Research
Adherence
The most prevalent personal weight control strategies are exercising and dieting, and the most common motives are wellbeing and long-term health.
When people try to control their weight, they most often use exercise and dieting, driven by a desire for wellbeing and long-term health. Aligning your efforts with these common, evidence-based strategies is a good starting point.
GoodSupportsHIGH confidence
exercising and dieting (within the energy compensation and restraint domains, respectively) and wellbeing and long-term health were the most prevalent.
Why this rating
Based on the meta-analysis of 72 studies.
Source
Prevalence of personal weight control attempts in adults: a systematic review and meta‐analysis
Inês Santos et al. · Obesity Reviews · 2016
DOI 10.1111/obr.12466
Meta-analysis · 72 studiesCited 273×
Read the paper DOI resolved against Crossref · corpus check 2026-06-10
More from this paper
- Personal weight control attempts are highly prevalent globally, with approximately 42% of adults in general populations and 44% of adults in ethnic-minority populations reporting attempts to lose weight annually.Good
- Recurrent weight loss attempts are a negative predictor of success in weight loss interventions and may negatively impact self-concept and body image.Good
Related findings · Adherence
- Regular physical activity (at least 150 minutes/week of moderate-intensity) reduces all-cause and cardiovascular mortality by 20-30% and lowers the risk of type 2 diabetes by 25-35%.Strong
- Increasing physical activity from a sedentary lifestyle to an active one in middle adulthood significantly reduces the risk of coronary events compared to remaining sedentary.Strong
- Resistance exercise is the only intervention capable of consistently restoring muscle function and strength in sarcopenia, partially overcoming age-related anabolic resistance.Strong
This is one finding among thousands. Every one is graded and traced to its source, so you can see what the evidence actually supports. Browse the research →