WEIGHT LOSS Programs help keep pounds off

The study followed Weight Watchers participants.
LOS ANGELES TIMES
When it comes to dieting, the do-it-yourself approach might not be the best way to go -- at least when it comes to keeping the weight off.
In studying the nation's largest commercial weight-loss program, researchers found that those who adhered to the plan managed to keep off more weight than those who tried to drop the pounds on their own.
Granted, the difference wasn't huge. Participants in the plan, Weight Watchers, kept off an average of 6 pounds after two years. But those who tried going it alone after two sessions with a nutritional counselor ended up back where they started.
"Diets don't fail. People don't adhere to diets," said lead study author Stanley Heshka, a research associate at the New York Obesity Research Center at St. Luke's Roosevelt Hospital in New York City. "Wanting is not enough. You need a structured program that will help you adhere to the diet."
Details of study
Researchers at half a dozen medical centers randomly assigned nearly 400 overweight and obese people to either local Weight Watchers programs or to self-help plans, then monitored them for two years. In the structured program, dieters dropped an average of 10 pounds in the first year and gained back less than half of that at the end of two years.
The self-helpers, some of whom tried diet pills, herbal products, high-protein or other diets, lost about 3 pounds in the first year. But in the second year, they "found" those lost pounds.
What part works?
Because the researchers didn't study individual elements of the commercial program, Heshka was unable to say whether group support, an exercise plan, tracking daily eating or limiting meals to a set number of "points" based on fat, fiber and calories -- accounted for the lost pounds. But, he said, previous studies have shown that "just asking you to write down everything you eat provides weight loss."
Lest the self-guided plan be written off as valueless, he noted that at least those dieters "hadn't gained weight. The tendency in adulthood from age 20 to 60, is to gain about half a pound to a pound a year."