly about motivation.
Certain types of triggers for weight loss diets are more likely to yield long-term success than others. For example, the scientists studying the NWCR members have found that people who have medical triggers for their weight loss are more successful in the long term than people who don’t. There’s nothing like a near-death experience to keep you on the straight and narrow path of healthy eating!
More evidence for the motivation explanation comes from the fact that just about every other explanation can be eliminated. It is often assumed that successful dieters have more inherent willpower. However, most members of the NWCR actually failed in several weight loss initiatives before they finally succeeded, indicating that something about their circumstances rather than their psychological makeup was the key.
Psychological questionnaires have revealed that individuals who regain lost weight show a lower level of eating restraint (ability to resist food) than those who maintain their weight loss. While it’s tempting to view eating restraint as willpower, experts say it’s really motivation, because it is not a fixed quality. Instead, it changes over time and by circumstance within individuals. So the lesson here is that if you want to lose weight, the most important thing you can do is find the right motivation—a motivation strong enough to enable you to exercise, maintain a low-fat diet, eat consistently, and monitor your food intake and weight for the rest of your life!
