Research
Adherence
Achieving early weight-loss success (≥5% loss at 6 months) significantly increases the odds of long-term retention, while early weight-loss failure (≥0% change at 1 month) significantly decreases it.
If you don't see weight loss in the first month, you are at high risk of dropping out. Programs should identify these individuals early and provide extra support to help them get back on track, as early failure is a strong predictor of quitting.
GoodQualifiesHIGH confidence
Weight-loss success (≥5% loss at 6 months) was significantly associated with increased odds of retention (12-month: odds ratio [OR] 2.80, P < 0.001), while early weight-loss failure (≥0% weight change at 1 month) significantly decreased odds of retention (12-month: OR 0.66, P = 0.008).
Why this rating
Large sample, multivariate analysis, but self-reported weight data is a limitation.
Source
Long‐term retention in an employer‐based, commercial weight‐loss programme
Eleanore Alexander et al. · Clinical Obesity · 2018
DOI 10.1111/cob.12284
cohort · n=4782Cited 2×
Read the paper DOI resolved against Crossref · corpus check 2026-06-10
More from this paper
- High early engagement with a commercial weight-loss program (defined as meeting weekly coach call and daily website login goals within the first 3 months) significantly increases the odds of long-term retention (6 and 12 months).Good
- Having one or more chronic conditions (hypertension, dyslipidaemia, dysglycaemia, sleep apnoea, or depression) significantly decreases the odds of long-term retention in a commercial weight-loss program.Good
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