Weight Loss Maintained Better Through Short, Quick Sessions
Talking to a nurse during an attempt at weight loss is as successful as a rigorous and costly program with time consuming sessions among dieticians and trainers, New Zealand researchers announce.
Dr. Jim Mann from the Edgar National Center for Diabetes Research in Dunedin at random assigned 200 women who lost 5% of their body weight to a nurse-headed support set or a concentrated-support system.
Women put in the nurse support group weighed in every two weeks and reviewed their diet and exercise plan, with the brief sessions clocking in at five to 10 minutes. In the weeks among the meetings, the same nurse would call the participant on the phone. These women in the groups were also told about additional monthly support groups.
The intensive program included 11 individualized 35-minute meetings with a nutritionist and exercise trainer, as well as two training sessions at a private gym.
93% of the people in the intensive session went to every meeting in the first year, dropping to 87% in the second year. The training sessions were dismally attended, with 47% going frequently in the first year and only 28% in the second year.
However, the participants in the nurse lead sessions went to every weigh-in 98% of the time in the first year, with 85% going in the second year. About two-thirds of the group recurrently took the phone calls, with less than a quarter going to the support groups.
In 2 years with both options, 54% of those in the rigorous group and 84% in the nurse group felt that the visits were regular enough to manage their weight-loss; with 70% of both groups saying they would continue the support for the foreseeable future. The normal weight loss that was maintained, about 4.4 lbs, was the same amount in both groups.
"It is encouraging to note that a nurse-supported program to support the maintenance of weight is effective," Mann wrote in the Canadian Medical Association Journal (CMAJ).
"Such a program can be implemented at a fraction of the cost of an intensive-support program, which many believe is essential for successful long-term maintenance of weight loss."
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