Sexy weight loss commercials and magazine advertisers will have you convinced that they’ve got the “easy quick fix” to weight loss.  But, let’s be honest.  If it was that easy, we’d all be thin.  With all of life’s demands and pressures, keeping weight down is a struggle as 2 out of every 3 folks in the US is now overweight.  So, instead of telling you what you already know, let’s look at the research to discover eight proven secrets for weight loss and keeping off the weight you lose.

The secrets revealed are based on research with 3,000 participants in the National Weight Control Registry aimed to understand how some people are able to keep off the pounds they shed.  The research was led by J. Graham Thomas, PhD, of Brown University, in which the research team evaluated questionnaires completed by people who had been in the registry, which tracks successful dieters, for at least 10 years. About three-quarters were women and most were college educated.

The Before and After

The dieters originally weighed an average of 224 pounds before losing weight. They reported that they’d kept off an average 51 pounds of 69 pounds lost. That means they kept off nearly 75% of the total weight lost.  While most people do gain back the weight they lose, keeping off 75% is an excellent achievement.

So how did they do it?  How did they keep off the weight they lost?

In findings presented at a meeting of the Obesity Society, Dr. Thomas and colleagues identified 8 strategies shared by those who’d kept off most of their lost pounds:

The 8 Secrets for Keeping Off the Weight You Lose

1. Eating breakfast regularly.

2. Walking about an hour a day, or burning an equivalent amount of calories by engaging in other activities.

3. Weighing yourself at least weekly.

4. Tracking food intake.

5. Counting calories and fat grams or using commercial weight-loss software to track intake.

6. Limiting eating out to an average of three times a week including all meals, while consuming fast food less than once a week.

7. Limiting food variety, mostly eating similar foods from week to week, and not splurging much on holidays and special occasions.

8. Watching fewer than 10 hours a week of TV.

The successful dieters averaged about 1,800 calories a day, with less than 30% of those calories from fats.

True Health U’s Take

Reviewing each of these 8 secrets reminds me of a famous Chinese proverb, dripping water can eat through a stone.  To me, the proverb means that perseverance will lead to success.  In dealing with weight loss or any other seemingly difficult task, keep on working at it without fear, and you will eventually succeed.

Whether you chose to focus on 1 secret revealed or all of them, every bit of conscious attention and effort towards those strategies (secrets) will help you become a success with your overall health program for weight loss now and in the long run.