Research
Adherence
Extending traditional behavioral weight loss therapy from 20 weeks to 52 weeks does not significantly increase total weight loss, as the majority of loss occurs in the first 20-26 weeks and plateaus thereafter.
Don't expect your weight loss to continue at the same rate if you stay in a program for a year. Most of the loss happens in the first 6 months. If you aren't losing weight after 6 months, extending the program duration is unlikely to help significantly.
GoodRefutesHIGH confidence
Extending weekly treatment to 1 year failed to produce anticipated average weight losses of 20 kg... Participants, however, lost only an additional 2.52 kg during the second 26 weeks of treatment, a finding remarkably similar to that obtained by Perri et al.
Why this rating
RCT data supports the plateau effect.
Source
One-year behavioral treatment of obesity: Comparison of moderate and severe caloric restriction and the effects of weight maintenance therapy.
Thomas A. Wadden et al. · Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology · 1994
DOI 10.1037/0022-006x.62.1.165
rct · n=49Cited 307×
Read the paper DOI resolved against Crossref · corpus check 2026-06-10
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