Only one in four people can stick
to a diet for a full year, a study comparing adherence to
weight-loss programs said.
In the study, four groups of
40 overweight or obese adults each were assigned to one of
four weight-loss programs: the Atkins low-carbohydrate diet,
the Ornish vegetarian, the Weight Watchers plan or the Zone.
Participants were enrolled in two-month classes to help them,
and then were on their own.
"We found that all four diets
worked well for weight loss (and) heart disease risk factor
reduction, but only in the people who could follow their diet
closely for a year," said study author Dr. Michael Dansinger
of Tufts-New England Medical Center in Boston.
Three in four participants
quit their diets before the year was out. The highest dropout
rates were among enrollees in the Atkins and Ornish diets,
he said.
Overall, successful dieters
lost an average of 5 percent of their body weight or roughly
10 to 20 pounds after one year, and one in 10 dieters lost
more than 10 percent of their weight or more than 25 pounds.
Dansinger, writing in the Journal
of the American Medical Association, said no single diet worked
for everyone -- especially low-carbohydrate diets like Atkins
that are in vogue.
"To find the one that's best
for you, try 'dating the diets' as if looking for a life-long
partner. You may kiss a few frogs along the way, but once
you find the one you can live with forever, stand by your
plan," Dansinger said.
The report came on the heels
of another diet study published on Monday in the Annals of
Internal Medicine that concluded no one really knows which
diets work and which are a waste of time, with the possible
exception of Weight Watchers, which had scientific research
to back its approach.
