Study: Reaching normal weight unlikely for obese

It may be more difficult for obese people to reach a normal weight than most realize, according to a new study.

Research suggests that the likelihood to reach a regular weight is 1-of-210 for men and 1-of-214 for women.

British researchers say its unlikely people will be able to slim down to a normal weight if they’re already obese.

According to a new study published in the American Journal of Public Health, researchers found people were more likely to lose 5 percent of their body weight, but most put it back on within five years.

Experts say losing between five and 10 percent of body weight can have big health benefits such as improving blood pressure and diabetes.

“That’s a recommendation I give to individuals because it’s achievable,” said Lisa Cimperman, clinical dietitian at University Hospitals Case Medical Center

Researchers looked at the health records of nearly 300,000 men and women from the United Kingdom between 2004 and 2014. Increases and decreases in weight were seen in more than a third of patients.

“We know that there are changes that happen in the brain when people become obese,” Dr. Keven Niswender of Vanderbilt University’s School of Medicine said. “Numbers like this would tell us that those changes in the brain that happen in obesity probably are not reversible.”

Officials say preventing obesity in the first place is critical.

Obese participants who lost weight through weight loss surgery were not included in the study.