The MakeMeThinner Support Forum

[Unca_Tim]

New Haven, Conn. -- Eighteen women who maintained a weight loss of 15 to 144 pounds for at least one year and as long as 27 years followed similar patterns leading to consistent behavior change, according to a study published in the Nursing Science Quarterly.
Diane Berry, a postdoctoral fellow at Yale School of Nursing, interviewed 20 women in the study. Seventeen of the women were enrolled in two popular weight loss programs.

Eighteen of the women had lost 10 percent of their body weight and maintained that weight loss for at least one year. Berry included in her study two women who were unable to maintain weight loss as contrasting cases. These two women, as well as one woman who kept the weight off, were not enrolled in a weight loss support program. Berry said she found six similar patterns among the women who were successful.

In pattern one, before losing weight, the women were self-conscious, vulnerable, and unaware of events that contributed to their weight gain. Pattern two revealed recognition of a problem, a readiness to take action, and a decision to make a change. "In the third pattern," Berry said, "women took control and actively engaged in behavior change."

In patterns four to six, the women incorporated new behaviors, used some type of support system to reinforce the behavior change, and, finally, experienced increased confidence, self-esteem, and control of their lives.

"Participants moved fluidly through one pattern to the next and many times fell back to a previous pattern before moving on," Berry said. "Once participants moved to the sixth pattern, they were able to maintain weight loss."

In addition to membership in a weight loss support program, all of the women who maintained their weight loss had incorporated exercise into their lifestyles.

"The women who maintained their weight loss were more aware of their trigger foods and portion sizes, and they all exercised regularly," Berry said. "They also recognized it is something they will have to work at for the rest of their lives."

[Carrie]

hmmmmmmm, very interesting Tim.

Some of this I'm doing, and some of it I'm not doing so well. Shows me what I need to work on.

Carrie

[Unca_Tim]

My impression of the article, is that the successful participants in the study are pro-actively seeking out information and support. This is a sign of commitment and a desire to succeed. This is needed to succeed in any any endeavor. You need a roadmap, to know where you're going.

I like the "side effects" of patterns 4-6 which comes from finding a plan and the support to succeed.

"and, finally, experienced increased confidence, self-esteem, and control of their lives."

You can and ARE doing it Carrie.

Unca

[explorthis]

pro-actively seeking out information and support. This is a sign of commitment and a desire to succeed. This is needed to succeed in any any endeavor

Interestingly enough now I believe this. Ask me a year ago, and I would have said true, but practice what I knew, or believed to be true? Never, not me. Different story, and different way of life now.

Proactive: I look at everything I eat, what it’s contents are, what it will do to me, weather it is immediate useless calories, or sustaining calories. What’s in a serving. Is this serving of “X” worth it, or can I have 2 servings of “Y” instead? I read, I want to know what triggers hunger, or what I think hunger is. Am I really hungry, or is it the old ways, brain still tricking me into thinking I am?

I 100% agree, doing this 100% is the only way. This is a lifestyle change, not something we can take lightly. Life is not going to get easier, by starting and stopping over and over again. Yes, I understand the “do-over” philosophy, and there is nothing wrong with this, but do over and over and over, what are we doing? This was me. No more. Now that the weight is gone, what Tim said – Need-to-succeed is a MUST. There is no second chance here. I have used up my 9 lives.

Proactive!

-Mike