Although it seems counterintuitive, weight management can be just as difficult, if not more so, than initially losing weight in the first place.  The concern most people managed to lose a significant amount of weight is, “How can I keep the weight off?”

Maintaining an Edge

Indeed, an inability to manage weight gain can be extremely disconcerting.

But research funded by the National Institutes of Health has determined that using the Web as a tool to assist in the weight management process can help dieters maintain their weight.
Kristine Funk of the Kaiser Permanentes Center for Health Research has published her team’s findings in the Journal of Medical Internet Research.

The Weight Loss Management Trial was one of the longest weight management studies up until this time.   Researchers followed 348 adults with a BMI of 25 or higher (a BMI of 25 is considered overweight while a BMI of 30 constitutes obesity) for 28 months; following are some of their findings. 

After 2-plus years, the team determined that those participants who logged on to weight loss management web site at least once a month were able to keep 9 pounds out of their 19 pound weight loss off.  Conversely, those who checked in for only 14 months were able to keep only 5 pounds off.

Funk’s states in the study abstract that, “Participants defined as consistent website users of an interactive behavioral website designed to promote maintenance of weight loss were more successful at maintaining long-term weight loss.”

Other Successful “Loser” Secrets

Several years ago, researchers James Hill, PhD and Rena Wing, PhD studied 6,000 people who had lost at least thirty pounds and had kept it off for more than a year.  Following are some of the characteristics these successful dieters had, according to WebMd:

*They consistently followed a “relatively low fat, calorie controlled diet.”

*No matter what day of the week it is, or whether or not it’s a holiday, they followed their eating pattern closely.
*They ate every 3 to 4 hours to keep from becoming famished, which leads to overeating.
*They started the day with breakfast.
*They got on the scale regularly, whether on a daily, weekly, or bi-weekly basis. 
*They exercised for 60 minutes each day.  Many of them walked 11,000-12,000 steps per day.

Finally, they lost the weight slowly; this allowed the dieters settle into their new eating patterns gradually.