A nutritionist shares the secrets to long-term weight loss

Harley Street nutritionist Kim Pearson shares the secrets that ensure successful long-term weight loss
Photo by Henrique Félix on Unsplash
Kim Pearson11 November 2019

There are many important reasons for maintaining a healthy weight, including helping to prevent diseases such as diabetes and cardiovascular disease.

Helping my clients to lose weight is only half of my job. It’s important to me that I not only support people with their weight loss, but also help them to maintain their ideal weight once they’ve reached it.

Why? Because weight regain is not uncommon. It’s easy to reach your goal weight, feel fantastic and think ‘I’ve done it!!’ but the reality is not so simple. Weight maintenance is the start of a new journey altogether.

So what makes people who lose weight, and keep it off, successful?

The National Weight Control Registry (NWCR) was developed to identify the characteristics of people who have succeeded at long-term weight loss. Established in 1994 by Dr Rena Wing, from Brown Medical School, and Dr James O. Hill, from the University of Colorado, it’s currently tracking over 10,000 individuals who have lost significant amounts of weight and kept it off for extended periods of time. Members have lost an average of 66 lbs and kept it off for 5.5 years.

The researchers have identified seven traits common to most of these successful losers. Three of the factors were dietary, whereas the remaining four were behavioural, which shows that it isn’t simply a case of ‘calories in vs calories out’ when it comes to maintaining weight loss.

Here are the seven secrets of successful slimmers

1. All successful dieters continued to consume a relatively low calorie diet. The amount they ate was typically limited to between 1,300 and 1,680 kilocalories per day, even after they had achieved their goal weight, the carefully planned, portion-controlled eating continued.

2. Dieters ate roughly four to five times per day, and had a consistent food intake. Striking the balance between regular, balanced meals, and avoiding constant grazing, is key.

3. Most of the dieters ate breakfast every day. As well as preventing cravings and overeating eating later in the day, it’s thought that eating breakfast elevates basal metabolic rate, so you burn more calories throughout the day. Base your breakfast on a source of protein, like eggs, which will provide you with slow releasing energy.

4. Exercise. It will come as no surprise that all the successful dieters were very physically active. The average person in the National Weight Control Registry (NWCR) exercised for about 60-90 minutes per day.

5. They also weighed themselves frequently to track their progress, stepping onto the scales weekly or even daily. Being aware of your weight is key to making sure it doesn’t creep up on you again.

6. 60 per cent of the dieters watched less than 10 hours of television per week, while the national average was reported to be 28 hours. It doesn’t take a scientist to work out why sitting in front of the television isn’t the healthiest lifestyle choice. It can be easy to succumb to the lure of a Netflix binge after a long day, but aim to watch no more than two hours a day maximum.

7. Finally, the successful dieters took action as soon as they noticed small weight gains. They would either adjust their food intake or increase their level of exercise at the first sign of weight gain.

These might not seem like ground-breaking weight loss revelations, but it goes to show that a rounded approach to weight loss achieves the most long-lasting results. A shift in attitude and lifestyle is required alongside nutritional adjustments to achieve your goals, and it’s worth considering the moment you achieve your goal weight as a key marker on the journey, rather than the finishing line.

Kim Pearson is a qualified nutritionist and weight loss specialist based on London’s Harley Street. She consults clients in London and internationally via her virtual consulting room. For more information about Kim and the services she offers, visit her website kim-pearson.com

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