According to survey, To shed excess pounds, forget expensive commercial diets or diet pills; most successful dieters lose weight on their own, largely by eating right and exercising regularly.
A total of 21,632 subscribers to Consumer Reports were asked recently about their lifetime weight history and their eating, dieting and exercise habits.
The “always thin” group – those who had never been overweight — made up 16 percent of the sample, while “successful losers” made up an additional 15 percent.
Successful losers were defined as people who, at the time of the survey, weighed at least 10 percent less than they did at their heaviest, and had been at that lower weight for at least 3 years.
“Failed dieters” – those would said they’d like to slim down yet still weighed at or near their lifetime high — made up the largest group at 42 percent.
The remaining 27 percent of respondents, such as people who had lost weight more recently, didn’t fit into any of the categories.
Among the “always thin” group, only 3 percent said that they never exercised and that they ate whatever they wanted.
In fact, the eating and exercise habits of the vast majority of the “always thin” group mirrored the eating and exercise habits of the “successful losers,” a finding that downplays the idea that people who are able to stay fit and trim have a genetic edge.
Read more at Reuters
