The international group Weigh-Less claims, justifiably, to have great success, not only in helping people to lose weight, but in helping those people maintain their weight loss. Now a study, published recently in the Journal of the American Medical Association may show why this is.
Obesity is a problem in the USA, as it is in many areas of the world, South Africa included. While people may often manage to lose weight through a combination of diet, exercise and general lifestyle changes, few manage to maintain the whole of that weight loss for substantial periods of time. In this study, Laura Svetkey and colleagues from the University of Durham, North Carolina, set out to compare two weight loss maintenance interventions with a self-directed control group.
All participants initially entered a weight loss programme and those who lost weight were randomised to either a group in which they had monthly personal contact for 30 months, or unlimited Internet-based interactive intervention or were left to be self-directed in maintaining their weight loss.
The average weight of the participants when they started was 96.7kg. During the initial six month programme they lost an average of 8.5kg. After the participants were randomised into their different maintenance groups, they started gaining weight again. However, those people who were getting personal intervention every month regained the least - only 4kg compared to 5.5kg in both the Internet intervention group and those left to themselves. At 30 months, the difference between the personal contact intervention group and the Internet-based intervention group was -1.2kg. Overall, 71% of study participants remained below the weight they had been when they entered the study.
The conclusion is that the monthly personal contact is the best for maintaining weight loss, even though most people in this group still regained about half the weight they had lost initially. No doubt the secret of the success of the weekly Weigh-Less groups.
