Weight maintenance, behaviors and barriers among previous participants of a university-based weight control program.

OBJECTIVE

To examine weight loss maintenance among previous participants of a university-based behavioral weight management program and to compare behavioral strategies and perceived barriers between successful and unsuccessful maintainers.

METHOD

Previous program participants (n=179) completed mailed surveys assessing current weight, weight control behaviors and perceived barriers to weight loss maintenance.

RESULTS

At 14.1+/-10.8 months following completion of treatment, survey respondents were on average 12.6+/-12.6 kg, or 11.3+/-10.7%, below baseline weight; 76.5% of respondents had successfully maintained weight, defined as maintaining a weight loss of at least 5% below baseline. Compared to unsuccessful maintainers, successful maintainers reported practicing four dietary and three physical activity weight control strategies more often and experiencing five barriers to healthy eating and exercise less often. After accounting for time since treatment and maximum weight loss while in treatment, the strongest correlates of successful weight loss maintenance were frequent exercise and perceived difficulty of weight management.

CONCLUSIONS

Clinically meaningful weight loss maintenance was achieved by the majority of participants. Findings support the literature indicating that physical activity is one of the strongest predictors of successful weight loss maintenance. Findings also suggest that strategies to reduce the level of perceived effort required for long-term weight control may improve maintenance outcomes.