As I was doing some reading on successful, long-term weight loss as part of my biopsych text revision, I came across a number of articles based on the National Weight Control Registry. If you are 18 years or older (okay, got that) and have maintained at least a 30 pound weight loss for at least one year (how about 75 pounds?), Rena Wing and James Hill would like to know about you. You might be eligible to join the over 5000 people in the Registry, who have lost an average of 66 pounds and kept it off for an average of 5.5 years. Okay, I have one year down, 4.5 to go to be average.
It occurred to me that not only would it be interesting to serve as a participant in the Registry, because I get a front row seat on cutting edge obesity research, but it might also act as an additional motivator. I’m getting past the fear that I will gain my weight back, but I figured it might help to join the Registry. How awful to have to resign because I gained my weight back!
My paperwork arrived in today’s mail, and it was very thorough. I had to give contact information for my local Jenny Craig center, as they can document my weight loss. If you don’t lose weight using a program or physician, you can send before and after pictures. For good measure, I did that, too. The before pictures are truly frightening. I look like the folks in the movie WALL-E. Mr. F made the interesting observation that it’s awfully hard to find images of people from WALL-E on the internet.
In the meantime, if you’re dieting, check out the success stories on the NWCR. These are truly intrepid dieters–very inspiring! They all seem to do three things–eat a low fat diet, monitor their weight regularly, and exercise–a lot. I do two out of the three. I am absolutely fastidious about my diet (I count my nuts and crackers out one at a time and put them in a little baggy for my afternoon snack at the Nautical Bean) and I weigh myself every morning. What I do not do is exercise. I love to exercise, but of late, I’ve started having these lovely ocular migraines when I work up a sweat on the stairmaster. Mr. F and I walk 3-4 miles per day, but I don’t count that as exercise. That’s walking.
So why do some people succeed at maintaining weight loss and others don’t? Daniel at Neuroanthropology has a nice take on the issues. A big problem is relying on self control. I think I have a lot of that, but that didn’t help me maintain weight loss very well on earlier occasions. Daniel quotes Elfhad and Rossner as saying, “In the current environment, people who are not devoting substantial conscious effort to managing body weight are probably gaining weight.” Okay, that’s a problem for me. I have neither the time nor the energy to “devote substantial conscious effort” to dieting. What I have found useful is to take the decision-making out of my hands. I follow the Jenny Craig maintenance program, and that’s it. No variations, except for special occasions, like Mr. F’s chocolate cheesecake, and that happens no more than once a week.
So stay tuned for more of my adventures on the National Weight Control Registry!
