Research
Adherence
Lifestyle interventions achieving greater initial weight loss (>10%) result in significantly greater net weight loss after one year of unsupervised follow-up compared to those achieving 5-10% loss, despite similar percentage maintenance rates.
Aim for a weight loss of 10% or more during your lifestyle intervention. Even if you regain some weight after the program ends, you will likely end up lighter after one year than if you had only aimed for a modest 5% loss. The 'buffer' created by larger initial loss protects your long-term results.
GoodSupportsHIGH confidence
The weight loss after 1 year of unsupervised follow-up differed significantly between these categories, 3.7% and 7.0%, respectively (P < 0.01).
Why this rating
Systematic review of 22 intervention groups with standardized calculation methods.
Source
Maintenance of weight loss after lifestyle interventions for overweight and obesity, a systematic review
Jeroen C. M. Barte et al. · Obesity Reviews · 2010
DOI 10.1111/j.1467-789x.2010.00740.x
Meta-analysis · 22 studiesCited 326×
Read the paper DOI resolved against Crossref · corpus check 2026-06-10
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