With more than 60 percent of US adults either overweight or obese, more and more of us are trying to lose weight. That's hard to do, and many people gain back the pounds they have succeeded in dropping.

The National Weight Control Registry is collecting data on those people who not only succeed in losing weight but also in keeping it off. Researchers have evaluated information about the weight-control behaviors of more than 3,000 people who have lost an average of 60 pounds and have kept it off for an average of six years.

They have identified four specific behaviors that these people have in common:

1. They eat a low-fat, low-carbohydrate diet.
2. They monitor themselves by weighing in frequently.
3. They are very physically active.
4. They eat breakfast.

Six years after their weight loss, most of these people are still eating a low-calorie, low-fat diet. They exercise for an hour or more every day, expending about 2,800 calories per week on a variety of activities - the equivalent of walking four miles a day.

Related information: Lifestyle changes - Manage weight | Nutrition channel - Weight Management

Source:  Bren L. Losing weight: more than counting calories. FDA Consumer magazine, January-February 2002.