Maintaining weight loss over several years requires individuals to build healthy lifestyles that do not leave them feeling persistently hungry, deprived and lethargic, according to clinician Dr Richard Joseph.
Writing in the Harvard Health Publishing blog, he says sustaining long-term behavioural change in this way requires self-regulation and motivation to overcome social cues and genetic wiring. Research in the United States suggests around one in five people who are overweight successfully lose pounds and keep them off in the long term.
Dr Joseph has compiled a list of five "tried and true tactics" based on success stories of 4,000 people who lost at least 10 per cent body weight for at least one year. Here are his findings, combined with advice from the NHS.
