If as most of us have found, it’s hard to lose weight, and it is, it most certainly is, then we’ve also found that when we’ve managed to lose a few pounds, it’s been even harder to keep those lost pounds off.
In fact, in every diet study, nearly all those people who’ve managed to lose significant amounts of weight have put it back on within a few months, some even faster.
So any strategy that can help a dieter keep some of the lost weight off is welcome news, as is this study published in the Journal of Medical Internet Research.
In this study, researchers got a group (348 folks) of overweight people to lose 19 pounds on average over a period of about 6 months, which is a pretty good weight loss.
They then got some of the dieters to enroll in a specially-designed web-based program where they had to chart their progress (or backsliding) and where they could also chat with some of the other study participants.
After 2 ½ years, although all the study participants had gained back some weight, those who use the web site the most gained back the least amount of weight, or looking at it from a more happy perspective, the losers who used the web site most were able to keep 9 pounds off after 30 months, while the non-users had gained it all back.
And there’s nothing magical about this web site, I think: just a place on the web (and there are many such places) to keep you interested, eager, honest, and where you can commiserate with others going through the same thing.
But it does seem to help.
In fact, in every diet study, nearly all those people who’ve managed to lose significant amounts of weight have put it back on within a few months, some even faster.
So any strategy that can help a dieter keep some of the lost weight off is welcome news, as is this study published in the Journal of Medical Internet Research.
In this study, researchers got a group (348 folks) of overweight people to lose 19 pounds on average over a period of about 6 months, which is a pretty good weight loss.
They then got some of the dieters to enroll in a specially-designed web-based program where they had to chart their progress (or backsliding) and where they could also chat with some of the other study participants.
After 2 ½ years, although all the study participants had gained back some weight, those who use the web site the most gained back the least amount of weight, or looking at it from a more happy perspective, the losers who used the web site most were able to keep 9 pounds off after 30 months, while the non-users had gained it all back.
And there’s nothing magical about this web site, I think: just a place on the web (and there are many such places) to keep you interested, eager, honest, and where you can commiserate with others going through the same thing.
But it does seem to help.
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