Examining paradoxical session attendance and weight loss relationships in a clinic based lifestyle modification intervention

Abstract Objective Evaluations of lifestyle modification interventions (LMIs), modeled after the Diabetes Prevention Program, have repeatedly shown a dose‐response relationship between session attendance and weight loss. Despite this, not all participants had “average” weight loss experiences. Nearly one‐third of LMI participants experienced unexpected, paradoxical outcomes (i.e., high attendance with little weight loss, and low attendance with clinically significant weight loss). Paradoxical weight‐loss outcomes were characterized based on session attendance among participants in a group‐based LMI in a real‐world healthcare setting. This group‐based LMI was delivered over 1 year to participants with the possibility of attending up to 25 sessions total. Methods LMI participants identified in 2010–2017 from electronic health records were characterized as having low (