The National Weight Control Registry
The National Weight Control Registry arose out of the discouraging failure rates of university-based research programs.
Of subjects who lose weight in such programs, 90 percent regain all or part of the weight they’ve lost within five years. Obesity researchers did not have the problem, and they did not have the solution. But some researchers believed that there were ordinary people who had found the solution to their weight problem and that obesity researches could learn from them. And so the NWCR was born.
Through advertisements in local newspapers, researchers James Hill, Rena Wing, and Mary Lou Klem collected the histories of 813 people who had been successful at losing weight and keeping it off and analyzed their weight loss and weight-maintenance strategies. To be eligible for enrollment in the NWCR, an individual had to have lost 30 pounds or more and to have maintained the loss for at least a year.
What they learned
Nearly 77 percent of the registry reported that there was a triggering event or incident that preceded their successful weight loss. For a third of the enrollees, it was learning they had a medical condition such as high blood pressure, heart disease or diabetes. For another third, it was just receiving inspiration and impetus from someone else who had succeeded.
Common misconceptions about weight loss
Three other characteristics of registry members dispelled common misconceptions about weight loss. First, it is commonly believed that permanent weight loss is out of reach for people who have gained and lost repeatedly over the years. But nearly 91 percent of the sample reported that they had tried to lose weight previously, and nearly 80 percent had tried at least three or four diets before getting it right. Each failed attempt, it appears, taught valuable lessons about past diet mistakes and showed the registrants what techniques worked best for them.
Second, it is commonly believed that people who were fat as children can not lose weight. Nearly 75 percent of registry members were fat as children or teenagers. Only 28 percent became fat at the age of 18 or older and thus would qualify as having adult onset obesity.
Third, it is commonly believed that people who are middle-age or older can not lose weight. However, the average age of registry members was 45. They ranged in age from 19 to 85.
Most surprising finding
Maintaining weight loss was easier than shedding the weight. Forty-two percent found weight maintenance easier than weight loss. Thirty-three rated the two processes as equally difficult or easy. Only 25 percent found weight maintenance more difficult than weight loss. These results defy the conventional wisdom that weight maintenance is more difficult than weight loss.
The authors of the study did not have an explanation of why weight maintenance was relatively easy for most registry members. However, the answer may be found in a similar study by dietitian Anne Fletcher and documented in her book, “Thin for Life: Ten Keys to Success From People Who Have Lost Weight and Kept It Off.” She observed that the more extreme the original diet, the harder the transition to a maintenance diet.
In this regard, it is interesting to note that 20.4 percent of registry members used liquid formulas to lose weight and 5.5 percent ate only one or two types of food, making a total 25.9 percent of registrants who used extreme dietary strategies.
Whether the 25 percent in this group was the same 25 percent that found weight maintenance more difficult than weight loss, the study authors did not say. However, in a follow-up study of NWCR subjects, liquid formula users reported that weight maintenance was more difficult than losing weight; whereas individuals who lost weight without resorting to extremes reported the reverse.
Next week’s article will be on the seven predictors of permanent weight loss.
Mary Lou Williams, M. Ed., is a lecturer and writer in the field of nutrition. She welcomes inquiries. She can be reached at 267-6480.