Long-Term Motivation for Weight Loss

New research helps highlight how people sustain long-term motivation for weight loss. According to research at the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center where the longest successful losers data is kept and recorded, an “ah ha” moment precedes lasting weight loss for a large percentage of people that successfully lose large amounts of weight and keep it off for over one year.

For example, when people in weight loss programs are polled, says Dr. Ken Powers, about why they have not been successful in the past at losing weight, the most common answers include the intimidation factor of a gym, the inability to find time to exercise, or the exclusivity of one approach, such as dieting only, or exercising only without success.

But, Dr. Powers says, when people have that “ah ha” moment, the creating of a newlifestyle that causes rapid and sustained weight loss is profound. One example, Dr. Powers gives in the recent research paper is of a 290 pound woman that when taken to the emergency room for a seizure could not be properly scanned because of her body size. The “ah ha” moment hit her immediately after she realized just how much her extra weight had become a problem.

The new research, published this January of 2011, reports that of people that have successfully lost over 100 pounds and kept it off for over one year over half can recount that “ah ha” moment. It becomes a focal point to change their life and the research points to the fact that people experiencing these moments experience weight loss programs in a different manner than those who have not.

Looking forward, says Dr. Powers, this research is giving clues as to how to best help individuals lose weight for life and be successful faster. Why and how these moments seem to create such a lasting and productive impression on individuals is still a mystery but further research will hopefully assist in understanding the experience and if we can teach people how to use these moments to their advantage in the area of increasing their health and well-being.

To learn more about subjects like this and to start changing your body, please visit us at New Lifestyle Diet

Hamilton Erridge is a weight loss professional. New Lifestyle Diet helps people lose weight and stay healthy by providing information and resources that help people make a lifestyle change so that the extra pounds shed are never put back on.

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