Still Lighter Two Years Later: What 2,062 Members' Records Show

Losing weight is hard. Keeping it off is the part most programs don't talk about, because the numbers are usually bad. Here is what JumpstartMD's own records show two years in, including what they can't tell you.

The honest starting point: regain is the norm

In the research on weight loss, regain is not the exception. Reviews of long-term outcomes find that most people who lose weight through diet and lifestyle change regain a large share of it within a few years, and that the body actively pushes back: appetite rises and energy expenditure falls after weight loss, and those changes persist¹. That is biology, not a character flaw, and it is why "I lost it before and it came back" is the most common sentence a weight-loss clinician hears.

So the question that matters about any program is not how much people lost. It is where they were later.

What the records show at two years

JumpstartMD's clinicians weigh members at every visit, and those weights go into the medical record. In the eight-year outcomes study (September 2018 to August 2026), we looked at every member who had a clinic-recorded weight at the two-year point and compared it with their starting weight.

What "with follow-up" means, in plain words

Three things that number does not say, and we would rather you heard them from us.

It describes members who came back. The 2,062 are members who had a two-year measurement on record. Members who stopped coming in are not in that number, and we don't know their weights. People who keep coming back may differ from people who don't, in motivation, health, circumstances or results. That is true of every clinic's follow-up data, and it is why the claim says "with follow-up".

It is a two-year snapshot, not a two-year line. The record shows where each member was at two years against where they started. It does not show that the weight stayed off every month in between. Some members regained some and lost it again; some lost more over time. The number says 8 in 10 were at least 5% down at the two-year mark, nothing more.

It is an observation, not a promise. These are the results of real members over eight years, recorded in the clinic. They are not a prediction of what any one person will do.

Why 5% is the line

Five percent of starting weight is the threshold the clinical guidelines use for a meaningful result, because sustained weight loss in the 3 to 5% range is associated with measurable improvements in blood sugar, triglycerides and the risk of developing type 2 diabetes, with larger losses bringing larger benefits². For a person who starts at 220 pounds, 5% is 11 pounds.

We use that line rather than "goal weight" because it is the one that tracks to health, and because goal weight was never measured. A program that only counted people who reached their goal would be telling you about its best cases. We would rather tell you about the threshold the evidence cares about, across everyone who came back.

What was different about the members who kept more off

One pattern in the records is worth knowing, with its caveat attached.

We can't say the visits caused the difference. People who come in more often may be the people who were going to do well anyway. What we can say is that in our records, the members who kept showing up were, on average, further ahead two years later.

What maintenance looks like in the program

After the active weight-loss phase, the program does not end; it changes shape.

• A planned step-down, not a cliff. For members on medication, dose changes and any taper are managed by the clinician, at a pace set by the member's results and body composition, rather than stopped abruptly. If you are considering stopping a GLP-1 medication, our guide to weight regain after stopping explains what to expect and how to plan for it.
• Continued visits and weigh-ins. Maintenance members keep seeing their clinician and health coach, less often than during weight loss, so that a few pounds of drift are noticed and dealt with early rather than discovered a year later.
• Body composition, not just the scale. InBody measurements continue in maintenance, so that if muscle is being lost or fat is returning, the plan changes before the number on the scale does. Our page on protecting muscle on GLP-1 medications covers why this matters.
• Protein and strength work. The habits that protect muscle during weight loss, a protein target at every meal and two or more strength sessions a week, are the same ones that make maintenance easier, because muscle is what keeps your metabolism from falling as far as the research says it tends to¹.
• Real food, not a diet you have to quit. The eating pattern is built to be kept, which is the point of building it around food you buy rather than products you stop buying.

What you can do, whether or not you are a member

• Decide in advance what your "act now" number is: a weight, or a waist measurement, at which you book an appointment rather than wait.
• Keep weighing. Weekly is enough; the goal is to see drift early, not to react to daily fluctuation (which is normal; see why your weight goes up and down ).
• Keep protein at every meal and keep lifting. Those two habits are the ones most associated with holding on to muscle, and muscle is what holds up your metabolism.
• Expect appetite to come back, and plan for it. It is not a failure of willpower; it is what the body does after weight loss¹.
• If you were on medication, talk to your clinician before you stop, not after.

The bottom line

Most weight-loss programs can show you a before-and-after. Fewer can show you where their members were two years later, measured in the clinic. In JumpstartMD's records, 8 in 10 members with a two-year measurement were still 5% or more below their starting weight. That is not a guarantee, and it is not every member. It is what the records show, and we think you should be able to see it.

Source: JumpstartMD eight-year outcomes study, EHR data Sep 2018-Aug 2026. Population and observed N as stated. Individual results vary.

References

1. K. D. Hall and S. Kahan, "Maintenance of lost weight and long-term management of obesity," Medical Clinics of North America, vol. 102, no. 1, pp. 183–197, Jan. 2018. doi:10.1016/j.mcna.2017.08.012. PMID 29156185.
2. M. D. Jensen et al., "2013 AHA/ACC/TOS guideline for the management of overweight and obesity in adults," Circulation, vol. 129, no. 25 suppl 2, pp. S102–S138, Jun. 2014. doi:10.1161/01.cir.0000437739.71477.ee. PMID 24222017.