1. A motivation-focused weight loss maintenance program is an effective alternative to a skill-based approach.
- Author
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West DS, Gorin AA, Subak LL, Foster G, Bragg C, Hecht J, Schembri M, and Wing RR
- Subjects
- Diet, Reducing methods, Female, Humans, Middle Aged, Obesity complications, Obesity therapy, Patient Compliance, Risk Reduction Behavior, Self Concept, Treatment Outcome, Urinary Incontinence complications, Urinary Incontinence therapy, Behavior Therapy methods, Diet, Reducing psychology, Motivation, Obesity psychology, Urinary Incontinence psychology, Weight Loss
- Abstract
Objective: Maintaining weight loss is a major challenge in obesity treatment. Individuals often indicate that waning motivation prompts cessation of effective weight management behaviors. Therefore, a novel weight loss maintenance program that specifically targets motivational factors was evaluated., Design: Overweight women (N=338; 19% African American) with urinary incontinence were randomized to lifestyle obesity treatment or control and followed for 18 months. All participants in lifestyle (N=226) received the same initial 6-month group behavioral obesity treatment and were then randomized to (1) a novel motivation-focused maintenance program (N=113) or (2) a standard skill-based maintenance approach (N=113)., Main Outcome Measure: Weight assessed at baseline, 6 and 18 months., Results: Both treatment groups (motivation-focused and skill-based) achieved comparable 18-month weight losses (-5.48% for motivation-focused vs -5.55% in skill-based, P=0.98), and both groups lost significantly more than controls (-1.51%; P=0.0012 in motivation-focused and P=0.0021 in skill-based)., Conclusions: A motivation-focused maintenance program offers an alternative, effective approach to weight maintenance expanding available evidence-based interventions beyond traditional skill-based programs.
- Published
- 2011
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