Many people who lose weight ultimately gain some or all of it back. But, there are many people who lose weight and keep it off for the long term.

How do people keep weight off for the long term?

People who are successful at long term weight loss describe common activities:

- They report consuming a low calorie and low fat diet.
-  They keep an eye on their weight loss by weighing in regularly
-  They are physically active
- They eat breakfast. Not breakfast every day is common mistake made by dieters.  People that don’t eat breakfast get even hungrier later in the day and eat too many calories then.

The above people exercise about an hour more a day, then people who end up putting the weight back on. This expends about 2900 calories a week on a assortment of activities.

Jane Phillips of Huntington, West Virginia, wasn’t overweight as adolescent. Her weight was gained when she left for college started cooking on her own. She replaced healthy meals she ate as a youngster with fast food and other junk foods. Jane ended working her way up to 325 pounds.

Then, Jane started not feeling well and was diagnosed with type 2 diabetes. She got scared and decided to-do something about her weight.

Jane decided to go on diet and lost 180 pounds in 18 months. She has kept it off for more than 5 years. This is the 2nd time Jane has lost a large amount of weight, but this is the first time she has kept the weight off. In her earlier weight loss diet, she watched what she ate, but did not exercise. This time, jane started walking for exercise. At first she couldn’t walk more than a block. She now walks for 20 minutes, twice a day.

To this day, Jane eats healthy meals every day at the proper portions and she never misses breakfast. Her diabetes is now managed  without medication and she now feels better than before she developed diabetes.