March 11, 2008 -- As any yo-yo dieter can tell you, losing weight is the easy part; keeping weight off is hard. But long-term counseling and online support are strategies that could help you shed those extra pounds for good, new research shows.

But researcher Laura Svetkey, MD, tells WebMD that over time, the impact of both support strategies was modest.

The study is published in the March 12 issue of The Journal of the American Medical Association.

(Have you tried phone counseling to help you maintain your weight loss? Talk with others on Hope5.com's Maintaining Weight Loss: Support Group board.)

Long-Term Impact of Counseling

Most of the successful dieters the Duke researchers followed kept off at least some of the weight they lost during two years of follow-up. More than 70% weighed less at the end of the study than at the beginning.

"[Our results] send a strong signal to those who seem to believe that obesity is such an intractable problem that nothing can be done about it," Svetkey notes in a news release.

But overall, the weight loss difference was small between dieters who got counseling -- either in person or via the Internet -- and those who got no long-term support.

"In the end, the principles that helped people lose the weight seemed to be the same ones that helped them most in the weight maintenance phase," Svetkey tells WebMD.

People who continued to monitor their own behavior, as well as set goals, seek social support, and work at staying motivated had the most long-term success, she says. "These things are important, but how a person gets to that point is going to vary by his or her situation and needs."