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Barrier 1:

Barrier 1:

Challenges to maintaining weight loss

Challenges to maintaining weight loss

People with obesity (PwO) engage in several serious weight loss attempts, but only a few are able to maintain the achieved weight loss1

People with obesity reported many serious weight loss attempts, but those who achieved weight loss had difficulty maintaining it.

 

Average number of serious weight loss attempts among people with obesity in their adult lifetime


Visit RethinkObesity.com to learn more about the physiological factors that make it difficult to maintain weight loss

Weight Loss Goals

People with obesity (84%) and health care professionals (88%) agree that a 10% weight loss would be beneficial to overall health, a statistic that aligns with scientific literature that states a 5% to 10% weight loss can help improve and reduce the risk of some obesity-related diseases.1-8

However, the average weight loss goal set between people with obesity and their health care professional is reported as 20% weight loss.1


Visit RethinkObesity.com to learn more about realistic goal-setting that can lead to sustainable long-term weight management

The bottom line: Challenges to maintaining weight loss

Losing weight and maintaining weight loss is difficult, but people with obesity make multiple serious attempts to lose weight.

Learn about Barrier 2: Reluctance to seek help

  1. Kaplan LM, Golden A, Jinnett K, et al. Perceptions of Barriers to Effective Obesity Care: Results from the National ACTION Study. Obesity. 2017. doi:10.1002/oby.22054.
  2. Jensen MD, Ryan DH, Apovian CM, et al. American College of Cardiology/American Heart Association Task Force on Practice Guidelines; Obesity Society. 2013 AHA/ACC/TOS guideline for the management of overweight and obesity in adults: a report of the American College of Cardiology/American Heart Association Task Force on Practice Guidelines and The Obesity Society. J Am Coll Cardiol. 2014;63(25ptB):2985-3023.
  3. Knowler WC, Barrett-Connor E, Fowler SE, et al; for the Diabetes Prevention Program Research Group. Reduction in the incidence of type 2 diabetes with lifestyle intervention or metformin. N Engl J Med. 2002;346(6)393-403.
  4. Wing RR, Lang W, Wadden TA, et al. Benefits of modest weight loss in improving cardiovascular risk factors in overweight and obese individuals with type 2 diabetes. Diabetes Care. 2011;34(7):1481-1486.
  5. Dattilo AM, Kris-Etherton PM. Effects of weight reduction on blood lipids and lipoproteins: a meta-analysis. Am J Clin Nutr. 1992;56(2):320-328.
  6. Tuomilehto H, Seppa J, Uusitupa M, et al. The impact of weight reduction in the prevention of the progression of obstructive sleep apnea: an explanatory analysis of a 5-year observational followup trial. Sleep Med. 2014;15(3):329-335.
  7. Foster GD, Borradaile KE, Sanders MH, et al; for the Sleep AHEAD Research Group of the Look AHEAD Research Group. A randomized study on the effect of weight loss on obstructive sleep apnea among obese patients with type 2 diabetes: the Sleep AHEAD study. Arch Intern Med. 2009;169(17):1619-1626.
  8. Kuna ST, Reboussin DM, Borradaile KE, et al. Long-term effect of weight loss on obstructive sleep apnea severity in obese patients with type 2 diabetes. Sleep 2013;36:641-649.