How to Not Regain the Weight

Liz Neporent is a diet and fitness expert and author of 12 fitness bestsellers. She regularly appears on national TV programs and is the president of Wellness 360, a New-York based wellness provider.

A client of mine who had just lost a whole bunch of weight asked me the other day what her chances are of gaining all of her hard-fought weight loss back? This is what I told her:

Considering that 65 percent of Americans are overweight or obese and the weight-loss industry isn't exactly in a recession, it's safe to say that most people who lose end up gaining most, or all of it, back. According to obesity researchers and countless surveys of dieters, the number may be 95 percent or greater -- and this includes people who lose weight through diet, exercise or a combination of both.

It's no great mystery why people regain the weight they've worked so hard to lose: They retreat to their old habits, blowing off workouts and nestling back into the recliner. The more complex question is: Why is it so darned hard to stick to the eating and exercise habits that enable people to lose weight in the first place?

One reason is that people often go to extremes. If you've been subsisting for a decade on burgers and fries and then suddenly switch to spinach and tofu, chances are, you're going to feel deprived and hungry and fall off the wagon quickly.

Of course, making gradual changes is easier said than done, and it goes against the human instinct of instant gratification. To increase your chances of success, many experts recommend losing no more than a half-pound to one pound per week. Many people lose considerably more than two pounds per week at first, especially the vastly overweight, but much of it is water weight. Eventually, the weight loss slows down to one pound or less a week.

Although regaining weight is the norm, it is by no means inevitable. Consider the National Weight Control Registry. The average registrant has lost about 60 pounds and has maintained this loss for about five years -- no small feat for a group of people who, in two-thirds of the cases, were overweight since childhood.

What's their secret? It's not that they follow a particular diet; in fact, at least half report following no program at all, instead making their own common-sense choices. Among the registry participants, there are two common denominators: Exercising regularly and cutting calories.

Registry participants report burning about 2,800 calories per week through exercise (about seven to 11 hours a week, depending on weight and intensity level) and reducing their calorie intake, primarily by practicing portion control (rather than forgoing entire food groups, popping pills or going on liquid diets).

One particularly interesting finding from the Registry participants: The risk of relapse appears to decrease over time. In other words, the longer you keep off the weight, the less effort it takes to maintain good eating and exercise habits.

Also, I do wish people would ask this question more. I mainly get questions along the lines of how do I lose weight quickly, which implies that the asker has given no thought to what comes next. I've never understood why people don't try to lose it once, the right way, for good.

What do you bloggers have to say? Anyone lost it and kept it off? Any human yo-yos out there?