Abstract
BackgroundAfter 5 years, most reports show that less than 10% of people maintain a 5% loss from initial body weight. Weight maintenance after 10 years is rarely assessed, especially in commercial programs. The current article reports weight maintenance in individuals who had participated 2 to 11 years earlier in a popular commercial weight loss program based on Canada's Food Guide called Mincavi.MethodsRandomly picked subjects answered a telephone questionnaire. Participants, 291 adult women from various regions of the province of Quebec, had followed the program 2 to 11 years earlier for at least a month. Body weight at the beginning and at the end of treatment was recorded as well as actual weight, age and height. Existing records allowed partial verification of the sample.ResultsBased on corrected weights, percentage of women who maintained at least 5% of their initial weight loss are as following; 2 years = 43.6% (n = 55), 3 years = 33.3% (n = 42), 4 years = 23.8% (n = 42), 5–6 years = 38.2% (n = 55), 7–8 years = 29.4% (n = 51), and 9–11 years; 19.6% (n = 46). Five to eleven years after they had participated in the program 29.1% of all women maintained a weight loss of at least 5%, while 14.3% maintained a loss of at least 10%.ConclusionsEven though success rate is not as high as could be wished for, results show that participation in the Mincavi program can lead to effective weight maintenance long after individuals have left it. These findings suggest more thorough studies should be conducted on this weight loss program.
Highlights
After 5 years, most reports show that less than 10% of people maintain a 5% loss from initial body weight
Especially in North America, commercial weight loss programs have been established in great numbers to help obese and overweight individuals
In a recent report assessing weight maintenance 1 to 5 years after a commercial program, Lowe et al have shown that such programs can yield encouraging results [12]
Summary
After 5 years, most reports show that less than 10% of people maintain a 5% loss from initial body weight. Weight maintenance after 10 years is rarely assessed, especially in commercial programs. Most studies assessing long-term weight loss maintenance have yielded disappointing long-term results, showing that almost all individuals regain lost weight after 3 to 5 years [1,2,3,4,5,6]. Sarlio-Lahteenkorva and colleagues have recently reported that after 6 and 15-year followups, only 5,1% of all women maintained a loss of at least 5% of their baseline body weight [7]. The majority of these studies have been conducted on hospital and university weight loss programs. In a recent report assessing weight maintenance 1 to 5 years after a commercial program, Lowe et al have shown that such programs can yield encouraging results [12]
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