The National Weight Control Registry (NWCR) was founded in 1994 to identify and investigate behavioral and psychological characteristics of people who are successful in maintaining significant weight loss (NWCR, 2012). To be eligible, participants must have lost a minimum of 30 pounds and kept it off for more than 1 year. The NWCR is currently tracking more than 10,000 people in the registry; the average participant has lost an aver- age of 66 pounds and kept it off for 51⁄2 years. Moreover, 98% of participants modified their intake to lose weight, and 94% increased physical activity. Participants are surveyed annually to identify the strategies they use to maintain their weight loss. According to Rena Wing, cofounder of the NWCR, the single best predictor of who will be successful at maintaining weight loss is how long the individual has kept his or her weight off (Schardt, 2008). After maintaining weight loss for 2 years, the risk of regain is less than half. Weight regain is most likely to occur in people who ease up on physical activity, increase their fat intake, or start watching more television (Schardt, 2008). Once people start to regain weight, few are able to fully reverse it. The characteristics of successful weight maintainers appear in Box 14.6.
Obesity Prevention
QUICK BITE
What 100 calories look like
12 oz light beer
5 oz white wine
8 oz soft drink
3 Buffalo wings
1⁄2 cup sweetened applesauce 1 fun-size Almond Joy
1⁄2 small McDonald’s French fries 12 cashew nuts
It is suggested that small changes in diet and exercise that total a mere 100 cal/day may be enough to pre- vent obesity in most of the population (Hill and Wyatt, 2005). Consider that for most people, obesity develops insidiously without a conscious change in food intake or activity. For instance, even a seemingly insignificant 1 oz of cheddar cheese that supplies 100 calories will produce a 10-pound weight gain in a year if consumed daily and not offset by an increase in activity:
100 cal