Monthly Personal Counseling Helps Maintain Weight Loss

In the largest and longest study to date of weight loss maintenance strategies, researchers at Duke University Medical Center found that personal contact - and, to a lesser extent, a computer-based support system - were helpful in keeping weight off.

The results of the study appear in the March 12 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association.

"The results of this study send a strong signal to those who seem to believe that obesity is such an intractable problem that nothing can be done about it," says Dr. Laura Svetkey, professor of medicine at Duke and the lead author of the study. "Our research shows that is not true. A large majority of the participants in the Weight Loss Management study lost weight and kept weight off for two and one-half years."

Svetkey and researchers at four institutions around the country studied 1685 overweight or obese adults who were being treated for high blood pressure, high cholesterol, or both. Scientists asked participants to increase their activity level, reduce their calorie intake and follow the DASH diet (Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension) for a period of six months. The DASH diet emphasizes fruits, vegetables, low-fat dairy products and whole grains, and has been proven to lower "bad" cholesterol and blood pressure.

In the first phase of the study, participants attended 20 weekly group meetings with a trained interventionist who coached them on making these lifestyle changes. Only participants who lost at least nine pounds were admitted to a second phase of the study; 61 percent met that goal, with weight loss ranging from nine to 66 pounds.

In the second phase, 1032 participants were randomized to one of three groups: a self-directed control group, where they were left to their own devices to manage their weight; a personal contact group, where they received monthly coaching and support from a counselor assigned to them; or a computer-based, weight loss maintenance program that offered the same counseling that personal contact offered, but in a virtual, interactive format.

More than 70 percent of the participants weighed less at the end of the study than when they started. Those in the personal contact group were the most successful, with 77 percent maintaining some weight loss. The computer intervention group had a 69 percent success rate and the self-directed group had 67 percent.

"In addition, 42 percent of the personal contact group was able to maintain weight loss of at least 5 percent of their starting weight, an amount of weight loss that has clear health benefits," Svetkey said. "In the other groups, about 35 percent were able to maintain this much weight loss."

1. Prev:Super Loser's Guide To Weight Loss Success
2. Next:Do Not Consume Slimming Product With Undeclared Western Drug Ingredients