What Happens When People Lose at Least 10% of Their Body Weight

There’s no blanket answer for what defines a “healthy weight." But we do know a healthy weight is one that's attainable and reduces risk for health problems.We are so confident in our ability to help your employees achieve a healthy weight that we put employer program fees at risk based on our ability to ensure that your members sustain a 10% weight loss and titrate off GLP-1 medication by 24 months. Why 10%? Here's what makes this number so impactful.

What Losing 10 Percent of Body Weight Looks Like

Here are the very real reasons why 10% is such an important number:

• Losing 10 percent of body weight is impactful: Losing at least 10% of body weight is clinically-significant. It can lower several risk factors for cardiovascular disease including high blood pressure, high cholesterol, and diabetes. This amount of weight loss also reduces symptoms of depression, arthritis, and sleep apnea, while improving overall quality of life. In part, these big benefits may be explained by the way our bodies lose weight: Not all fats are equal, and the fat in our abdomen and around our organs (sometimes called “visceral fat”) is the kind that’s most closely linked to health problems. It’s also, luckily, the fat we tend to shed first. In fact, when someone loses 10% of their body weight, they’re losing 30%—nearly a third—of their abdominal fat, which is a meaningful tipping point.
  
• Losing 10 percent of body weight is realistic: Studies show that losing at least 10% of body weight is generally a realistic and attainable goal for most people given biologic, genetic, and environmental factors. Why does that matter? Setting goals that aren’t possible can undermine past achievements and lead to frustration, anxiety, and (ultimately) giving up. There’s even a scientific name for that cycle: false hope syndrome. Research also shows that 10% is a typical amount of weight to lose when combining medications called GLP-1s with lifestyle changes over the course of a year, like the Calibrate program does. 
  
• Losing 10 percent of body weight is sustainable: A shift in at least 10% of weight can be maintained through a lifestyle that is actually enjoyable, no deprivation required. GLP-1s coupled with simple new behaviors have been shown to give people the jumpstart they need to achieve 10% weight loss. This combination can also change a person’s biology in a way that will be sustainable for the long-run.

The Effects of Losing 10 Percent of Body Weight

Why does the Calibrate program take two years to complete? The answer is that once weight loss slows, it’s especially important to continue to support the healthy metabolic changes that are happening under the surface.

Doing this is what will help to “set” one’s new weight. It can take up to a year for a person’s body to stop resisting their new lower weight and to make that their new set point. The second year of the Calibrate program reinforces the healthy metabolic changes members  make through each of the pillars, so they stay at their new lower weight. These tweaks, along with medication, actually change their biology—helping them settle into a new set point and become healthier over the long-term.