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Study: obese people may never attain normal body weight

By Marilyn Malara
Women walk on the National Mall in Washington DC on Aug. 13, 2010. Obesity in the United States has increased to 2.4 million since 2007, according to a report released this week by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). File Photo by Alexis C. Glenn/UPI
Women walk on the National Mall in Washington DC on Aug. 13, 2010. Obesity in the United States has increased to 2.4 million since 2007, according to a report released this week by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). File Photo by Alexis C. Glenn/UPI | License Photo

LONDON, July 18 (UPI) -- A new large-scale study finds the probability of obese men and women reaching and maintaining a normal body weight is extremely low.

A cohort study published in the American Journal of Public Health Thursday reads the odds of an obese man reaching a normal body mass index (BMI) during any given year is 1 in 210. For women, the annual probability is 1 in 124.

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Drawing data from over 176,000 overweight men and women living in the U.K. between the years 2004 and 2014, researchers estimated the probability of their either attaining a normal BMI or losing 5 percent of their body weight.

The 9-year study finds many had a fairly easy time losing 5 percent of their body weight -- which can have major health benefits, according to the CDC -- but 78 percent of them gained it back within five years.

Additionally, about half of the men and women who lost weight at some point gained it back within a shorter amount of time: two years.

In terms of morbid obesity, researches concluded those diagnosed with it had the lowest probability of ever reaching a healthy weight. According to the study, morbidly obese men have a 1 in 1,290 chance of slimming down while women fared better with a 1 in 677 chance.

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Lead author Alison Fildes from University College in London says her team's findings suggest current weight-loss strategies for obese citizens are not helping. "This might be because people are unable to access weight-loss interventions or because the interventions being offered are ineffective," she said, "or both."

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