Published Feb 16, 2026 | 7:00 AM ⚊ Updated Feb 16, 2026 | 7:00 AM
The research suggested that shame functioned as a starting point rather than fuelling the long journey.
Synopsis: When 403 respondents rated what works for weight loss, 87% placed their faith in physical activity. Another 83.5% trusted improving eating habits and cutting calories. These methods dominated because they seem logical, visible, and controllable.
Picture 100 people starting a weight loss plan. They cut calories, join gyms, and wake up early to walk. Eighty-four of them commit to the effort. By year-end, 95 have regained the weight. Five people remain.
A survey of 403 Indians living with obesity revealed this stark pattern. While 84% made plans to lose weight using diet, exercise, or medical treatment, only 4.8% managed to maintain a reduction of 5% to 15% for at least one year. The other 95.2% watched the kilos return, despite their efforts.
The numbers exposed a gap between effort and outcome. Among those currently trying to lose weight, 76.3% relied on diet and 80.6% on exercise. Medical interventions (prescription medications, behavioural therapy, or surgery) attract only 50.9% of attempts, despite evidence showing higher success rates for sustained weight loss.
“Obesity needs to be recognised as a complex, chronic disease impacting multiple aspects of daily life to be addressed before complications or comorbidities arise,” researchers wrote in their policy paper published in Clinical Obesity.
Any conversation about weight loss in India revolves around the same prescription: eat less, move more. The survey numbers confirm this belief runs deep.
When 403 respondents rated what works for weight loss, 87% placed their faith in physical activity. Another 83.5% trusted improving eating habits and cutting calories. These methods dominated because they seem logical, visible, and controllable.
Look at what people actually tried to lose weight. Among those currently making the effort, 76.3% relied on diet and 80.6% on exercise. Medical interventions (prescription medications, behavioural therapy, or surgery) attract only 50.9%.
The gap mattered because it determined where people invested their time and hope. They exhausted diet and exercise options first, sometimes for years, before considering alternatives. The pattern emerged clearly in the data: people struggled with their weight for an average of 10.2 years before achieving any sustained loss.
Yet, prescription weight loss medications received far less confidence. Only 58.5% viewed them as effective. Bariatric surgery dropped to 55.4%.
Dr Sanjay Kalra and his co-authors confronted this disconnect: “It has been established that diet and exercise alone are insufficient for successful and sustained weight loss. Genetic correlates of obesity also impact weight, as does environment.”
The belief persisted despite the evidence sitting in front of it.
Health worries motivated 79.7% of people trying to lose weight. But scan the list of motivators and another pattern emerges: one that sits in office corridors and family dining rooms.
Among the 116 survey respondents currently taking action to lose weight, 28.9% traced their motivation to workplace discrimination. Another 29.7% pointed to comments from friends and family.
The broader survey exposed how common this experience is. Fifty-seven percent had faced discrimination at work because of their weight. Sixty percent encountered it from friends and family. Another 63.7% fielded jokes and remarks targeting their body size.
One respondent described wanting to lose weight: “because of discriminatory behaviours and comments about my weight made to me in my work environment.”
Another cited a similar treatment from family members. The survey captured these voices, but they represented thousands more who started their weight loss journey not from a doctor’s advice or a health scare, but from someone’s passing remark that landed and stuck.
“The stigma of obesity may mean that people are reluctant to proactively discuss their weight with their HCP or with their support network,” the authors observed. They called for “population-level anti-stigma initiatives” to reframe obesity beyond individual responsibility.
The data suggested that shame functioned as a starting point rather than fuelling the long journey ahead. People responded to social pressure, but that pressure cannot carry them through the physiological and psychological challenges of maintaining loss. The comment launched the diet. Then the person faced biology alone.
One-third of those surveyed (34.5%) had not spoken to a healthcare provider about their weight in the past five years. Another 35.1% never received a formal obesity diagnosis from a medical doctor or qualified professional.
Think about what this means. Someone carried a weight that affected their daily life, their health, and their self-perception. They visited doctors for check-ups, for prescriptions, for ailments. The weighing scale sits in the clinic. The doctor has the chart. But the conversation about weight never starts, or starts so late that years have already passed.
Among those who consulted healthcare providers for weight issues, primary care physicians topped the list at 55.1%. Dietitians matched that figure at 55%. Obesity specialists reached 40.1%, while endocrinologists consulted with 38.2% of patients.
The survey tracked how long people struggled before things changed. Mean duration: 10.2 years. Most people (56.5%) started their weight loss attempts between ages 26 and 45, but formal diagnosis often came much later, if it came at all.
“To improve early diagnosis and management, HCPs need to ensure they are discussing weight with their patients, listening to patient concerns and implementing the best tools at their disposal,” the researchers wrote.
They pushed further, recommending that obesity management become a core task for primary care physicians, not an optional conversation that waits for the patient to raise it. Because waiting means watching someone struggle alone for a decade while solutions exist in the same room.
The failure to sustain weight loss did not stop at individual disappointment. Researchers modelled what would happen if current trends continued versus implementing a population-level 10% weight reduction. The numbers sketched two different futures for India.
In the first future, type 2 diabetes cases climbed from 35.4 million in 2022 to 69.3 million by 2032. In the second future, with 10% weight loss, that projection dropped to 59.1 million. The difference: nearly 10 million people who did not develop diabetes.
Now, follow the money. Direct medical costs for obesity-related conditions stood at ₹2.0 trillion in 2022. By 2032, without intervention, that figure would climb to ₹3.8 trillion. The 10% weight loss scenario still saw costs rise (obesity does not reverse overnight), but only to ₹3.5 trillion.
The gap represented ₹257 billion saved in 2032 alone. Cumulatively over the decade, ₹1.5 trillion remained in the healthcare system rather than being spent on managing preventable complications.
“The consequences of insufficient action will be substantial and costly, from both a public health and economic perspective,” the researchers said.
These projections assumed the current 95% failure rate could shift. They assumed systems changed enough that sustained weight loss became achievable for more than 5% of people who tried. Without that shift, the numbers worsened.
Go back to those 100 people who started a weight loss plan. Eighty-four committed to trying. Ninety-five ended up back where they started or heavier. The survey data pointed to why it happened and what might change it.
First, people needed access to interventions that worked for sustained weight loss, not just initial reduction.
“Formalised and consistent treatment guidelines, HCP engagement and follow-up are needed to implement and improve obesity management in India,” the authors stated.
Second, healthcare providers require training to initiate weight conversations and offer evidence-based options. “Continuous professional development is key for HCPs to ensure that they are aligned with the latest treatment paradigms for obesity management,” they wrote.
Third, insurance coverage must expand. India currently covers bariatric surgery but limits access to medical treatments. “Health insurance policies should be expanded to include obesity treatments (medical interventions),” the researchers recommended.
Fourth, public education campaigns must shift focus from willpower narratives to disease management. “Healthcare experts in the obesity field in India need to lead the dialogue on obesity and be closely involved in the development of public health initiatives to ensure that they are driven by health and science,” they concluded.
The 95% failure rate stood as evidence that current approaches have missed something fundamental about how obesity works and how bodies resist sustained weight loss. The pattern repeats: effort, temporary success, inevitable return to starting weight, another round of self-blame. Until systems change to match biological reality, most attempts will continue following this cycle.
The researchers framed it as a call to action: “Recognising obesity as a chronic disease, aligning policy with science, and committing sustained resources are critical steps to reversing India’s trajectory.”
The math can change. But it requires changing what happens to those 100 people before they start, while they struggle, and after the weight returns.
(Edited by Majnu Babu).
