The Secrets Of Their Success
Shedding pounds isn't easy. Keeping them off is harder still. What we can learn from those who did
By Christine Gorman
ANNE HAMERSKY FOR TIME
NEVER GIVE UP: Two previous attempts at weight loss failed, but in August 1992 something clicked for Olga Arias, who started swimming, watched what she ate and lost more than 100 lbs. in two years
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June 7, 2004
Olga Arias, 46, knows what it's like to be obese. "Ever since I
was a kid, I was probably always chunky," she says. "Every year I
would just gain weight." By the time the 5-ft. 5-in. San
Francisco city worker was 34, she tipped the scales at 260 lbs.
"I was self-conscious about everything—getting on a bus, sitting
in an airplane seat," she recalls. "I would put off seeing
doctors, I was so embarrassed."
Like millions of other plus-size Americans, Arias had tried a
couple of times to lose weight—only to regain every pound she
shed and then some. Finally, one August day in 1992, she says,
"something just clicked. I knew I had to do something." Arias
started swimming at a local pool and limiting what she ate. At
first, she didn't tell anyone what she was doing because she
feared she might fail again. But after the first month, when she
lost 25 lbs., people at work started to notice and compliment her
efforts. After two years, she had lost more than 100 lbs.—and
she has kept the weight off.
What is Arias' secret? She didn't undergo gastric-bypass surgery.
She didn't do Atkins, South Beach or any other diet plan. What
she did was buy a couple of books that listed the nutritional
value and calorie content of the foods she ate, including
prepared items. Then she gave up fried foods and alcohol, began
preparing her own meals and loaded up on fruits and vegetables.
Finally, she started moving—first by joining a swimming pool,
then walking, hiking, biking, even surfing for a while. To this
day, she limits what she eats, exercises at least an hour a day
and steps on the bathroom scales every morning to make sure her
weight doesn't creep back up.
Arias' success story qualified her to join the National Weight
Control Registry, a study of men and women who have lost at least
30 lbs. and kept them off for at least a year. The registry was
founded in 1993 by James Hill, an obesity researcher at the
University of Colorado, and Rena Wing, a behavioral psychologist
at Brown University, and although it's a self-selected group of
self-described "successful losers," it has taught researchers
quite a bit about how to achieve long-term weight loss. Today
there are 5,000 Americans listed in the registry, and their
stories are an inspiration to anyone who has ever struggled with
a weight problem. "On average they have lost 70 lbs. and kept it
off at least six years," Wing says. What are the secrets of their
success? Some of them may surprise you.
Probably the most unexpected result is that there is no consensus
about the best way to lose weight. Half the registrants shed the
pounds on their own; the other half enrolled in a program or went
to a nutritionist. Some participants emphasized protein, others a
low-fat diet. But most chose some combination of limiting what
they ate and increasing their level of physical activity.
Clear trends emerged when it came to maintaining that weight
loss. The first thing they all did was get off the couch. Even
after they had reached their target weight, participants
continued to spend an hour a day—often more—most days of the
week, in some type of vigorous physical activity. Walking was the
most popular, but practically everyone added at least one other
sport or activity.
After reaching their goal, most long-term losers followed a
single general strategy toward nutrition: limiting the calories
and to a lesser extent the amount of fat in their diet. (It will
be interesting to see if this observation continues to hold as
high-protein diets become more popular.) That doesn't mean that
they necessarily count each calorie or weigh every portion, but
they often started by looking up the calorie content of their
favorite foods. "I was surprised at how calories can sneak up on
you," says Gregg Fields, 44, a college professor in Delray Beach,
Fla., who lost 35 lbs. and has kept them off for eight years.
Fields quickly determined he needed to get rid of what he calls
junk calories. "All fried foods are gone—particularly French
fries," he says.
Finally, almost all the registry's long-term losers eat breakfast
and weigh themselves regularly, usually once a day. Eating
breakfast—particularly one that emphasizes fruits, vegetables or
cereals rich in fiber—seems to be a natural appetite
suppressant. And there is nothing like stepping on the scales
each morning to figure out whether you need to boost your
physical activity or push back a little sooner from the table.
No one is saying that any of this is easy—the folks in the
Weight Control Registry appear to be working harder at
maintaining their weight than those who have never had a weight
problem. But the conventional wisdom among experts that 95% of
all dieters are doomed to regain their lost weight may be too
pessimistic. One reason researchers have such a bleak view of
dieting is a famous study of 100 people conducted in the late
1950s by Dr. Albert Stunkard, now a professor emeritus at the
University of Pennsylvania. Only two of his subjects were able to
maintain their weight loss for two years. "That was a period when
we had no treatment for obesity," Stunkard says. "The medical
profession thought it was either a psychiatric issue or a
metabolic problem that couldn't be solved. We've done much better
since then."
The experience of registry participants suggests that your best
chance for success is to develop—and stick with—an eating and
exercise plan you can follow over the long run. Indeed, many
registry members say losing weight was not as hard as keeping it
off. There is less positive reinforcement once you've stopped
shedding pounds and too many opportunities in our land of plenty
to overindulge. Often, as with smoking cigarettes, it seems to
take more than one attempt to get it right.
"You have to make it a priority," says Chris Stock, 51, a 6ft.
2-in. clinical pharmacist in Salt Lake City, Utah, who lost 70
lbs. seven years ago after suffering a heart attack and adopting
a vegetarian diet and a daily exercise routine. Stock runs at
least an hour each day, keeps himself busy and leaves encouraging
notes for himself around the house, on the refrigerator and on
the computer as a way to deal with frequent thoughts about food.
"Every diet is designed to be short term," he says. "But this has
got to be a commitment for the rest of your life."
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