Originally Posted by Hat Trick:

LOL :)

I mentioned the 'faking the numbers' bit in reference to the discussion about stats...I was thinking that if someone wanted to use the stats from the national weight control registry they could easily mislead people into thinking one thing or another. But their results w/be so skewed as to be dismissable because of the way the data was collected (people posting on a website)... :D

Apparently there is alot more to it than just posting responses on a website. The National Weight Control Registry allows you to register on the website, then you are sent questionaires. There is a link to their website on the Maintainers forum and several of the maintainers have participated on the registry. It sounds like it is a bit of work filling out the questionaires.

Anyway, I was just thinking that with all the sad stats out there related to successful weight loss, we at 3FC could make a difference and inspire hope in others.
Karla

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.