Imagine that you’ve come to an island where ALL the people there have successfully lost weight and kept it off. We all know how rare these people are. All around us, we watch people losing weight, only to regaining it back few months later. So what would you do? That’s right. You’d ask those people: what is their secret? Surely, they know something that others don’t? After all, they’ve achieved what others failed to.

Well, aren’t you lucky? There IS such an ‘island’. No, no kidding. It does exist. It is called the US National Weight Control Registry. To be in the registry, you must have lost at least 30 pounds and maintain it for a minimum of one year. There are currently more than 5000 people in it. So, here’s the million dollar question: what is their secret? Let’s check it out.

• Half of them (45%) had lost weight on their own and half others (55%) joined a formal program or professional assistance¹ .
• Some of them (44%) counted calories, some counted fat grams (25%).
• Some (20%) used liquid formula, whilst some others (23%) followed exchange diet.
• A large proportion (88%) limited intake of certain types of foods, yet some (44%) ate all foods but limited quantity, and there is a minority (6%) who ate only one or two types of foods.
• A majority (89%) changed both their food intake and physical activity, whereas few of them modified only their food intake (10%) or physical activity (1%).

There. Can you spot the secret? What do these people have in common? The answer is: none. They all use different methods, strategies, programs, or products. So, the secret is that there is no secret. Now, don’t stop reading just yet. Please stay with me just another few seconds.

These findings are consistent with other research² . To understand it better, let’s put it in a graph.

The white bar shows what the Maintaners did, while the black bar depicts the Regainers (those who lost weight, but gained it back). So let’s see what the differences are.

It seems that the Regainers used many different methods. They tried diet A. When it didn’t work, they switched to diet B. Then after it also failed, they moved to diet C. And so on they went until 121 different diets. I’ll repeat it one more time: Regainers had tried 121 different methods. Shocking, isn’t it? Maintainers, on the other hand, had ‘only’ used 28 diets. It’s still a lot, but much less than Regainers’.

Notice also that most of the Maintainers developed personal-eating plan.

So the secret really is that there is no secret. Any diet will work. But only IF you follow it through! Don’t just move from one method to another - maybe searching for the best diet, the top weight loss secret. Instead, pick one that you can follow through, the one that you can stick to and sustain in the long term.

Use personally developed strategies. Maintainers devised personal weight-loss plans to fit their lives. Understand that what works for other people maybe different from what works for you. Modify your eating plan and physical activity in the ways that suit you, which you can maintain for a long term. There. The top weight loss secret is out. The secret is that there is no secret.

Check out the other secrets to keep weight off:

1. Warning: if you think of it as one night stand, you’ll fail.
2. Top weight loss secret.
3. Double your chance for keeping it off.
4. Little known reasons why people fail to keep it off.
5. You must stay alert in a diet battle.

1. Klem ML. et al. A Descriptive Study of Individuals Successful at Long-Term Maintenance of Substantial Weight Loss. The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition 1997;66: 239-246. [↩]
2. Kayman S. et al. Maintenance and Relapse after Weight Loss in Women: Behavioral Aspects. The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition 1990;52: 800-807. [↩]