LOSING weight is a hard slog for anybody, but a new study confirms that if you are obese, it is a nearly impossible task.

In fact, the chances are so slim for an obese man, there’s only a one in 210 likelihood that he will manage to drop to a healthy body weight.

An obese women faces slightly better prospects, with a one in 124 chance of trimming down.

And among those categorised with severe obesity, the chance for men is one in 1290 and for women, one in 677.

Scientists at King’s College London analysed the health records of 279,000 men and women from 2004-2014. Of the 176,495 with a BMI of 30 or more, just 1283 men and 2245 women attained a normal body weight.

They also found that despite many patients being able to lose five per cent of their body weight — with a one in 12 chance for obese men and one in 10 for women — more than half piled back on the pounds within two years. And for a staggering 78 per cent, this happened within five years.

The fresh findings, published in the American Journal of Public Health, has led experts to conclude that non-surgical weight treatment programs are ineffective and need a major shake-up amid spiralling obesity rates.

“Research to develop new and more effective approaches to obesity management is urgently required,” the study concludes.

“Obesity treatment programs should prioritise prevention of further weight gain along with the maintenance of weight loss in those who achieve it.”

It also calls for better public health policies on prevention to avoid people from having to wage a futile weight-loss battle.

University of Sydney obesity expert Dr Kieron Rooney said the problem with many diet-based treatment programs was they focused on a short-term weight-loss goal without teaching individuals it was about an entire lifestyle change. He called for better guidelines.

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“If you want people to maintain weight-loss, you need to have that level of education,” Dr Rooney said.

“Our environment is just so built up to induce a lifestyle of excess, that it is so difficult to maintain one of restriction.”

“We don’t have a community that supports that.”

But Dr Rooney urged people not to be disheartened by the new figures because they were based on averages, stressing that success stories existed.

“I am nervous when I hear odds like that,” he said.

“It might be true for some, but for others losing weight might be as easy as waking up in the morning.”

He said obesity could be treated, but it was a “matter of finding the right treatment and committing to it.”