Lifestyle Choices

The results from this suggest that things are not quite as gloomy as predicted. However, even when women are involved in a strict regime with supervision and support, weight loss and in particular maintaining this weight loss is very difficult. Other studies have also investigated weight loss in the obese and have found similar results. In 1986 Dr Kramer and his colleagues found that 70 per cent of his obese dieters regained all the weight they had lost and a further study suggests that up to 81 per cent of obese dieters may weigh the same as they did before dieting.

This would suggest there is still no hard and fast set of rules for weight loss if you are obese. Dieting may result in initial weight loss but maintaining this loss is problematic. However, this does not mean that the obese and overweight should necessarily give up or stop asking for professional help. A lot of research is looking into more effective ways to help weight loss in those people who are threatening their health by being overweight. The LEARN programme in America is a complex and comprehensive project for weight loss in the obese and overweight. It emphasises life-style change and encourages an understanding of all aspects of weight and food, and focuses not only on eating but also on attitudes to food, mood and size. Although it is still relatively untested it certainly adds some optimism to a fairly disheartening area.

This difficulty in weight loss in the obese has implications for the many women who are attempting to lose weight, not because they are objectively overweight but because they perceive themselves as fat — the great majority of dieters. Dieting for the obese is in some ways easier than for the average-weight woman. Although obese women do have more weight to lose and need a longer period of concerted effort to reach their target weight, other factors contribute to making dieting that bit easier. For a start, severely overweight women will receive generalised social support; the important people in their lives will accept that they need to lose weight and will provide the support needed. They will not be surrounded by friends offering them food and telling them that they are fine as they are. They also have the additional motivation to lose weight derived from health worries and problems such as breathlessness and stiff joints. Most women are not motivated by these worries nor do they receive support and encouragement from everyone around them.

So how successful are dieters who are of average weight?

Weight loss in the average-weight dieter

Assessing how much weight is lost by average-weight dieters is very difficult. A lot of women diet on their own and do not receive outside help, resulting in a lack of records of their success or failure. It is also difficult to evaluate a successful diet in someone who does not objectively need to lose weight. If they lose half a stone is this success when no-one other than themselves thought they needed to lose it in the first place? Is it a greater success if they lose a stone? Probably the best way to evaluate success is to compare target weight with actual weight after dieting. This removes any subjective ideas about whether the dieter should be dieting and assesses the effectiveness of their intentions to lose weight.

Researchers have made various estimates as to how successful the average-weight dieter is at weight loss and maintaining this loss. Most of these evaluations seem to suggest that about 5 per cent of dieters lose and maintain any losses. However, any numbers are very difficult to interpret. Perhaps it is equally important to take account of individual case histories.

Below is a questionnaire aimed at assessing how successful the average-weight dieter is at losing weight. If you answer the questions the degree of success is self-evident. This is not an exercise in creating misery and disillusionment but is a useful way to evaluate behaviour.

Successful dieting

1 When didyou first start dieting?

2 How many years ago was this?

3 How much did you weigh when you first started to diet?

4 How much did you want to weigh?

5 How much do you weigh now?

6 How much do you want to weigh now?

Examine the relationship between your answers. How does your present weight compare with how much you weighed when you first started to diet? How do your previous and present ideal weights compare? How many years of your life have you spent thinking about losing weight and trying to eat less? How successful has all this thinking been? Was it worth it?

If you feel that it has all been worth it, then congratulations! If you are not sure or feel that it certainly has not been worth all of the effort that you have put into it, then you are not alone.

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