When I worked in social service and law enforcement, the "problems" people faced were seen as very mutlidimensional, and the most successful treatments, addressed mutliple aspects of the problem (social support, job/career/education, religion/spirituality, family, friends, peers, health/fitness, mental health....).
And weight loss studies are almost exclusively diet related. There are a few studies that indicate that support group membership increases the success rate of weight loss, but that most people drop out of the support groups...
but what about those who don't. Of course, how many people who are in a support group, posting here, following a food plan, working on their self image issues, exercising regularly, have addressed their physical issues that might be playing a role in their weight gain, having supportive friends and family.... how many of those people are succeeding.
Maybe the problem is too multi-faceted for it to seem like anyone is succeeding, when the fact is that those who are succeeding in the long term, have pulled together so many changes into their lives that anyone studying any one of those changes (by itself) would find nearly nearly no success among the people they are studying.
Maybe you've got to have a "few" things together to succeed, not just one, so anyone studying just one is going to find very little success.
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